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 bridging 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.
Which one of the following is correct?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Rural areas are integrated closely with the consumer market
Option (1) People shift to urban areas to maintain close ties — False. The city is preferred for the opposite reason: the relative anonymity it offers. Urban life involves interaction with strangers, which protects the socially oppressed from daily humiliation in the village where everyone knows their caste.
Option (2) Rural areas are integrated closely with the consumer market — True. Mass media bring images of urban life styles and patterns of consumption into the villages, so urban norms become known even in remote areas and create new desires to consume. Today the rural areas are more closely integrated into the consumer market.
Option (3) Rural population today is highly interested in farming — False. Rural people are increasingly engaged in non-farm rural occupations like transport services, business enterprises or craft manufacturing. So fewer and fewer of them live by farming alone.
Option (4) People shifting to rural areas to search for jobs — False. The movement runs from the village to the city: the town or city acts as a magnet for the rural population, and those who cannot find work in rural areas go to the city in search of it.
NCERT (2025-26): “2.6 Rural-Urban Differences … Mass media and communication channels are now bringing images of urban life styles and patterns of consumption into the rural areas. Consequently, urban norms and standards are becoming well known even in the remote villages, creating new desires and aspirations for consumption. Mass transit and mass communication are bridging the gap between the rural and urban areas. Even in the past, the rural areas were never really beyond the reach of market forces and today they are being more closely integrated into the consumer market (The social role of markets will be discussed in Chapter 4).” “…Sometimes the city may also be preferred for social reasons, specially the relative anonymity it offers. The fact that urban life involves interaction with strangers can be an advantage for different reasons. 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.…” |