THE PURA MODEL

Population growth and economic activities have expanded many cities into metropolises and conurbations (a conglomeration of urban settlements) that have often become difficult to manage because of their large size and consequent complexities. Peri-urban, as well as rural areas have therefore been removed very far away from city centres, with a distance-decay function affecting the provision of urban facilities in rural areas. The net result has been a vicious cycle of centripetal city force attracting rural migrants to take advantage of urban benefits, which include employment, connectivity, education, medical facilities, recreation and often floating population visiting cities for purchasing higher order goods and services. This growth within a city is the impact of agglomeration economies that result from the consolidation of basic infrastructure supporting economic activities and business that leads to a kind of snowballing effect that turns into an urban malady of pollution from congestion and shortage of utilities as the population grows, which heighten the dichotomy between the urban and the rural and encourage further migration. While the rural areas of India suffer from inadequate infrastructure, they are blessed with pollution-free environment, contrary to urban areas that enjoy the benefits of efficient infrastructure, but suffer from congestion and the resulting environmental pollution. In 2001 India had a population of 1,028,610,328 with an urban share of about 28% with a density of around 3664/km2 in contrast to a rural share of 72% population and a density of 238/km2

To overcome this sharp differentiation between the rural and the urban and to make the country more productive, our former President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam had suggested the PURA programme to Provide Urban Amenities in Rural Areas, so that people are less amenable to migration and are also economically more productive, for a sustained growth of the country. His idea was to eliminate migration, so that rural areas remain rich in human resource and do not fall a victim to the maladies of migration and urban congestion. PURA emphasized on “a multiple-connectivity approach” of physical, electronic, knowledge and economic connectivity. It does away with the misnomer that the less educated rural inhabitants should always depend on low remunerative economic activities like handicrafts and household industries. A fact that has always been overlooked while drawing programmes for rural areas is that villages cannot import highly-priced consumables that are common in urban areas, unless their purchasing power improves, and which is best developed by an increase in exports. Economic law says that the higher the income from export, the more will be the capacity to import and the greater will be the purchasing power.

PURA differs from the traditional rural development in several ways:

 It aims at a comprehensive development of rural areas, and not mere poverty alleviation

 It plans for an investment at urban levels

 It aims to halt migration and generate employment in rural areas, often to reverse rural-urban migration

 It treats quality infrastructure as a prerequisite and not as a consequence of development

 It seeks modern industrial development instead of rural handicrafts and suggests commercialization of services

 It aims at private investments and to promote partnerships and not to depend on subsidies

In other words, the focus is to eliminate the need to migrate. However, President Kalam also aspired for a reverse process, which in technical terms is called the process of ‘suburbanization’. All developed countries have gone through this phenomenon. It comes with the development of efficient public transportation and the installation of basic utilities that include telecommunications, water and sanitation, medical assistance, education and electricity, as multiple-connectivity is the essence of development.

Keeping in mind this rural-urban dichotomy, the PURA Model is designed to improve the quality of life in rural areas (built on the concept of elimination of poverty through an even distribution of infrastructure development) with 10-15 villages in approximately 60 km2 area with access to transport arteries within a range of 1 km. PURA focuses on multiple-connectivity, with physical, economic, electronic and knowledge connectivity. It reflects a proactive attitude towards a competitive business environment supported by comprehensive area development, so that henceforth rural development programmes should not be based solely on poverty alleviation and wage-earning, but formulated for a larger context of economic sustainability. PURA is designed:

 To benefit from social services, without much commuting, including health and education

 To be economically viable, with adequate export-oriented investments and productivity

 To be culturally close to one’s roots

 To travel the minimum with maximum benefits

 To promote private-public-community partnerships.

The model actually focuses on comprehensive area development with backward and forward economic, social and physical linkages, supported by electronic and knowledge connectivity. As our ex-President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had written “India can launch itself into a developed status only when the economic machinery starts “real movement through the infrastructure”.

Dr. Madhusree Mazumdar
Professor, IWSB, Greater Noida