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Curriculum Rural India's Economy

Rural India's Economy

How India's villages earn and spend - non-farm jobs, self-help groups, rural credit, the job guarantee, electricity, housing, health workers, land records, panchayats and the digital village.

  1. Rural India's Economy: An Overview How the majority of Indians who live in villages earn their living, how rural incomes compare with urban ones, and why rural India matters for the whole economy. 📄 Read-aloud
  2. Rural Non-Farm Jobs Why jobs outside agriculture have become increasingly important in rural India, what kinds of work they involve, and how they help reduce poverty. 📄 Read-aloud
  3. Self-Help Groups and the Livelihoods Mission How small groups of rural women save together, borrow and start enterprises, and how India's National Rural Livelihoods Mission scaled the model to tens of millions. 📄 Read-aloud
  4. Rural Credit and Moneylenders How rural households borrow, why informal moneylenders remain important despite high interest, and the policies to expand formal credit. 📄 Read-aloud
  5. MGNREGA: How the Job Guarantee Works How India's rural employment guarantee provides paid work on demand, what research shows about its effects, and debates over funding and wages. 📄 Read-aloud
  6. Lighting Up Villages: Rural Electrification How India connected nearly all villages and households to electricity, the economic effects of power access, and the ongoing challenge of reliable supply. 📄 Read-aloud
  7. Rural India's Economy: Checkpoint 1 Quick checkpoint - five questions on rural livelihoods, self-help groups, credit, MGNREGA and electrification. 5 questions
  8. Rural Housing and PMAY-Gramin How India's rural housing programme helps poor families build permanent homes, the economic effects of better housing, and its challenges. 📄 Read-aloud
  9. Rural Health: Health Centres and ASHA Workers How rural India's public health system is organised, the role of community health workers called ASHAs, and the gaps in rural health care. 📄 Read-aloud
  10. Land Records and Rural Disputes Why unclear land records cause disputes and hold back rural investment and credit, and how India is digitising land records. 📄 Read-aloud
  11. The Rural Consumer How companies learned to sell to India's rural households, from small sachet packs to rural distribution networks, and why rural demand matters for the economy. 📄 Read-aloud
  12. Panchayats: Village Governments and Their Money How India's elected village councils work, where their money comes from, and the effects of reserving seats for women and marginalised groups. 📄 Read-aloud
  13. Digital Villages: Internet in Rural India How cheap smartphones and data brought hundreds of millions of rural Indians online, what they use the internet for, and the remaining digital divide. 📄 Read-aloud

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