RISC: Rural Infrastructure and Services Commons

I found this rather interesting article on the Indian Economy Blog which talks about an initiative that is trying to prove that development does not necessarily mean urbanization. It first lays out the arguments as to why urbanization is "usual" path to development, and then goes on to suggest an alternative.

Excerpt: It is therefore argued that 'village-centric' development is not feasible because of resource limitations and because people naturally tend to migrate out of villages to cities. Furthermore, it not desirable since a vibrant economy depends on the aggregation of the population into units much larger than a small village. In short, investing scarce resources into villages is short-sighted and uneconomical.

Based on the above considerations, a model for rural development has been conceived called RISC – Rural Infrastructure and Services Commons. The RISC idea is to bring to the rural population the full set of services that are normally available only in urban locations. It works within the constraints of limited resources by focusing attention to and concentrating investments at specific locations to obtain economies of scale, scope, and agglomeration.

Link to full article


I asked Makarand what he thought of this, and this is his response:


I have had occasion to go through this mail (and the blog)... Nice one and thanx for forwarding it to me..

Interestingly this has been an idea that has been around for some time now... This is what the neo-Gandhians have been talking of when they talk of self sufficiency of a village. Gandhi had a concept that the village must be a self sustaining unit. He exhorted youth to go to the villages and work there.. I have some stories to tell you.. may be next time over coffee.. You may recall his famous speech in the Lahore Congress conference that "India Lives in her villages" and India is not a few under lawyers in Mumbai and Delhi..

The neo-Gandhians believe the same.. Only thing they say is that the villages must generate enough wealth within so as to enable them to talk on equal terms with other villages and fulfill the requirements that they cant fulfill within.. That means that a village may produce cotton and TRADE with another for onions if they don't produce any! That he called a 'village republic'...