The 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai underscored the need for scaling up and strengthening adaptation and resilience activities to protect the vulnerable sections of society, such as farmers, from the adverse impacts of climate change. Escalating rural migration and diminishing local production in rural areas due to climate impacts markedly influence the Indian economy, which is essentially agrarian and predominantly rainfed.
Mahatma Gandhi’s quote that the ‘real India lives in its villages’ still holds true for India, given that nearly 65 per cent of India’s population resides in rural areas. However, over the decades, there has been a noticeable decline in the contribution of the rural economy to the national domestic product. In the 1970s, the rural sector accounted for 84 per cent of the total workforce and generated over 62 per cent of the total net domestic product. This share decreased to 71 per cent by 2011–2012.
In recent years, although the rural sector has been supporting 65 per cent of India’s total workforce, its contribution to the national domestic product has dwindled to a mere 25 per cent.