Rural-urban Income Disparity, Agriculture-Nutrition-Health Linkages, and Secondary Agriculture

The study has examined the pattern of income inequality and poverty in the rural and urban India and has looked into the efforts being undertaken towards income re-distribution, poverty alleviation and farmers’ empowerment to get a higher price for their produce. The paper has also studied agriculture-nutrition-health linkages and the role of women education in these linkages. The study has revealed that in both rural and urban areas, the share in consumption expenditure of the bottom 30 per cent of the population has declined, while the share of the top 30 per cent has increased leading to increase in inequalitites. Regarding health, nutrition, environment and development linkages, the paper has observed the need of integrated approaches encompassing areas such as food production, water supply and sanitation, industrial policy, human settlements, environment and risks. The paper has outlined the role of secondary agriculture which encompasses activities such as extraction of medicines from herbs, vitamins from foodgrains, fibre board from rice straw, oil from rice bran, etc. in economic development and livelihood security in the rural areas.