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Rural development is important for the nation's socio-economic upliftment. It is the process of improving the economic conditions and upgradation of physical and social infrastructure in rural areas. In India, 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992, has recognised Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) as the third tier of governance and given them the constitutional mandate for bringing improvements in the lives of people living in rural settlements. Yet, the rural settlements are not getting developed as per the expectations of rural population. Rural development is either totally ignored or given less preference as compared to the urban development. Regional Planner is entrusted with the responsibility to prepare a plan integrating rural and urban settlements. For rural settlements, either a plan does not exist or it has been prepared without detailed sectoral, spatial and financial planning. For urban settlements, though master plans do exists yet they have not been made for all the towns. In the absence of nationwide efforts to prepare regional plans for achieving the balanced regional development as per the constitutional mandate, there is an increase in region-wide disparities between rural and urban settlement.

Earlier studies have focused on comprehending different nuances of rural life by studying employment opportunities, provision of basic infrastructure, quality of life, a disparity between urban and rural areas, etc. There is a lack of comprehensive study to systematically understand the relationship between rural and urban settlements, access and availability of amenities in rural areas and provide suggestions to bring improvement in the living conditions of rural habitant so as to make it a model village. The book fills this gap by imparting an understanding of the rurality in a highly urbanised district and suggesting ways to transform a village into a model village.

With the help of extensive quantitative and qualitative data collected from varied tiers of governance, i.e. state, district, tahsil, block and village, the book highlights the problems existing in the rural settlements and analyses the potentials to make it an ideal settlement having a provision of urban amenities.