Assignment Code: MRD-102/TMA/2022-23

Course Code: MRD-102

Assignment Name: Rural Development Programmes

Year: 2022-2023

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Note: The assignment has three sections. It contains questions, which require long, medium, and short answers. A long answer should not exceed 1000 words. Medium answers should not exceed 500 words each. Short answers should not exceed 100 words each.

Long Answers Questions

Attempt any One of the following:

Q1) Why is Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) important in the context of Universal Elementary Education (UEE)? Analyze in detail.

Ans) The Conference of State Education Ministers determined in 1998 to utilise a mission-mode, convergent, and all-encompassing approach to achieve universal elementary education within a particular time frame. Example:

After the Conference, the Minister for Human Resource Development organised a group of State Education Ministers to work out how to use mission-mode operation to achieve UEE. The first nationwide elementary education programme, the SSA, was based on this Committee's recommendations. India is seeking to implement UEE through the SSA for the first time. This programme promotes democratic engagement, community involvement, and decentralised planning and administration that addresses the needs of underprivileged regions, social groups, girls, and children. Since 2000, the SSA covers all districts.

EFA's flagship initiative, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), will adopt mainstream management systems. However, a national Department of Elementary Education and Literacy focuses on EFA activities and sets the framework for UEE and 75 percent sustainable literacy.

The National Mission for Elementary Education (NMEE) helps people collaborate and grasp the broader picture. The Prime Minister chairs the Mission General Council, while the Minister for Human Resource Development is Vice-Chair. State Mission Authorities for UEE and District Implementation Societies conduct subnational EFA initiatives.

The National Mission will engage with State Missions to improve state-level capacity-building operations. State Missions will also help districts plan and manage elementary education. State Implementation Societies aid with operations and monitoring.

The Main Goals: The SSA is a big step toward the long-term goal of making elementary school education available to everyone. It does this through a time-bound, integrated approach in partnership with the states. Its goal is to give all children ages 6 to 14 a useful and good elementary education by 2010.

The specific goals of the SSA are:

1. to have all children in school, EGS Center/alternative school/back-to-school came by 2003.

2. to have all children complete five years of primary schooling by 2007.

3. to have all children complete eight years of schooling by 2010.

4. to provide elementary education of satisfactory quality with an emphasis on education for life.

5. to close all gender and social gaps at the primary stage by 2007, and at the elementary stage by 2010.

SSA's main strategies are projects, programs, and schemes that aim to improve basic education. It is expected that a convergent approach will help solve the problems of coordination between intra-sectoral and cross-sectoral program initiatives and make it easier to plan, implement, monitor, and evaluate EFA programs. Education and development programs are coming together to help fight poverty, create jobs, give people food in exchange for work, support home industries, and improve quality of life in areas like health, family welfare, access to clean water, rural housing, etc. In turn, these programs make it easier for families to find and pay for schools for their children.

Institutional Reform: All states are making changes to their institutions as part of the SSA. The states have to do an objective review of their current education systems. This includes the administration of education, how well students do in school, financial issues, decentralization and community ownership, review of the State Education Acts, rationalization of teacher deployment and teacher hiring, monitoring and evaluation, education for girls, SCs/STs, and other disadvantaged groups, policy on private schools, and early childhood care and education (ECCE). Institutional changes have already been made in many states to improve the way elementary education is delivered.

Community Empowerment: The program calls for effective decentralization so that schools and interventions are owned and run by the community. Women's groups, people on the Village Education Committee (VEC), and people from the Panchayati Raj Institutions all help with this. Institutions at the local level are expected to train community leaders and community representatives so that they can plan, program, and keep an eye on things.

Institutional Capacity Building: National and state-level organizations like the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), the State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs), and the State Institutes of Educational Management and Training (SIEMATs) have been given the job of building up their institutions' abilities. Building up the skills of local institutions is very important for decentralizing the process of making curricula and teaching-learning materials that fit local needs.

Community-Based Monitoring: The SSA plans for the educational management information system (EMIS) to link data from schools with data from micro-planning exercises and field surveys about the community. For example, every school will have a bulletin board with information about grants and other things. The SSA calls for teachers, parents, and PRIs to work together and for everyone involved to be accountable and open about what they are doing.

Prioritize Girl and Other Group Education:

SSA prioritises girl education, especially for scheduled caste and tribe girls. Gender mainstreamed. The measures include mobilisation at the habitation/village/urban slum level, recruiting female teachers, nutritional support, free textbooks and uniforms, back-to-school programmes for teenage girls, and organising Mahila Samoohs. Activities for SCs/STs, religious and linguistic minorities, disadvantaged groups, and disabled children are well-attended.

Central and State governments, local governments, and the citizenry operate the SSA. As mentioned, the "National Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Mission" emphasises basic education. Its chairman and vice-chairman are the Prime Minister and Union Minister of Human Resource Development. State Chief Ministers or Education Ministers lead UEE State Implementation Societies. SSA does not alter state and district systems. Instead, it unites all efforts. Decentralizing functions to the school level encourages community participation. In addition to recognising Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), Tribal Councils in Scheduled Areas, and Gram Sabhas, states are encouraged to expand the accountability framework by including women's organisations, NGOs, teachers, activists, etc. in SSA implementation.

Medium Answers Questions

Attempt any Two of the following:

Q1) Describe various elements that are necessary to ensure Regional Food Security.

Ans) In India, we also need to make sure that food is safe in the region. As a key part of this strategy, all restrictions on moving food grains from one part of the country to another should be taken away. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has done a lot to make it easier for food grains to move from one region to another. However, private trade needs to play a bigger role in this area as well.

Remember that limited international trade and unlimited domestic trade will assist the Indian food-grains market attain transparency and efficiency in food distribution. This can also assist limit government engagement in the domestic market to what is necessary to accomplish a social aim, such as establishing a buffer stock in case of a severe domestic market shortage.

The cost of food security is crucial. It is well known that the north-western part of the country produces a lot of extra food, and that Kerala is always short on food. Due to these regional concentrations, transportation costs and bottlenecks are crucial to the country's food-grains trade.

The benefits of running the PDS are mostly in a few states, like Kerala, that have good PDS infrastructure. Kerala, which has 3% of the nation's population, received 12% of PDS food grains. In this case, the PDS helps both states with food shortages and states with food surpluses. The PDS makes it easier for states with food surpluses to sell their food while helping states with food shortages achieve food security. Bihar is one of the states that benefits least from the PDS. Bihar does not benefit much from buying or giving food.

The MSP Scheme has done a good job for the country over the past 40 years. But in the last few years, it has started to have some problems. This is mostly because agriculture has changed a lot in the past few years. Several states have started to have too much of some agricultural goods, and this is likely to keep happening in the coming years as well.

The FCI should buy from Bihar, Assam, and Eastern UP, where cereals are overproduced. The FCI currently buys mostly in Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh.

Supporting "decentralised procurement," in which State Governments buy with Central Government money, could solve this problem. Decentralized procurement is only happening in West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu because other states aren't interested. To convince governments to accept decentralised procurement, FCI god owns might be offered to them.

These places may need new god owns to store food under the Food Corporation of India and Central/State Warehousing Corporations' plan plans. To protect farmers in Punjab and Haryana, FCI workers should be slowly reduced and moved to the Central and Eastern regions.  Decentralized procurement has constraints. Centralized food procurement and storage are optimal. Food grains must flow fast from overproduced to underproduced places.

Q2) What is the role of Science and Technology in the process of Rural Development.

Ans) There are a number of good reasons and a good time to use science and technology to help the poor in rural India. S&T is the best way to give the poor more power. The rural areas, which haven't done much to learn about science and technology so far, need to step up their efforts with a plan that starts with making science more popular and showing how it can be used for rural development. Now, governments have to invest in these technologies or risk making the gap between the city and the country even bigger. This realization should make S&T work for development and put rural development at the top of the country's agenda.

Science and technology boost productivity and physical and mental capacities, which helps explain their significance in development. It transforms raw resources into useful products. It can also change society. S&T has transformed agriculture, industry, resource usage, medicine, health, transportation, the environment, and quality of life. S&T optimises scarce resources. Science and technology can help land and water owners and users maximise their resources. New technologies simplify using raw materials, by-products, and waste. S&T can develop land and water resources and launch Agro industries, creating work for unemployed and underemployed people.

Mechanization and technology have made farming a business. Productivity has increased when farmers adopt entrepreneurial production practises. Electricity transformed farming.

Women have always been disadvantaged. Rural women face most issues. Due to men moving to cities, more women are running village houses, worsening the issue. Thus, it's crucial to apply technology to rural women's well-being.

Scientific plans for rural development based on a complete survey of resources, their planned use and management using technologies that operate well in the local environment, the education of a large number of people, and the equitable distribution of development benefits can achieve these aims. Agro-technologies, community health care, and other everyday topics can now be taught to the public using various techniques. All of them show the public how science and technology advance development, introduce new goods and processes, and answer problems. How can technology simplify development? What should businesses and non-profits do? What tech should be promoted? What school system and curriculum would help achieve development goals?

Delivery methods include.

1. Restructuring science education with a focus on the usefulness of scientific culture.

2. Using familiar materials and processes.

3. Teaching through and about indigenous S&T practices in local languages.

Short Answers Questions

Attempt any Five of the following:

Q1) Agro -Forestry.

Ans) Agro forestry grows crops and trees. Farmlands produce food and trees for farmers. Most Indian farmers grow crops, animals, and plants on their limits. Trees protect crops and fruit trees and increase soil fertility. Agro-forestry lowers farmers' dependence on forests while delivering economic benefits. Various regions have used traditional Agro-forestry systems. Farms have multipurpose trees. Due to their short cycles and high frequency, shifting Agro-forestry systems are unsustainable. The Tenth Five Year Plan promotes Agro forestry to boost green cover beyond government forests. Farm forestry methods declined due to market conditions, although certain areas still employ them.

Q2) Accelerated Rural Electrification Program.

Ans) The Indian government's Accelerated Rural Electrification Program (AREP) provides power to rural areas. AREP aims to bring power to all rural Indian houses and villages. Mini-grids and distributed renewable energy technologies are used in the initiative. Rural homes will receive energy-efficient LED lamps and pumps. The government uses AREP to provide modern energy services to rural communities and assist them thrive.

Q3) Earmarking of funds.

Ans) "Earmarking" finances means setting aside money for a specific purpose or endeavour. Because the money set aside aren't influenced by budget priorities or the economy, they can give programmes or initiatives some consistency and stability. However, earmarking can restrict the fund manager's ability to use the money for new needs or priorities.

Q4) International Trade in the food-grains.

Ans) International food grain trade refers to nations exchanging grains. Global food security depends on food grain trading. It ensures food security. Supply, demand, and production costs influence worldwide food grain trading. The WTO resolves economic disputes and promotes fair and open trade.

Q5) Elementary Education.

Ans) Elementary school is for pupils aged 5–11. In elementary school, kids learn the basics that will help them succeed in life and in school. A good elementary education can decrease the achievement gap between pupils from diverse socioeconomic origins and enhance educational outcomes.