Impact Of Dichotomy On Rural-Urban Economy In India

The pandemic has affected the Indian Economy in many ways. The first wave of the virus has affected the economy in urban areas as the whole market was shut down due to the lockdown. During all this, the Rural Economy of India showed resilience to the effects of the pandemic. It showed a two-speed economy in Rural and urban India, where one sector struggled to keep up with the situations the other kept on giving a better performance than the other.

This happened because of no restrictions on agricultural activities. The markets were closed but activities like farming, and other allied activities kept on happening. The rural sector shoed a growth of 3.6 percent during 2020-21 with total food production of 305.44 million tonnes which is 2.66 percent higher than the previous year. 

This all changed during the second wave of the virus. The second wave caused the rise in unemployment rates in rural India by 10.63 percent. The increase in the number of cases led the healthcare expenditure for people. The transfer of money from the urban to rural areas caused the disruptions in supply chain and affected several sectors such as FMCG, electronics that were having a good start in the rural areas. 

Along with all this, the pandemic has caused a massive technology up-gradation in rural areas. People have started adopting e-commerce platforms, with mobile devices becoming the basic necessity of every household. Clearly, India needs to strike balance between the rural and urban economies for sustainable growth and development.