RURAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH RURAL INDUSTRIALIZATION: ROLE OF MSMES AND THE ATTITUDE OF THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT

Abstract

Although India seems highly urbanized, 65 percent of the population still lives in villages. Governments have undertaken and are implementing several schemes over the last seven decades in the name of the development of rural areas. However, even today, the fundamental problems are not yet solved in rural areas, such as poverty, employment, migration, illiteracy, medical care, nutrition, drinking water, Etc. There has been no qualitative change in the fundamental problems. It is important to remember that all currently industrialized countries were once primarily agricultural. Therefore, industrialization, which is the mainstay of the countrys development, is the need of the rural areas as an alternative to the agricultural sector. Setting up Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME), mainly in the manufacturing sector, can employ more people in less time with less investment. This paper analyses the importance of rural industrialization and the need and necessity of MSMEs to achieve rural development. KEYWORDS: Rural Development, Rural Industrialization, MSMEs, Industrial Development, Rural Employment, Rural Economy