Rural development and its rational

Objectives of Rural Development in Pakistan

•To raise agricultural production  to meet food and fiber requirements of growing population.

•A sound program of rural development would assign top priority to agricultural development in Pakistan.

•To develop new rural industries and strengthen the existing ones.

•To provide more services and multiply the existing ones, such as schools ,dispensaries, markets , libraries etc. to make rural areas more attractive.

•To develop qualities of leadership, initiative, co-operation, self-reliance etc. among rural people to enable them to undertake developmental activities more effectively and efficiently.

•To bring about close collaboration and co-ordination among the nation building departments and other development agencies to accelerate developmental activities in the rural areas.

•To check the flight of talent from the rural to urban areas.

Rural Development Issues

•Rural development issues are often associated with poverty reduction.

•Although the definition of poverty varies, income poverty is used as a general guideline in defining poverty.

•In the case that “three-quarters of poor groups live in rural areas”, “Poverty” indicates conditions resulting from income poverty.

•Improvement of livelihood is a central component of rural development.

•There exists an opinion, which is increasingly becoming mainstream, that living standards cannot be measured by income and consumption, but require a wider view.

•For those who support this argument, the satisfaction of Basic Human Needs (BHN) is necessary to improve living standards.

•The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has been using the Human Development Indicator (HDI), which is based on life expectancy, literacy rate and real GDP per capita.