By Our Reporter
Shillong, Sep 15: Rural Voice, Socratus and NESFAS have successfully concluded the ‘Agenda for Rural India – Shillong’, a day-long convention focused on the question of how the development agenda for Rural India should be framed.
The programme involved diverse rural stakeholders from over 7 districts of Meghalaya, including farmers, Women SHG members, rural entrepreneurs, bee keepers, artisans, teachers, village employment council members, village council members and weavers. It was a very diverse group of 60 participants from Garo, Khasi, Jaintia and Karbi tribes with both men and women representations. The participants discussed and deliberated on a multitude of issues faced by citizens living in the villages. They also lucidly presented their aspirations for their respective villages and the kinds of policies they would like to see implemented.
Agenda for Rural India, Shillong is part of a series of convention of rural people being organised nationwide by Rural Voice, a digital media organisation and Socratus, an NGO working in the social and rural sectors.
In the opening remark of the Agenda for Rural India, Harvir Singh, Editor-in-Chief, Rural Voice said, “The focus of these conventions is to tap into the rural voices of the citizens from the grassroots. Our goal is to provide a bottom-up approach to bridge the divide between the rural communities and policymakers, bureaucrats, politicians, experts, and media. This is crucial in order to create a more inclusive and representative decision-making process.”
“By amplifying the voices of those living in rural areas, we can ensure that their needs and concerns are being heard and addressed. Together, we can strive for a more equitable and informed society,” he siad.
Participants raised a large number of issues and problems they are facing as rural citizens and as farmers. Some of the issues highlighted by the participants related to agriculture, rural infrastructure and social sector.
Participants were of the opinion that governments and political systems must act fast to resolve the problems raised by them.
They also demanded that the government should support farmers in adopting traditional farming, providing bio fertilizers and bio pesticides to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Government should start schemes for better irrigation facilities and increase the irrigation coverage through check dams and by improving power supply to farmers. Government must act to remove middlemen from agriculture marketing for better price realisation from agriculture produce.