Service provision and rural development in India: a study of Miryalguda Taluka

The report traces the development over a decade of the regional economy and the provision of services by government and private sector for both dry and irrigated tracts in a rural area of India, based on empirical evidence from Miryalguda, Andhra Pradesh. The study analyzes the irrigation, cropping patterns, and population of the regional economy, identifies rural and retail services provided and their distribution among service centres, size of the service areas, number of people served, examines the spatial impact of service provision, the effects of service provision on the agricultural sector; and the development of the region from a spatial or geographical viewpoint. The cropping pattern of the study area has changed from a dry-crop economy growing rainfed paddy (unhusked rice), jowar, groundnuts, castor, and pulses, to one growing sugarcane and seasonal vegetables as well, and able to cover a more extensive area and crop more than once a year. The cropped area increased from 102 000 acres in 1968 to 185 000 acres in 1978. The extension, intensification, and diversification of the cropping pattern was facilitated by the simultaneous provision of education, health, credit, banking, transport, marketing, storage, communication, and input distribution facilities. In 1968 the index of total services provided was 4.63 for the taluka, 4.50 for the irrigated tract, and 4.71 for the dry tract. In 1978 these indexes were 9.94, 5.86, 13.90 respectively. Mobile services, perhaps operated in conjunction with market days, would make services both more accessible and cheaper