Before digging in to the subject I must say that this is my first
blog and I am writing this to share some of my experiences and learning in the
field. The views expressed here are my personal opinions drawn from my own
observations. I am in the process of learning, and i am always open to questions
pertaining to the ideas or views expressed in this blog.
This blog
post is the first part of the series of posts I would like to write on ‘the dynamics of promoting entrepreneurship
among the rural poor’. This part basically explains ‘the need for promoting entrepreneurship among the rural poor’.
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As most of
us must be aware of the famous Chinese axiom ‘’Give a man a fish, and you have fed him once. Teach him how to fish and you have fed him
for a lifetime”, to extend it further, ‘Teach
him how to make a business out of the extra fish that he catches everyday and
you have improved his standard of living’ (assuming that he uses his
earnings for the right purpose). To put in simple words this art of generating
wealth out of the existing opportunity using available resources is what we
call as entrepreneurship.
What is entrepreneurship: defining
entrepreneurship is not an easy task as there are numerous definitions provided
by various scholars based on the different contexts. Hence to choose a
definition appropriate to rural context, we need to think of entrepreneurial
skills that will be needed to improve the quality of life of individuals and
communities and to sustain a healthy economy and environment. Hence “Entrepreneurship is the process of creating
value by pulling together a unique package of resources to exploit an
opportunity.” 1
The need for promoting entrepreneurship among rural poor:
Eradication
of extreme poverty and hunger is one of the important millennium development
goals. Countries all over the world are implementing several programs to
achieve this and India with a vast BPL population has a long track of policies
to combat extreme poverty and hunger. These policies over last 50 years have
taken various shifts from providing direct food subsidies, providing rural
employment opportunities to promoting rural entrepreneurship.
As mentioned
in the Chinese poem charity has its limits i.e. providing food subsidies is
only a temporary solution and it is not sustainable in the long run keeping in
mind the alarming economic situation. Also for an average rural family the food
subsidy is not sufficient and hence they need to struggle for the remaining
food. Hence governments have moved a step ahead towards providing employment in
the rural areas i.e. teaching fishing.
This policy
of creating rural employment sponsored by the government came as a game changer
and helped many people in earning their bread. But it has its limits i.e. it has
only provided limited employment which is not sufficient for a family to live a
decent life. Keeping in mind the ever growing population and dwindling public
finance, this policy alone may not help in improving the standard of living of
rural people. Hence governments have moved a step further towards promoting
rural entrepreneurship.
Promotion of
rural entrepreneurship generates local jobs and adds value to the rural economy
by reducing the stress on the government sponsored employment. Sustainable entrepreneurial
activities ensure regular employment to the people and hence facilitates in
improving their standard of living. But
the challenge lies in promoting entrepreneurship in rural areas.
To
summarize, poverty is multi dimensional and hence need a multi pronged
approach. All the three government
initiatives mentioned above have contributed to reduce economic poverty. Though
one approach may be better than the other but in reality all the three
approaches are necessary depending on the context and level of
poverty of the individuals.
