‘Development of rural areas key to economic progress’

S.K. Singh, former director, Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific, Dhaka, Bangladesh, and former director, Centre for Panchayati Raj, National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad, has appreciated the progress of rural development in Asia.

Delivering the key-note address at the inaugural function of a two-day national seminar on ‘Sustainable rural development: challenges and opportunities in India’ here on Friday, he said development of rural areas in the 14 countries in Asia was significant for the continent’s economic progress on a sustainable basis.

He said agriculture and industry existed as two separate entities in the past.

However, modern scientific and technological developments had led to a positive synergy between these two and it was bringing about notable changes in rural areas in the last decade.