Source Credit: IANS
State how the Indian government holds policies and programmes currently that have really brought changes in narrowing the gap between rural and urban living standards.
There is a recent household consumption expenditure survey, presented in Rajya Sabha on March 10, 2025 which shows how successful these schemes were in reducing urban-rural disparity, according to Minister of State, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) Rao Inderjit Singh.
Such government initiatives include the Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), and several other schemes for promotion of rural livelihoods and welfare.
In fact, this survey shows an impressive narrowing of the urban-rural divide in monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE). The gap was reduced from the much higher 84 per cent in 2011-12 to 71 percent in 2022-23. For 2023-24 it is expected that the figures would show further narrowing to 70 percent. Growth in time has been more pronounced in rural areas than in urban areas, reiterating the continuing positive effects of government welfare programs.
At average monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE) of Rs. 4,122 in rural areas and Rs. 6,996 in urban areas, these rural per-capita consumption expenditures are attained. Most returned, however, bring in free goods and services which may be accessed from various welfare programmes, and rural MPCE augments to Rs 4,247, while urban MPCE rises to Rs 7,078. This has really spoken volumes of the performance of the government towards the economic condition of rural India and really spoke about the reducing rural-urban gaps.
It continues to really be sustained by momentum through schemes with consumption and welfare converging towards overcoming rural-urban differences for the upliftment of many in living standards.
