About 70% of India’s population, or 750 million, live in its 600,000 villages. More than 85% of these villages are in the plains or on the Deccan plateau. The average village has 200-250 households, and occupies an area of 5 sq. km. Most of this is farmland, and it is typical to find all the houses in one or two clusters. Villages are thus spaced 2-3 km apart, and spread out in all directions from the market towns. The market centers are typically spaced 30-40 km apart. Each such centre serves a catchment of around 250-300 villages in a radius of about 20 km. As the population and the economy grow, several large villages are continually morphing into towns and market centers. Around 65% of the State's population is living in rural areas. People in rural areas should have the same quality of life as is enjoyed by people living in sub urban and urban areas. Further there are cascading effects of poverty, unemployment, poor and inadequate infrastructure in rural areas on urban centers causing slums and consequential social and economic tensions manifesting in economic deprivation and urban poverty. Hence Rural Development which is concerned with economic growth and social justice, improvement in the living standard of the rural people by providing adequate and quality social services and minimum basic needs becomes essential. The present Project deals with the same.
The Next Two Billion People will live in cities and town; So We Need To Plan Now. Almost all future population growth in the next 40 years will be absorbed by cities of the developing world, which are unprepared for such rapid expansion. Planning needs to begin now to take advantage of the many benefits cities can offer. While cities concentrate poverty, they also provide the best means of escaping it. Cities have long been the engines of economic growth. Densely populated areas can be more environmentally sustainable than sprawling communities and allow for more efficient provision of services. The ideas, connections and activities in cities often generate the solutions to the problems they create.
Vishwakarma Yojana is one of the approaches to reduce urban city Pressure and lower the migration rate by developing village with a ‘rural soul’ but with all urban amenities that a city may have. The developmental work in villages that could undertake as per the need of the village in particular includes Physical, Social and Renewable infrastructure Facilities. It is also proposed to frame “Vishwakarma Yojana” to provide the benefit of real work experience to engineering students of Gujarat Technological University and simultaneously apply their technical knowledge in the development of infrastructure in rural development.
Vishwakarma Yojana would provide “Design to Delivery” solution for development of villages in ‘Rurban’ areas. The developmental work in villages that could undertaken as per the need of the village in particular includes Physical infrastructure facilities (Water, Drainage, Road, Electricity, Solid waste Management, Storm Water Network, Telecommunication & Other), Social infrastructure facilities (Education, Health, Community Hall, Library, Recreation Facilities & other) and renewable energy (Rain water harvesting, Biogas plant, Solar Street lights & Other) for Sustainable development. Under this scheme, the villages of “Rurban” area will be adopted by the engineering colleges under the Gujarat Technological University. The Engineering colleges would study the identified villages and make the recommendations on the application of technology to achieve integrated and comprehensive development, through project preparation and management.
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