Infrastructure in India

Why are certain states in the country metropolitan, urban and others semi-urban? What is it that makes a state rank higher in terms of development as compared to other? Or why is it that one state is much prosperous in agriculture while another in fishing and yet another in say, textiles? It all boils down to the infrastructure of the state we are talking about. And what does the infrastructure in India look like? Let us study more about it below.

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What is Infrastructure?

Infrastructure is the concrete, tangible structures, and areas such as roads, building or power supplies which helps facilitate the smooth operation of a place. This place could be a small business enterprise or a state. Whatever you need to create an organized living and working space—such as houses, water supply, schools, corporate buildings etc. is infrastructure.

Why do we need Infrastructure?

Once we have understood the meaning of infrastructure, the next question to ask is “why do we need infrastructure in India?” The modern industrial economy relies heavily on infrastructure. To ensure that our industries are working efficiently we must first ensure that our infrastructure is at par with the requirements of the said industry.

With modern day technologies improving the manner in which farming is done, a supportive infrastructure is equally crucial for the agriculture sector.

• We need infrastructure to ensure that the produce of agriculture reaches the markets, for that we need roads which connect the farming lands to the farmer’s markets.
• Some farm produces or dairy products are perishable, for those we need infrastructure that can help preserve them, such as cold storage spaces for fruits and vegetables.
• We also export certain of our fruits and vegetables, since they are perishable, we need to have upgraded transport facilities such as airways and railways to ensure that the vegetables and fruits are exported within time and well preserved.

These and several other everyday functions of the state require a need for sturdy infrastructure, without which a country may lag behind in the race of development.

Condition of Infrastructure in India

Traditionally, building and maintaining infrastructure in India has been one of the responsibilities of government. But with time, the government has started permitting private sectors into the field of infrastructures. Currently, many of the infrastructure projects in the country are handled either solely by private sector enterprises or under a joint venture of the public and private sector.

Infrastructure in India has still a very long way to go before we can call ourselves a developed nation. There are still broad disconnects between the rural and the urban sectors. The roads and other means of contact between these two sectors are still not very developed. We require well-paved roads connecting the remote areas of the country with the urban states so that more and more facilities are made available to the rural Indian population. A lot of artisans and farmers still work in the remote places of the country and are unable to sell their products in the mainland due to lack of proper infrastructure.

The Future of Infrastructure in India

It is predicted that India is on its way to becoming the third largest economy in the world. But for that to happen, the conditions of infrastructure in India will have to improve massively. More investment needs to be made in this sector. Presently we see the government giving importance to making more roads and signing international accords to create economic corridors. These will help take India to an international platform.

India has also created several Special Economic Zones or SEZs. These zones are economically potential places in India where foreign investments are welcomed and investors have given a hassle-free environment for conducting business. SEZs are crucial to us because they help in improving the GDP of the country. Therefore it is important for India to improve its infrastructure in SEZs so that more and more FDI can come in India.

Examples of Infrastructure

Highways, Railways, Sea harbours, Cold Storage, Warehouses etc. are some of the examples of infrastructure in India.

Activity

Here is what you can do to understand infrastructure better:

• Look around your locality and point out all the things that come under infrastructure.
• Once you have made a list of that, create another list of the infrastructure that you think your locality needs and does not yet have.
• Pick up the paper and find out the meanings of the terms such as Private Public Partnership (PPP), Build Operate Transfer (BOT), and Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV)
• Make a list of all the SEZs in India and find out more about their infrastructure requirement.

Question For You

Q. Posts and Telegraphs is a:

1. Joint sector enterprise
2. Departmental enterprise
3. State governmental enterprise
4. Non-departmental enterprise

Sol: The answer is b i.e. Departmental enterprise