RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

electricity for tow SES groups indicate economic disparity between iow and high income strata . This gap due to the unegual distribution of resources is even wider in rural areas where only big farmers harvest the fruits of agriculturat есопоту and епјоу social, economic and political power in their areas . 3 ) About 70 '/. of the rural poputation betongs to the groups which аге dependent on the big landlords . The literacy rate in rural areas is only 17.33Z as compared to 26.2Z titeracy rate in urban areas. Other indices of sanitary conditions, housing , water supply and road conditions also show a simitar disparity between rurat and urban areas , These socio-economic conditions demand carefut and well-planned devetopment strategies and sound poticies to uplift the rurat masses and boost agricultural production in the country . Since its inception PaKistan has experienced different rural development strategies such as Village Aiđ; Basic Оетосгасу , People's Works Program (PWP ); Green Revolution; Integrated Rurat Development Program (IRDP); and the Local Government anđ Rural Development Program. The current агту regime has merged PWP and IRDP in a new set up Known as the Rural Devetopment Organization (RDO). Under the new set up the elected bodies of Locat Councils are responsible for developments in their areas . These programs have achieved some objectives of higher and better agricultural output and have solved some local issues . However , overall conditions in the rurat sector have not changed much. Obviously , the goal of uplifting the rural masses was not achieved and the task of rurat development remained a dream for planners and administrators . Reasons behind the failure of these programs tie in planning and implementation of these projects . In the first place selection of target areas was not based on needs of the people . Absence of the communication component was another major drawback of these programs . The recent research on rural development has placed importance on communication links between the audience and the communicator . Planning of these projects has also lacked continuity with analysis of previous experiences . Positive and negative aspects have never been evaluateđ to learn lessons for planning in the future . Consequently , every new program had to be starteđ from scratch. Though the people's involvement has been a major objective of these programs, the organizational structure was highly centralized . This has been a major hurdle to achieving people's participation . 4

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