An assessment of rural development and disparities: A geographical analysis of Nalanda district of Bihar, India

Abstract

The concept of rural development (RD) is both ambiguous and contested although it could be postulated as the comprehensive and multi-dimensional concept that majorly embraces the development of primary and allied activities, socioeconomic conditions, community services, infrastructure, human resource development, local governance, etc. In India, there has been a pertinacious notion that RD deserves higher priority and larger resources than it has received yet. Consequently, rural societies tend to remain on the margin of the national development framework and bear the costs without benefitting from it. The following study endeavours to bring an informative perspective on the developmental disparities found across the study area and factors that are likely to hinder the homogenous development process across a typical planning area like a district. Authors have used qualitative as well as statistical methods of analysis to interpret the data wherein illustrations have been drawn from field-based studies. To measure the developmental disparities thirty variables have been considered under seven major indicators, Z-score and Composite Standard Score (CSS) have also been worked out using MS Excel 2013 while for the purpose of tabulation and map generation, MS Word 2013 and Arc GIS 10.1 software were used, respectively. We found that villages in the vicinity of the district headquarters or other urban centre/s, with better road and transport connectivity, and diverse social base show fair development levels compared to villages that do not have these characteristics and relatively lie in isolation.