The Rural Prosperity and Rural Resilience (RPRP) programme will help unlock rural productivity, promote greater corporate presence in hinterlands and drive sustained economic growth, rural development secretary Rohit Kansal said at a Confederation of Indian Industry event in the national capital.
The RPRP, Kansal underscored, represents a shift from fragmented livelihood interventions for rural India towards integrated local economic transformation.
It seeks to build rural economies by converging livelihoods, enterprise development, skilling, digital systems, financial inclusion and local value chains.
Currently, the rural development department implements programmes, including those for rural employment, housing, roads, livelihood, skilling and self-help groups.
The government has budgetted a total of Rs 1.94 lakh crore for various rural schemes for the current fiscal, against the FY26 revised estimate of Rs 1.87 lakh crore.
“At its core, the RPRP recognizes that rural prosperity cannot be built through charity, through CSR (corporate social responsibility), through welfare, or even through integrated support,” Kansal said. “It must emerge from community institutions linked to markets, technologies, finance and local production.”This lays stress on improving producer collective and women-led enterprises, empowering community resource persons and firming up a catalytic approach to a local economic transformation, he said.
In many ways, the planned programme reflects the direction in which rural development itself is evolving–from the development and delivery of programmes to ecosystem creation, Kansal said.
Hinterlands are no longer a mere centre for intervention but that of opportunities. Rural India, Kansal said, offers three powerful entry points–as a supply base, as a consumption market, and as a platform for innovation.
“The future of resilient supply chains, inclusive growth and sustainable demand will increasingly depend on how effectively we are able to integrate our rural economy into mainstream economic systems,” he said.