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This chapter challenges the urban bias in studies on the middle class in India and underlines the need to focus on the significant role rural middle class plays in economic diversification. Given that more than 23% of the upper middle class are located in rural India, it is surprising to note that their contribution in supporting experience economy remains under-researched. Thus, this chapter fills a key gap in existing studies on rural tourism in India by underlining how rural middle-class has triggered a huge demand for travel within the country itself for rural cultural programmes and different schemes to promote rural heritage sights.

According to Global Healthcare Security Index 2021, India ranked 66 out of 195 countries, indicating the need and scope for improvement. The Cooperative healthcare system which has been rendering exemplary services is yet to gain visible recognition in India. Given the need for upgrading the health infrastructure in India and providing more affordable health services to the country’s growing population, it would help appreciate the large role that cooperative healthcare can play along with others. This study explores the structure, conduct, and performance of healthcare co-operatives in India, the factors contributing to their success and failure, and the challenges they face. The Health Cooperatives have a strong presence in Kerala and Karnataka and are also coming up in other parts of the country. However, a detailed database of them for public awareness is very limited. The cooperative hospitals can meet the basic requirements of curative treatment in rural and poorly-endowed urban areas. The democratic way in which they function makes them a destination for a financially weaker section. They must retain this feature. The study covers two successful cases which reveal that India needs a more dense healthcare cooperative network. Since cooperative hospitals in tune with the spirit of service run on the principle of being ‘Not-for-Profit’ they need to be supported by the governments more liberally, without however interfering with their governance and administration.

The advent of information technology and the consequent access to Internet has led to significant changes in marketing practice where e-marketing has been the natural outcome of these technological changes and marketing innovations. For modernization and digital formation in India, marketing perception has been changing continually (“All business growth can only happen if business learners faster than the rate at which its customer changes” – William Charnock and Jonny Langden). E-marketing is currently the better element of the marketing mix. It has substantial benefits to the customer, marketers, and in society. Conscious customers have been increasing their purchase through e-marketing as it has a lot of benefits. It has opened a huge business opportunity for marketers. E-marketing is now tapping new markets. This paper is aimed at investigating the changing consumer perception and environment of e-marketing in rural India for consumer durables based on a primary survey. The primary data are collected from 200 households selected randomly in Howrah and Hooghly districts of South Bengal. We have used the chi-square tests to study the role of several demographic factors on e-marketing behavior. We have observed that demographic factors such as gender, family income, and education have an impact on e-marketing. This study also identifies the problems faced by rural customers with reference to payment, goods checking, language, etc., and the problems faced by marketers. In conclusion, appropriate suggestions have been made in this regard.

India is a diverse country in which the development of services for children with disabilities presents many challenges. There is evidence that progress towards the provision of educational and therapeutic services has been considerable in the metropolitan cities, with reports of many examples of good and innovative practice. Rural communities are often less well served, and families living in some areas continue to face challenges when attempting to gain support for their children with disabilities. This chapter interrogates the situation for families in districts in southern and central India. The authors draw upon recent research to consider how the challenges of providing a multi-disciplinary support mechanism can be delivered to those living in these areas. Issues related to co-ordination of services, recruitment and retention of professionals and allocation of resources are considered through an examination of the socio-economic conditions confronted by families and professionals. Case study evidence from projects aimed at providing effective services are presented and discussed.

Healthcare is indispensable for any civilisation to attain a good quality of life and well-being on both mental and physical levels. The healthcare domain primarily falls under pharma, medical, biotechnology, and nursing. Also, other fields may be aligned with these primary fields. Healthcare amasses the contemporary trends and knowledge of upcoming techniques to improve healthcare processes. The practitioners are primarily doctors, nurses, specialists and health professionals, hospital administrators, and health insurance.

It is a fundamental attribute needed for any society to attain good quality of life and well-being in mental and physical health. It is a fundamental right of people to receive good healthcare where drug treatment and hospitalization are available at a nominal cost, as a requirement of today’s modern era. There appears to be a significant disparity in the availability of good healthcare in rural areas compared to urban in India. Even though we enter the digital era with the facilities offered in Industry 4.0 and other advanced technologies brings about a significant change of overall processing within healthcare systems. During the pandemic of COVID-19, there has been digital transformation with success globally. Healthcare cooperatives are a new norm to support the healthcare systems globally. The chapter discusses Gampaha healthcare cooperative and reviews Ayushman Sahakar scheme in India. The reforms require time to evolve.

A major chunk of rural people live on agriculture and other allied activities viz animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries, etc. Rural development constitutes of lot of big data related to rural employment which has driven this study to address a research question that what is the application of big data in rural development with special reference to the world’s largest public works and wage employment generating poverty alleviation program – Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)? The concepts of MGNREGA are novel and innovative though the program continues to suffer from various rigidities depicted from the data. This drives us to the objectives of our research. The objective of the study is to explore literature and big data on rural development with special reference to MGNREGA, explore the upcoming challenges in rural employment with special reference to MGNREGA, identify gaps in existing literature and pave out future research direction. The present study paves various ways for future research directions for academicians, researchers and policy maker.

This chapter examines a periodic market at the bottom of the pyramid. This study has made an attempt to improve the understanding of rural periodic markets and associated issues of infrastructure, information, etc. A qualitative case research method was adopted to collect rich and contextual information about a rural periodic market in a capital city of north India. Themes related to the market background, market characteristics, market functions, etc., were identified and discussed. This study also brings out some of the issues and challenges associated with rural periodic markets. This chapter takes the bottom-up approach to understand challenges of periodic markets. Findings of this research are expected to be helpful in framing the policy for informal markets embedded in social systems. Implications for businesses which are interested in having access to rural periodic markets are also brought out.