Talking Point: Small-town India in need of ignition

Among the issues ailing rural India – Farmers find the terms of trade stacked against them - the prices commanded by their produce, all too often do not pay for all their input costs. Those input costs are rising fast, due to ground water depletion and the consequent need to expensively drill for water, as well as the chemical intensive nature of most farming methods practised today. These issues are causing a cumulative damage, on the soil, and the very fabric of rural India. 

As farming loses is lustre among the youth, there is a massive brain drain away from villages. Talented youth do not find any reason to remain in the village. Traditionally, small town clusters would be where they would go, but the small town economy, tied to agrarian surpluses, is itself in distress. So talent skips the smaller towns and heads to the major metro areas where all the future economic opportunities seem to reside. 

There exists today both a literal as well as metaphorical erosion of the top soil of our land: the agricultural top soil erosion, compounded by the brain drain. If we do not address these interrelated issues, we face some bleak choices ahead. 

Major metros, on the receiving end of the migration, face immense challenges as well. A major proportion of the increased wage for the migrant is spent on rent. Explosion in urban land prices put migrants for ever out of reach of ownership. A rural migrant who often owned their own home in a village becomes a permanent renter in the big city. 

Economic revitalisation of the small town economy is a must. If we can keep the rural talent, particularly the talented top soil layer, from having to migrate to the big city, but be able to find high quality and well paying jobs in the smaller town. These must pay well, or else the allure of the big city will remain. I am optimistic that technology’s positive role in this.

It is possible to learn the formal methods behind software architecture or medical device design in a small town today. Formal knowledge is only one part, the smaller part, of the equation. Contextual and experiential knowledge, the bigger part, can only come from learning by doing and doing by learning. 

My proposal is to encourage setting up of small R&D clusters in small towns. Our experience makes me optimistic about this. The private sector has to make a strong push here, but the government can help too. 

Broadband adoption is crucial to these R&D clusters. This is a cheap form of infrastructure. Tax breaks are an obvious tool, but I am almost reluctant to mention them because of the potential for abuse.