Rural Development and Education - A Case Study of Kashmir with Special Reference to Ganderbal Block

Abstract

Education, one of the thrust areas, is a critical input in development in general and in human resource development in particular and is a catalyst for empowerment, poverty reduction and growth per se. The main objective of rural development had been to bring improvement in the level of living, including employment, education, health, nutrition, housing, and a variety of social services; decrease inequality of rural incomes and rural-urban differences in income; and the capacity of the rural sector to accelerate the pace of improvement in rural areas. Since rural development was a popular program of development in Kashmir, this Study seriously intended to trace the educational transformation and change. In this context, a case study was conducted in block Ganderbal, which covered 250 respondents, 62.80 percent illiterate and 37.20 percent as  literate. The rural development had been lopsided and the social implications had not been deep and radical.

Paper Type: Empirical-Cum-Field study.

Keywords: Kashmir, Rural Development, Beneficiaries, Educational Implications, Ganderbal block.