Bottom billion strategy-smart Villages

In India where two-thirds of the population lives in around 600, 000 villages, empowering villagers to create income-generating enterprises can lead to improved food security, education and health, and to participatory democracy. The concept of the ―smart village‖ is that modern energy access can act as a catalyst for sustainable development for a neglected group of people—the ‗bottom billion‘ who often live in remote off-rural communities. National estimates show that poverty among smallholders is much higher than for other farmers. The rising number of marginal and small landholdings along with the large number of people that continue to be employed in agriculture is a major development challenge for policymakers. This highlights the opportunity of adopting the concept of smart villages and promoting productive enterprises to raise income levels of marginal landholders and landless agricultural labourers as well as promoting non-farm activities within rural areas. There is no denying fact that we need smart villages. This is the biggest challenge facing all developing countries today. There are technologies available and they are successful elsewhere. But the failure comes from lack of strategy, integrated planning and execution. Yet, several decades after independence, we are nowhere close to realizing Gandhi‘s vision of empowered villages. Rural India remains in a deplorable state. We need efficient strategies to uplift the rural community which is very much imperative than Smart Cities. These Smart Villages will complement the ambitious urban development project of Smart Cities. Development of ‘smart villages ’will bring financial prosperity to these places, besides better education and healthcare facilities.