From the time of independence to date, several urban developments and growth-oriented programs were implemented in India, but still half of the population of rural areas is below the poverty line. Nearly 70% of all deaths, and 92% of deaths due to communicable diseases, occurred among the 20% of the poorest population.

Life expectancy rose from 33 years to 62 years in 1947-98, the infant mortality rate decreased from 146/1000 live births to 72/1000 live births in 1947-1999. The health of the rural population is decreasing due to the most hazardous atmosphere, living conditions, unsafe and unhygienic birth practices, no proper sanitation, non-availability of potable water, poor nutrition. The majority of the rural population has limited resources, they spend minimal amounts on food and necessities.

India is one of the rapidly growing economies in the world, yet around 73 million people are living in extreme poverty (Brookings report). India’s poverty is primarily rural it comprises one-third of the poverty-stricken individuals. Scheduled caste, Scheduled tribes, Landless laborers, and casual workers are mostly prevailing in the conditions of poverty. The conditions of poverty among
rural communities are characterized by a lack of financial resources, land, assets, property, and other resources.

The majority of the poverty-stricken people are employed in the agriculture sector and other activities such as animal husbandry,
fisheries, and daily workers. Poverty is a complex phenomenon and it overlaps and is interlinked with political, social, economic
systems.

Roads, transport, and mobile communication play an important role in rural development. It connects the people of rural areas to the outside world. In India, many poor communities are isolated due to bad road conditions, inadequate transport, and a lack of mobile communication services. Bad connectivity causes many other problems for rural people. Bad road conditions make it difficult for people of rural areas to transport their goods or make it to the workplace, to handle health emergencies. Bad mobile communication causes problems like lack of information and awareness among the rural people.

Progress report of village electrification of 2015 shows that around 19,909 villages are not electrified yet. Even the villages that are electrified are not getting quality power and estimation shows that 33% of villages are under electrification. They only have access to less than 50kWh of electricity per month.

Water causes a majority of health diseases. Inadequate or impure water supply is an issue in most rural areas these days. The number of Indians affected by water-borne disease every year is 37.7 million. The death toll is also very high, approximately 1.5 million children die due to diarrhea alone each year. The Indian government spends around $600 million on health services in rural areas for waterborne disease. Pure water is a necessity and it must reach the people of rural areas.

In 2015, the youth literacy rate in India was 90.2% while the adult literacy rate in India was 74.04% in 2011. In India, there is a wide gender gap in literacy rates. In 2011, 82.14% of men were literate while only 65.46% of women were literate. This gap causes a negative impact on population stabilization and family planning. Though we have seen an increase in the female literacy rate in the last decade, there is still a gap that needs to be filled out.

Unemployment is a big issue in India, especially in rural areas. Youth is migrating to urban areas to find jobs while the aged remain in rural areas. The amount of agricultural land is the same but the population is growing. With the increase in agriculture technology, we have seen a decreased rate of employment in the past few years.

The most common reasons why people are migrating to urban areas is the lack of income and lack of opportunities. These are the economic factors, there are also other factors like health, finance, social, education, etc.