Three years ago, we started Rural Voice as a new vision for agriculture and rural India. Mahatma Gandhi had said that India resides in villages, and the former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh went a step ahead by noting that the path to the country's prosperity passes through its villages. Riding on the wave of economic liberalization, India is moving towards becoming a five trillion-dollar economy, but in the ups and downs of this wave of economic progress, the villages and rural population are being left behind. Various statistics and surveys confirm that rural India, more so agriculture, has lagged far behind urban India and other sectors of the economy. This gap is increasing in every aspect of life. The launch of 'Rural World' is a continuation of the mission on how to reduce this gap.

Rural World is a new addition to the journey of media venture Rural Voice Media Pvt. Ltd. The experienced team of Rural Voice includes experts in agriculture and rural economy, science and technology, policymaking, agri-business, and trade. Through Rural Voice, we have been seeking to bring rural India and agriculture closer to other sectors through the power of news, information, and information systems to improve the economic and social life of villages and farmers.

In this inaugural issue of Rural World, Professor Ramesh Chand, a member of NITI Aayog and a renowned agricultural economist and policy expert, has argued that in developed nations, there is a need to reduce the burden on agriculture by taking people dependent on it into manufacturing and service sectors. The formula has been successful. But now this formula is failing because even the double-digit growth rate of those sectors has failed to generate better employment opportunities. As far as India is concerned, the latest periodic labour force survey data for 2022-23 shows that 45.8 percent of the country's working people are still engaged in agriculture and allied sectors. In such a situation, a new formula will have to be found for India. The path to India becoming a developed nation will have to be through the policy of an agriculture-centric economy, but this path is not easy. It requires a new policy imagination.

Rural Voice, together with Socratus, conducted a six-month-long field investigation to understand the problems and issues of rural India through the eyes of its citizens. What, in their view, are the options for a better life and livelihood? There could not have been a better subject for the cover story of the inaugural issue of Rural World. Through our field visits over six months, we sought to delve deep into the life and aspirations of rural residents in 60 districts of five states with different economic-social and agro-climatic conditions. For us, Rural World is not just a new media product; it is an idea of a prosperous rural India. An idea of how agriculture can be a lead sector and growth driver of the economy that would help bridge the gap between Bharat and India. Rural World aims to enrich its readers with information, news, and analysis.

Rural World will also work as a bridge between technology and its adoption on the ground market and agriculture and rural India. As purveyors of information, our work will complement the efforts of government agriculture departments, agri-entrepreneurs, corporates, and cooperatives. The support and goodwill that Rural Voice received in the last three years has given us the courage to embark on this new venture. The journey of Rural World is starting with the positive thought that agriculture and rural India will be equal partners in achieving the goal of a developed and new India.

Finally, I would like to say something about the selection of the language for Rural World. We have decided to publish Rural World as a bilingual magazine both in Hindi and English. The reason for this is to make this magazine accessible to readers in all parts of the country. At the same time, due to the way the entire world has become connected like a link due to globalization and digitalization, it is necessary for the rural world to reach out at the global level. I hope that this effort of ours will be successful in making its place among the readers and all the stakeholders.