PURA model

The PURA model involves four connectivities — physical, electronic, knowledge — to enhance the prosperity of cluster of villages .

Under physical connectivity, a group of 15-25 villages will be linked to one another by road. There will also be a ring road accessible to each village . Besides roads, provision for electricity and transport facilities have also been included.

Digital connectivity will mean linking villages with modern telecommunication and information technology services. For example, public call offices, cyber cafes, and so on.

Knowledge connectivity would mean establishing every 5-7 km of the ring road a school, a higher education centre and a hospital. Economic connectivity aims to establish within this group of villages good marketing facilities so that all the commodities and services of daily use can be produced and sold in these markets.

Depending on the region and the state of present development, PURA can be classified into three different categories — Type A, Type B and Type C Pura clusters. The characteristics of these types are:

At the CEO Summit organised on the occasion of the 50th birthday celebrations of Mata Amritanandmayi , the President said: "PURA is one of the mechanisms which will be utilised for transforming our villages into productive economic zones."

The Prime Minister in his Independence Day (2003) message announced the launching of 5,000 PURAs. Obviously, these are 5,000 Rural Development Blocks in the country. Each block has a population of 1,00,000. In the current Plan, the per capita investment is around Rs. 20,000 of which the public sector accounts for nearly 50 per cent. This would imply that the public sector component of PURA for 5,000 rural development blocks would of the order of Rs 5,00,000 crore — at the rate of Rs 100 crore per PURA. The PURA is a Vision 2020 project and has to be spread over three Plans so that an investment of Rs 100 crore is made in each development block or cluster.

Govt action on PURA model

The Union Cabinet, in a meeting on January 20, accorded in principle approval for the execution of PURA within the existing gross budgetary support for bridging the rural-urban divide and achieving balanced socio-economic development. The Government envisages development of over 4,000 rural clusters located in backward regions. A sum of Rs 3 crore for each cluster has been provided and, thus, Rs 12,000 crore will be spent on the development of 4,000 PURAs.

Assessment of PURA model

It was Mahatma Gandhi who underlined the exploitation of rural society by its urban counterpart. Gandhiji wrote in Village Swaraj: "The British have exploited India through its cities. The latter have exploited the villages. The blood of the villages is the cement with which the edifice of the cities is built. I want the blood that is today inflating the arteries of the cities to run once again in the blood vessels of villages." There is no doubt that the planning process did try to develop the villages through community development projects. Irrigation facilities were enlarged and Green Revolution did provide an opportunity to the rural people to increase their share in national and per capita income, but still the rural-urban divide continues and there is a migration of population from the rural to urban areas. The objective of PURA is to propel economic development without population transfers. To quote the late Prof A. M. Khusro: "Instead of moving human beings where infrastructure exists, it is better to take infrastructure to villages where human beings live." The PURA concept is the response to the need for creating social and economic infrastructure which can create a conducive climate for investment by the private sector to invest in rural areas.

But a mere provision of Rs 3 crore per cluster as against the need for Rs. 100 crore is too meagre. The best way to shelve a proposal is to accept it in principle and make a modicum of investment towards its implementation. Perhaps the democratic compulsions might have compelled the Government to announce bringing within its fold 4,000 Rural Development Blocks (or clusters) out of a total 7,000 and, thus, extending its reach to nearly 57 per cent of the rural population in the backward areas. But such a thin layer of the investment as proposed by the Cabinet is not going to achieve the objectives of PURA.

A more pragmatic approach would have been to select nearly 600 blocks in the backward areas and invest at least Rs 25 crore per block to provide the needed infrastructure to Block Development Committee during the Tenth Plan; the remaining 35 per cent and 40 per cent should be provided in the Eleventh and the Twelfth Plan. Second, the PURA proposal envisages three types — A, B and C. Type C being in the interior required much greater initial push, Type B relatively less and Type A can attract even private sector investment. A higher level of state support is needed for Type C cluster.

Ongoing programmes of rural development can be re-oriented so that roads, electricity and water are made available. Once the social overheads are created, it will be possible to attract private sector investment. It is abundantly clear that the private sector invests only in areas and projects which yield a high rate of return. It will, therefore, hesitate to move in the remote interior clusters unless the Government provides necessary infrastructural support and some incentives for the purpose.

For the implementation of PURA, there is need for an apex body under the chairmanship of the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission. Each State should have a State-level PURA Corporation which would be composed of representatives from small scale industry, financial institutions, co-operatives, technical persons and representatives of panchayats, to prepare a roadmap for rural development of the State.

The combined effort of the different participants in the PURA mission alone can assure its success. The regional model, as proposed in the PURA model, may not be very helpful, as there are no Regional Planning Boards but only State Planning Boards.

The major impediment to the PURA mission will be the on demand side. This can be achieved by undertaking such activities which create wage employment and, thus, enlarge demand potential of the rural population. If PURA can become a catalyst for another Green Revolution in the rural areas in the less prosperous States, the Vision 2020 of the President to achieve a food production of 400 million tonnes can be achieved.

For this purpose, it is necessary to develop synergy among the different constituents in the fulfilment of the PURA mission. Only then can we have the dream of development of rural India without population transfers realised.

Although PURA draws its inspiration from the Gandhian model of development which emphasis rural development as a fundamental postulate, yet, in the prescription, it is neo-Gandhian in the sense that it intends to bring rural regeneration with the avowed objective of taking modern technology and modern amenities to the rural areas.

In this sense, it does not enter into the controversy of labour-intensive versus capital-intensive measures. However, it does emphasise the enlargement of employment as the sole objective to make use of rural manpower in various development activities. In this sense, it does not think of a second-grade status for rural citizens and thus can become more acceptable to them.

In other words, the PURA model attempts a reconciliation between employment and GDP growth objectives. It is heartening to note that the NDA Government has incorporated it in its manifesto (2004) to be implemented from August 2004 if it comes to power at the Centre.

(The author, a former president of the Indian Economic Association, is Visiting Professor, Institute for Human Development, New Delhi.)

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