Read the passage below and answer the following question. The rapid growth in urbanisation shows that the town or city has been acting as a magnet for the rural population. People go to urban areas in search of work. Rural-to-urban migration has also been accelerated by the continuous decline of common property resources like ponds, forests and grazing lands. The city may also be preferred for social reasons, specially the relative anonymity it offers. It allows the poorer sections of the socially dominant rural groups to engage in low status work that they would not be able to do in the village. For the socially oppressed groups like the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, this may offer some partial protection from the daily humiliation they may suffer in the village where everyone knows their caste identity. Mass transit and mass communication are briding the gap between rural and urban areas. Today the rural areas are more closely integrated into the consumer market. Agriculture used to be by far the largest contributor of the country's total economic production. Today it contributes only about one-fourth of the gross domestic product. Rural people are increasingly engaged in non-farm rural occupations like transport services, business enterprises or craft manufacturing. If they are close enough, then they may travel daily to the nearest urban centre to work while continuing to live in the village. |
The gap between rural and urban areas are bridged by: |
Interpersonal relationships of people in rural areas Social services conducted by non-governmental organisations Mass transit and mass communication Marriage alliances between people of rural and urban areas |
Mass transit and mass communication |
The correct answer is Option (3) → Mass transit and mass communication The passage states that "Mass transit and mass communication are bridging the gap between rural and urban areas." |