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(Articles published in The Rural India, Bombay from 1938 to 1965)
SANDEEP BANDHU
PANDIT GOPAL KRISHNA PURANIK
SANDEEP BANDHU
AN IDEAL LESSONS IN THE CONSTRUCTIVE PROGRAMMES OF MAHATMA GANDHI
PANDIT GOPAL KRISHNA PURANIK
(Articles published in The Rural India, Bombay from 1938 to 1965)
SANDEEP BANDHU
PT GOPAL KRISHNA RESEARCH PURANIK INSTITUTE GWALIOR
PANDIT GOPAL KRISHNA
PANDIT GOPAL KRISHNA PURANIK (Articles published in The Rural India, Bombay from 1938 to 1965)
SANDEEP BANDHU
ISBN I 81-7734-001-8 Price : Rs. 500/- ( Library Edition)
Rs. 300/- ( Paperback Edition) Edition : July’2018
Printed at Notion Press Chennai
Published by PANDIT GOPAL KRISHNA PURANIK RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Aarogyam, Shivpuri link road, GWALIOR-474001
Email: [email protected] www.ptgkp.com
Dedicated
To
“Rural India”
Where the Salvation of Global World Lies
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
CONCISE BIOGRAPHY
1. The Village Problem Analyzed-I November, 1938 1
2. How to Run a Village Construction November, 1938 5
3. The Village Problem Analyzed- II December, 1938 11
4. How to Run A Village Reconstruction-I February, 1939 16
5. How to Run A Village Reconstruction-II March, 1939 19
6. Cattle Wealth in Village November, 1939 25
7. Experiments in Rural Reconstruction July, 1940 32
8. The Problem of Education in Village November, 1940 41
9. The Responsibilities of village work December, 1940 47
10. The Problem of Education in Village January, 1941 53
11. Self-sufficient Unit In Village Organization April, 1941 56
12. Basic Education – A Study And Appearance May, 1941 62
13. A Village Study Tour-I July, 1941 71
14. A Village Study Tour-II August, 1941 75
15. A Village Study Tour-III September, 1941 79
16. Questionnaires on The Proposed Project
Of The All India Women’s Conference September, 1941 84
17. A Village Study Tour-IV October, 1941 89
18. The Message Of Vijaya Dashmi November, 1941 92
19. Village Renaissances and The Villagers December, 1941 100
20.Basic Factors Of Rural Economic Regeneration January, 1942 107
21. A Plea For Rural Economic Reconstruction March, 1942 114
22.The ‘Living Wage’ Scheme Of Village
Reconstruction April, 1942 122
23.A National Defect July, 1942 149
24.The Living Wage Standard For The Village January, 1943 153
25.The Order Of Constructive Workers February, 1943 161
26.The Test Of Interest Of Administrative
Authority March, 1943 167
27.Local Leadership In Village April, 1943 180
28.Economic And Educational Survey May, 1943 188
29.Need For Vigorous And Educative
Propaganda June, 1943 193
30.Where To Start A Village Centre? July, 1943 201
31. The Organization And Functions Of
“Gram Panchayat” August, 1943 206
32.Village Co-Operative Organization September, 1943 214
33.Planned Development Of Productive
Resources October, 1943 221
34.Intensive Programme Of Work November, 1943 229
35.Expert Guidance And Supervision December, 1943 233
36.The Mission Of A Rural University Jan.-Feb., 1944 236
37.Co-ordinate Of Nation Building Department March, 1944 246
38.Productive And Self-Supporting Basis April, 1944 249
39.The Message Of The Third Millennium
Of The Vikram May, 1944 254
40.Finance May, 1944 261
41. Conclusions Of The Living Wage Scheme July, 1944 262
42. Statical Basis Of Economic Planning October, 1944 265
43.The Role Of Constructive Worker In
Post-warNational Construction February, 1945 270
44.Why The Training Camp May, 1945 280
45. Post-war Construction And Economic
Planning June, 1945 288
46. Training For Post-war Development August, 1945 297
47. Constructive Mind September, 1945 306
48. History Of Rural Development Movement September, 1945 312
49. Social Security And National Minimum
In Rural Areas November, 1945 320
50. Rural Study Tour And Its Lesson March, 1946 327
51. The Task Before Pohri Rural Training
Camp May, 1946 342
52. A New Model Of A Village Unit August, 1946 348
53. Waging Total War Against Ignorance October, 1946 356
54. Soldiers Of Economic Freedom June, 1947 362
55. Farewell To The Trainees June-July, 1948 369
56. Turning Food Deficit Areas Into Surplus
An Example Of ‘Deori’ Rural Development December, 1948 375
57. Gandhi Centenary October,1969 378
58. Fighting The ‘Food Front’
Without Plan, Men And November, 1981 381
PREFACE
I recall memories from my childhood, when clad in classic khadi clothes especially my grandmother and other family members and parents used to nostalgically talk about Pt. Gopal Krishna Puranikji and his stories. They all lived a very simple and humble life, always praised and told inspiring stories of Pt. Gopal Krishna Puranik, who died in 1965 well years before my birth.
Most people who come to my house were vehemently nostalgiac about the times of Adarsh Vidyalaya and Pt. Gopal Krishna Puranik. Everybody felt so indebted to that person, his life and his vision, which evoked my interest in him and his works. My grandmother and paternal aunts use to tell me the stories about Pohri, Adarsh Vidyalaya, The Rural India Office in Bombay, and about Pt. Gopal Krishna Puranik’s regular morning walks to Chowpatty in Bombay, about their regular attendance in the congress sessions, the excellent environs of Adarsh Vidyalaya, all round creative works in field of education, rural development and cottage industries, about Adarsh Seva Sangh’s Brothers and Sisters and their love and regard they show towards each other was very astonishing irrespective of their caste, creed, color, religion or age. Their regular talks about Pohri and Bombay solidly imprinted a utopian and ideal image of those times in my young mind.
Soon after the death of my grandmother Gomati Bai in 1981and my paternal aunt Vidya Devi in 1987, we shifted from communal housing to an independent housing. Shortly, I became more focused on my studies and other activities. Soon enough I was posted as Assistant Registrar Cooperative Societies in Shivpuri in 1997 there I came in touch with Dr. Radhe Shyam Dwivedi, Narhari Prasad Sharma and others, who were greatly indebted to Adarsh Vidyalaya and Pt. Gopal Krishna Puranik.
As an Assistant Registrar Cooperative Societies in Shivpuri, I was astonished to audit the first cooperative bank in rural areas of erstwhile Gwalior State was founded by Adarsh Seva Sangh through Pt. Gopal Krishna Puranik before independence in 1947, Before that many rural cooperative societies started and managed by the alumni of Adarsh Vidyalaya and Adarsh Seva Sangh.
It was a hot day in June 1997, when I first visited Adarsh Vidyalaya. I saw a 92-year-old man sitting in karma mudra, wearing khadi clothes and Gandhi cap, writing something very attentively. A vary warm smile and hug still made me nostalgic about great freedom fighter Shri Ram Gopal Gupta. Then my visit to great Gandhian Shri Parmanada Puranik age 86 years, came as a eye opener to me for their attention, care and love I got in his family and especially from him.With me was Shri R C Shukla, then District Excise Officer of Shivpuri at the age of 59, mesmerized by the old feeling of the golden period of Adarsh Vidyalaya and Gopal Krishna Puranik that he begin to cry and tears rolled down
through his cheeks with childhood friends of all caste, including his old muslim and lower caste friends.
This was the time I was greatly moved by the work doneby Gopal Krishna Puranik and his Institutions , and the grand Adarsh Vidyalaya family which he left behind as disciplined and dedicated band of members irrespective of any difference in their beliefs, caste, creed, age even after 33 years he left this world.
In 1998, I first wrote articles on him with little knowledge but moved to join other Civil Service job in Mahakoshal region left me without touch since 2000, but somehow we started some annual remembrance programming of Gopal Krishna Puranik regularly in our gwalior residence. Then I came in contact with founder Secretary of Adarsh Seva Sangh Shri Hari Shanker Dwivedi and My regular visits and long chats with him regarding Gopal Krishna Puranik, Adarsh Vidyalaya, Adarsh Seva Sangh and freedom movement and independent India left me very much to admire and appreciate the selfless service and focused dedication of Pt. Gopal Krishna Puranik and his band of devoted disciples and workers. It was in 2007-08, soon after my transfer to Shivpuri, I searched all the editions of Rural India, which I got collected from India and abroad, a very long and time-consuming process, them compiled all the written documents which I could get from far and wide, compiling, reading, researching and editing for over
the best 10 years, now i'm position of authority to write and discuss Pt. Gopal Krishna Puranik and his works.
Going through all the monthly editorials since Jan 1940. running over 25 years is a living saga of his vision of India, historical documentation of events, ideas, and persons guiding the destiny of the very low people of suppressed nation especially real rural India, eager to find utterness in the destiny of nation building.
Pt. Gopal Krishna Puranik was a pioneer in rural Journalism in India, being a prolific writer and through his various articles published in monthly rural journal ‘The Rural India’ Bombay from 1938 to 1965, he wrote about the rural problems, the rural reconstruction programs, and the economic development of rural villages for the upliftment of rural masses based on the self sufficiency in pre and post independent period of modern Indian history. For him, the salvation of India lies in villages, rural India being the cradle of Indian civilization and culture for thousands of years. Our villages have being the continuation of our age old traditions and for him, the rural reconstruction and developmental programs are the only solution for Indian rural problems created by the exploitative British rule in India, whereby every village will be a self-sufficient unit, socially harmonious and truly democratic representatives of ancient Indian republics.
Being the founder of the Rural India, pioneer journal on Indian villages and its problems, was published from Bombay since 1938. He was the editor of the journal from 1940 up to his death in 1965. In this journal he wrote 58 articles regarding the village problems, village reconstructions, village education, self sufficiency of villages, about his own experiences of village study tours and the lessons he learnt from them. For Gopal Krishna Puranik his inept understanding of the need for rural economic regeneration led him to rural economic reconstructions of villages through the living wage scheme for all workers, training programs to all rural workers, developing local leaderships in villages through his socio-economic and educational services. He tried to quantify and understand the problems of rural India through various surveys and micro studies. Through his vigorous and educative propaganda, he started organizing and functioning of the gram panchayats, whereby villages became center of progress and development. Through his cooperative organizations, he planned for the development of the villages for its equitable and judicial use of productive resources. He emphasized on intensive and comprehensive rural work programs in villages through rural reconstruction centres under the expert guidance and supervision of Adarsh Seva Sangh. Students, volunteers and social workers of Adarsh Vidyalaya and Adarsh Seva Sangh, led to the emergence of a successful reconstruction of ideal villages, which were supposed to be the future of independent and free India. His zeal and mission for creating a rural university to cater the needs of all rural folks and rural departments from school education, to training of rural workers, from
sustainable productive agricultural practices and development to welfare schemes and awareness programs. He wanted rural development to be based on a eco-sustainable, self-sufficient economic basis, and wanted this rural development mission should become a major nation-building project. He believed that through economic planning and organized working, the villages can be rebound to their old glory and self sufficiency. He emphasized the importance of working and the role of constructive workers in the village development, especially in post-war national reconstruction whereby he tries to give holistic training and provide education to create constructive minds and healthy bodies and to provide social security and national minimum wages in rural areas. Through his rural study tours and awareness campaigns he wanted to make it a comprehensive rural development movement. He created a new role model of developed and self sufficient villages through his rural reconstruction centers, which were the nucleus for all the adjoining villages and serves as central point for the development of that potential rural area. For Pt. Gopal Krishna Puranik, villagers and farmers are the soldiers of economic freedom and through his educational programs, he tries to raised a total war against ignorance, illiteracy and superstition through education and awareness. Through his rural development centers he tried to turn the deficient areas into surplus and led the farmers to fight the food security through planned use of men and resources. He was the one who gave the idea of All Indian Rural Development Conference and tried to unite all the development programs, welfare schemes, reconstruction programs in rural areas of British India and
Indian states and appealed them all to come together on a single national platform under the one umbrella of all Indian rural development conference. He was the one who tried to create new economic order in rural India through self-sufficient, eco-sustainable and all comprehensive development of villages. For him, the crisis of food was the biggest problem faced by the nation, therefore he called for food production and food security through various conferences and through Grain storehouses created a surplus of food grains in every village through voluntary contribution from farmers for the lean season. He called All India Food Conference in Pohri in 1949, to eradicate the problem of food. Nationalist and Freedom Fighter Pandit Gopal Krishna Puranik’s creative works, activities and life philosophies are based on Indian spiritual values and age old Vedic traditions of Indian culture and civilization. Through his Institutions of Adarsh Vidyalaya, Pohri and Adarsh Sera Sangh, Gwalior State he led them to successful experiments, selfless services and dedication to ideal and creative works in 252 villages of Gwalior State based on Gandhian ideology of planned rural development for total economic self sufficiency through its cottage industries in free and independent India, the goal imagined for the majority Indians living in rural areas in the National Freedom struggle. Pt. Gopal Krishna Puranik and his Institutions Adarsh Vidyalaya and Adarsh Seva Sangh, Gwalior became the centre of attractions, inspirations and learnings for all the contemporary Nationalists and Gandhian. Being Leader of the Omnipresent Revolution ever witnessed in rural India, Pandit Gopal Krishna Puranik through his great educational innovations and social reforms aimed at total self sufficient development of rural India centered on man and nature is still
very relevant in the 21st century as alternate global system for eco-sustainable and peaceful global life at present.
I am indebted to all who came across the journey of studying and researching Pt. Gopal Krishna Puranik, Adarsh Vidhyalaya, and Adarsh Seva Sangh. I place my gratitude for the kindness, cooperation, guidance, good advice of Late Shri Ram Gopal Gupta, Late Hari Shanker Dwivedi, Late Dr. R.S. Dwivedi, Late Shri Narhari Prasad Sharma and Shri O P. Saraswat and to my parents who have unflinching faith in Pt. Gopal Krishna Puranik and his values.
Also to my wife Shivani for her pains and tolerance for my nocturnal studies and to my daughter Isha and Surya, who always seek inspirations and see a role model in Gopal Krishna Puranik.
BANDHUTVA, SANDEEP BANDHU GWALIOR
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INTRODUCTION
Adarsh Seva Sangha was initiated with the founding of Adarsh Vidyalaya at Village Bhatnawar of then Pohri Jagir in the year 1921. In 1930 it was shifted to Pohri the tehsil Head quarter of the Jagir and ever since, the Head quarters of the Sangha are at Pohri with its varied socio economic and rural uplift activities.
The founder of the institution was Shri Gopal Krishna Puranik, a self-less Brahmin in the true sense of the terms. His ancestors were mafi-grant-holders of the Jagir and it was their family tradition for many generations to impart free Sanskrit education to boys with food and clothing in the typical oriental style. The main work of this family was to impart moral teachings by reciting puranas. This also provided their wherewithal. They lived the life of a Brahmin as enjoined on by the Shastras.
Gopal Krishna became an orphan at an early age of eight having lost his father al two and grand-father at eight. By this time he was taught all that could be taught and there after he had developed by participating in Puranas recitals where his extra-ordinary intelligence had received public appreciation.
As a lad of about 10 years his luck took him to Delhi and where he started living with Dr. Keshavdev Shastri-a member of the well-known trio in America Lala Lajpat Rai, Dr. Hardikar and Dr K. D. Shastri. Here in the company of Dr. Shastri's
American wife and sister-in-law he picked up English. Here he started thinking that Puranas were out of date and Sanskrit was a dead language.
Gopal Krishna Puranik started living in Delhi especially with Arya Samajists in early part of 1910s and then took active participation in home rule movement in 1915-16,
With His guardian Dr Keshav Deva Shastri, famous Arya Samajists and nationalist, in his early life in Delhi, he came in contact with many Arya Samajists and Indian revolutionaries especially of USA through Dr Keshav Deva Shastri and his American wife Minnie Jensen of Omaha, Lala Lajpat Rai of Lahore and Rai Bahadur Peare Lal of New Delhi.
Young Gopal Krishna Puranik was especially asked to go to USA to learn Journalism and to take care of India freedom struggle through Indian Home Rule League, then founded by Dr KD Shastri, Lala Lajpat Rai and Dr NS Hardikar in Chicago in 1917 and then to take over the charge of editorship of the magazine the Hindustani and the Young India in USA in 1918. Being the last male survivor of the family and having being influenced by the American associates, he sold his family ornaments and prepared to go to America to specialize in journalism. During this intervening period he approached me also as a jagir subject and also gave whatever little help he demanded . But his love for mother India especially birth place Pohri and pressure form all his relatives, natives and especially from his mother he decided against going to USA, thereby he once again revolted against the mainstream freedom struggle movement and
then he took the decision to fight all out all around within British India and Indian States for the Indian freedom and against the barbaric exploitation, discrimination and problems of poor and backward people in most backward regions of India especially Pohri area.
Gopal Krishna Puranik active participation in Gandhian freedom struggle in 1920-22 made him popular with all nationalists and freedom fighters especially the young one and where he came in contact with the Indian revolutionaries. Being nationalist, he was always revolutionary in his thoughts and actions as much as that even he himself was revolutionary in context that he had major ideological differences with MK Gandhi in sabarmati ashram in 1918 which he left just in 6 months.
By now it was 1920. It. was also the hey-days of the first Gandhian movement in India. Having met the great Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Lokmanya Tilak and Gandhiji, it was but natural that young Puranik must be influenced by these personalities. He came for a parting visit to Pohri-his native land . He also demanded a young boy to be accompanied to America. H. S. Dwivedi's father offered him to Shri Gopal Krishna Puranik and Dwivedi later joined him as his (Puranik's) first day student and Later he was Honorary Secretary of Adarsh Seva Sangha. The noble sentimental appeals of Bhatnawar (a top Jagir village) people who begged him to serve his own native land rather than go out. He now gave up the idea to go to America and made up his mind to start an educational institution. But when he returned to Bhatnawar after attending the Nagpur session of Indian National Congress, the extreme orthodox turned the villagers against Gopal Krishna owing to his principle of freedom from fetters of caste or creed in an educational institution; and
people were only brought round after undergoing a fast. That is how Adarsh Vidyalaya was started.
Adarsh Vidyalaya in Village Bhatnawar was thus started with only 7 students on roll. The system of education was a happy blending of the modern coupled with the Gurukul System, more of the latter.
Despite all odds and obstacles, Gopal Krishna Puranik initiated the freedom struggle in Gwalior State with the establishment of Adarsh Vidyalaya in village Bhatnawar in 1921 to educate and to make aware the most illiterate, exploited and backward people of the most backward region of India, the Pohri Jagir, of erstwhile Gwalior State. The village Bhatnawar was located in the remote and barren area of Gwalior State which was 8 km from Pohri and Pohri itself was 35 km from Shivpuri and Shivpuri was more than 100 Km from Gwalior. The Pohri Jagir was totally barren land in remote isolated territory with deep forests on the banks of Kuno river, then was very famous among nationalist revolutionaries for safe and secretive hideouts from British Raj Authorities. Despite its difficult terrain in most backward region and with most illiterate and backward people in Pohri region, Adarsh Vidyalaya was started in 1921 against all socio-economoic hurdles and teething problems. Adarsh Vidyalaya gradually became centre of anti-British and nationalists activities of Indian freedom struggle. All types of ideologies start flourishing in its premises and surrounding rural areas viz the ideology of national independence, protest against moneylender and landlords, creative work for reconstruction of villages and awareness against age old exploitations and caste dominance.
In the initial stages of Adarsh Vidyalaya, College educated teachers from Delhi, Bombay and Madras Presidency would come over there from British India for teaching and gradually Pohri region became a secretive hideouts for Indian national revolutionaries, which lead to the annoyance of the Jagirdar of Pohri, Sardar M N Sitole who in 1922 proclaimed an order to stop all these anti-national activities of Adarsh Vidyalaya and to throw out young Gopal Krishna Puranik from his Pohri Jagir. But anyhow in the middle of all these developments, Adarsh Vidyalaya kept continued with its educational and nationalist activities despite all social and economic hardships and traditional mindset obstacles of then rural Indian society. The seeds of national freedom movement and self awareness of human dignity which has been planted by young Gopal Krishna Puranik among the students and local people, they all continued with their strenuous efforts and selfless devotion and dedication towards nationalistic,socio-economic and educational cause.
With the establishment of Adarsh Vidyalaya, he started a social and educational movement against the money lenders and landlords and started infusing the awareness of freedom struggle, human exploitation, human values and literacy among the students of Adarsh Vidyalaya and around the rural folks of Pohri Jagir. In early part of 1920s, Adarsh Vidyalaya Pohri became the center for nationalistic activities and where all Indian revolutionaries like Ram Prasad Bismil, Chandashekar Azad, Kailashpati Asthana, Kashi Ram etc use to take refuse in the deep forests of Kuno-Sheopur areas,the birth place of GKP and started living in hideouts or as disguised teachers or social workers of Adarsh Vidyalaya in the remote rural areas of Pohri. This hideouts continues for all India revolutionaries and it remain very confidential. This confidential interaction between Indian revolunaries and Gopal Krishna Puranik in Adarsh Seva Sangh and Adarsh Vidyalaya continued for a long, which impacted so much to the young students and closed associates of Gopal Krishna Puranik that even they tried to become
revolutionaries, while they were studying in Delhi, Allahabad , Agra and taking trainings in different ashrams across India.
Again in 1923, the Gwalior State Gazette Notification through his Home Minister proclaimed to control young Gopal Krishna Puranik and his anti-national activities which were against the interests of the State. Inspite of this gazette notification he continued with his educational and constructive national activities. Somehow his band of disciples gradually increased and with teachers and scholars from outside Gwalior State, Adarsh Vidyalaya became the first English medium High School in the rural areas of Gwalior State.
This unstoppable activities of Gopal Krishna Puranik and Adarsh Vidyalaya gradually infused the feeling of nationalism, awareness of great happenings around the world especially in British India among the young students, teachers and the people of adjoining areas. Through education he made them literate and through character building values and lessons, he taught them to be self respecting and self dependent persons. In the meantime these young students and teachers became very active in the all round developments of Adarsh Vidyalaya and rebuilding of adjoining villages, thus started Rural Reconstruction Movement of Gopal Krishna Puranik which gradually became the epitome of Gandhian constructive programmes in the freedom struggle. The selfless and dedicated young students and teachers of Adarsh Vidyalaya became volunteers and social workers and led the development of adjoining rural areas, literacy and awareness among rural folks and feeling of restorative creativity in this barren and isolated region of India.
But being the true disciples of Gopal Krishna Puranik they lifelong struck to non violent Gandhian struggle even though this new
brigade of Gopal Krishna Puranik's disciples were always in touch with young nationalists, revolutionaries, congressman and socialists. In 1928, his disciple Harishankar dwivedi became member of Indian independence league with Subhash Chandra Bose as president and Jawahar Lal Nehru as its member secretary. even all most his associates and disciples of Adarsh Vidyalaya and
But the Britishers were not happy with the happenings in Pohri especially with Shrimant Madhorao Scindia, Maharaja of Gwalior for his non ability to stop the anti-national activities of Gopal Krishna Puranik and his institutions, especially providing the secretive shelters and hideouts to Indian National revolutionaries. Despite proclamations through gazette notifications, Gopal Krishna Puranik kept continuing with his all round educational, rural reconstruction and national activities. Once again under the pressure from Britishers, New Maharaja of Gwalior Shrimant Jiwaji Rao Scindia, through his home minister in 1929 proclaim in the gazette notification the order to crush the anti-national activities of Adarsh Vidyalaya and to throw Gopal Krishna Puranik out of the state of Gwalior, but somehow due to his personality and personal rapport with Sardar Shitole and his great educational and social works nothing much happened and the things continued with more zeal, more awareness, more creative work across the Pohri Jagir. Now, more and more nearby villages came into the fold of Adarsh Vidyalaya and its band of inspired, selfless, dedicated and devoted students, volunteers and social workers and ran a very successful rural reconstruction programs in villages of the Pohri Jagir and started to overlook comprehensively the problems of health, hygiene, education, panchayats in the rural areas of the Pohri Jagir, which was then the biggest Jagir in the erstwhile Gwalior State, which had a great impression on Sardar Sitole, the Jagirdar of
Pohri. Thus got impressed and inspired by Gopal Krishna Puranik and his creative works and nationalist activities, he gradually started admiring Gopal Krishna Puranik rather on the contrary started secretly helping the young GKP and his institutions with all his resources under his command. Finally Sardar Sitole was able to convinced Shrimant Jiwaji Rao Scindia, Maharaja of Gwalior about Gopal Krishna Puranik and his institutions as they are very nationalist and patriotic rather he is helping in the development of Pohri region and its people through his missionary zeal and doing great services to the rural folks. Hence, once got convinced, Maharaja of Gwalior became more favorable to young Gopal Krishna Puranik and his creative activities. Finally in 1931, through Gopal Krishna Puranik initiatives Adarsh Seva Sangh was granted the total management, supervision and control of 252 villages to look into the affairs of health and hygiene, education and panchayats of the whole Pohri Jagir of Gwalior State and he was given the task of managing, financing and looking after all these 252 villages with the selfless devoted band of social workers, motivated students, inspiring teachers and visiting scholars. Therefore, since 1931 Adarsh Seva Sangh became officially incharge of 252 villages of Pohri Jagir which also extends to clusters of villages in Gwalior, Bhind, Sheopur and Shivpuri areas spreading across the Gwalior State through Rural Reconstruction Centres. Thus, Adarsh Seva Sangh under Gopal Krishna Puranik became a very dominating force and started guiding the destiny of thousands of people of those rural areas. The associates and disciples of Gopal Krishna Puranik were being very selfless, dedicated and devoted band of workers with higher education from big cities of British India viz Bombay, Agra, Allahabad, Delhi and with active training from popular Ashrams of Sabarmati, Wardha, Sodhpur, Shantiniketan, Gurgaon and Sriniketan in different jobs and skills of cottage industries, started all round rural reconstruction activities.
After training and education across India these all selfless dedicated trainers, students and workers returned back to their own native place of Pohri Jagir and started selfless dedicated work of rural reconstruction especially in the field of health and hygiene, education, social welfare and panchayat raj under the auspices of Adarsh Seva Sangh and the able leadership of Gopal Krishna Puranik, which finally led to the miraculous and highly ideal results and successful achievements in their various works. First they made an economic plan for 10 years for the rural development programs, with the target of doubling the income of villagers and simultaneously assuring them of minimum wages in all seasons throughout the year with food protection guarantee to all through their improved agricultural practices and surplus grain stores. Though a staunch congressman since his very early childhood starting taking regular participation in inc meetings and convocations since 1916 Lucknow Convocation as a member from Ajmer State, he actively participated both in the Non-cooperation movements of 1919-1922 and was sentenced to Jail for six months in Famous Narela Movement in the second non cooperation movement in 1930-31. Gradually Gopal Krishna Puranik became disillusioned with the utterly political nature of congress and left congress in 1934 and started focussing more and more on the creative works and the popular people’s movement in the state. His successful running of centres of rural reconstruction and their idealistic achievements attracted more and more nationalists, congressmen, gandhians, social reformers, educators, Ministers and Officials from British India, even Rulers and Maharajas from different Indian Princely States. Impressed by selfless dedicated works and activities and their successful and idealistic achievements of Adarsh Seva Sangh under Gopal Krishna Puranik’s leadership, visiting nationalists especially Gandhian, social reformer and his great friend Thakkar Bappa forced Gopal Krishna Puranik to start showcasing their idealistic activities and magnificent works in rural reconstruction and
development through some regular publications to become known to the nation and world at large. Therefore, in 1938 “The Rural India” monthly journal was started from Bombay on Rural problems, development and reconstruction works across India especially the works of inspiring and guiding works of Adarsh Vidyalaya and Adarsh Seva Sangh, which is the pioneer work on Rural Journalism in India. It was welcomed by every patriotic Indian and flood of messages and compliments from the likes of Rabindranath Tagore, his highness maharaja Jiwaji Rao Scindia of Gwalior, MK Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru, C F Andrews etc and this journal started getting regular contribution of articles, news and thoughts from across the India and abroad especially from the likes of Ralph Richard Keithan, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr K M Munshi, Devendra Satyayarthi, Pattabhi Sitaramayya, Kailashnath Katju, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mashruwala, JC kumarrappa, Bharatan Kumarappa, Shrikrishna Jaju etc etc.
Through his regular editorials, notes and articles in “The Rural India”, founding editor Gopal Krishna Puranik became very popular and the rural India became the sole spokesperson for rural India and its problems world wide where everyone famous and well known leaders, experts and well wishers of rural India from all over India and abroad contributed regularly through their writings and articles to the RURAL INDIA and it became ideal platform for the discussion, debates, presentations and writings on rural indian problems, aspirations and solutions. With regular publication of rural India since 1938 Adarsh Vidyalaya and Adarsh Seva Sangh systematically and vociferously showcased the more idealistic achievements and their successful contributions in the field of rural reconstructions and the rural developments and gave the much hope of emerging self sufficient free rural India after the imminent Independence. This confidential interaction between Indian revolunaries and Gopal Krishna Puranik in Adarsh Seva Sangh and Adarsh Vidyalaya
continued for a long, which impacted so much to the young students and closed associates of Gopal Krishna Puranik that even they tried to become revolutionaries, while they were studying in Delhi, Allahabad , Agra and taking trainings in different ashrams across India. Name of Hari Shankar, Ram Gopal, Gopal Krishna Puranik, Daya Kisan Shrivastava and Narayan Das Trivedi etc came under scrutiny in Delhi Conspiracy Commission in 1931-32 with Chandrashekar Azad and Bhagwati Charan Vohra. Adarsh Seva Sangh tried very hard to make Subash Chandra Bose the president of Indian National Congress in 1938 in Tripuri, Jabalpur with all man and material support especially of Ratiram Vidyarthi and Laxmi Chand Ozha where they to escape from clutches of British Soldiers. Therefore they all had good relations with most Indian revolutionaries and rebellions like Subhash Chandra Bose, Rajgopalachari, Vinoba Bhave, Acharya Kriplani and others, but they were selfless and never took any public office or ministership, and remained loyal to his gurudev Gopal Krishna Puranik and his ideals until their very last. The 1930s and 1940s created the zeal, aspirations and hope among Congressman, nationalists and Gandhians of the emerging new free nation, for them the centre of gravity was Gopal Krishna Puranik, Adarsh Seva Sangh, Pohri and RURAL INDIA. Adarsh Seva Sangh became the epitome of salvation of independent rural India. Nationalists, Congressman, Gandhians, Ministers and Officials of all different Indian States and British India Provinces started regular visits to Gopal Krishna Puranik and Adarsh Seva S a n g h ’ s r u r a l d e v e l o p m e n t c e n t r e s v i z Chharch,Goverdhan,Bhatnagar,Deori,Bairad in Pohri, Tharra Dorani in Shivpuri, Jamna in Bhind, Chilavad and Kankara in Sheopur, Rairu in Gwalior and educational and training institutions like Adarsh Vidyalaya ,Gram Kala Kendra, Rural Working Training Institute,Pohari and The Rural India in Bombay for inspiration, guidance and learning to see the future of free self sufficient Rural India, where the salvation of independent India lies. The idealistic
achievements of Adarsh Seva Sangh in every field of Rural reconstruction and development and economic self sufficiency through cottage industries with the sole motto of establishing new economic order with no food problem with self dependent and full employment to all with ample human dignity through indian values and traditions.
With gradual popularity of Gopal Krishna Puranik and Adarsh Seva Sangh and their pioneering role in people’s struggle in indian states forced the Maharaja of Gwalior to offer Gopal Krishna Puranik first popular ministership for the governance and development of Gwalior State in 1938. But unlike the British India states where every congressman and nationalist tried to attain power through all kind of manipulation and mutual arrangements and deceits, Gopal Krishna Puranik refused this offer of popular ministership from the Gwalior maharaja rather he continued with more vigor and zeal to serve the people with more dedication and selfless devotion rather he started keeping active vigil over the functioning of government for fair, good and just governance with welfare activities and long term planning for the development of Rural areas. Whereas in British Indian states at the same time in 1938 with the formation of Provincial popular elected ministries in Provincial states, the power allocation and sharing opened the pandora’s box full of permutations and combinations of government formations and diplomatic adjustments and manipulations. This power struggle for government and ministerships led to the emergence of different shades of politics colors ,opportunism and power hungriness which vitiated the whole atmosphere of nationalism and the spirit of selfless devotion to the cause of freedom rather it politicized the whole freedom struggle . Leaders and political workers of British Indian Provinces instead of serving the nation and its people and working for the creative works of rural reconstruction and development, societal upliftment, and good governance, these urgent burning issues took the back
seat and on the contrary these power struggles and share of power gained preeminence in the British Indian states among freedom fighters for the control over the government structure, institutions and power authorities, ultimately led to the debacle of ideas and principles of freedom struggles and Gandhian values and reconstructive programs. Therefore after the formation of popular ministries in British Indian Provinces from 1937-39, Gandhi became more and more dependent on these political persons and parties especially INC for his own existence and relevance. What a tragedy to a man who served selflessly, with whole dedication and devotion to national cause, had to see these vary days where his disciples nakedly playing for power. Now, with the change in circumstances and his workforce, Gandhi became more and more unease and political rather then creative, independent and free leader thus, since 1938-39 the likes of Gopal Krishna Puranik started having great differences with gandhian ideologies, workings and activities. Gopal Krishna Puranik’s proposal for All India Rural Development Conference was vehemently denied by Mahatma Gandhi. Again his proposal to include creative works and programs all over India including Indian Princely states. His reply was evasive. It was the Quit India movement call of ‘do or die’ on 9th august 1942 by Gandhiji, became the death nail in the relations between Gopal Krishna Puranik and Mahatma Gandhi, because Gopal Krishna Puranik admired Mahatma Gandhi for his commitment to nonviolent freedom struggle and moral principles but through the slogan of ‘do or die’ Gandhi for the first time compromised on his own commitment for non violence, thus Gopal Krishna Puranik got disillusioned with Gandhi at the august Kranti Maidan in Bombay where Gopal Krishna Puranik was present with most of his associates and disciples on that fateful day. This disillusionment with Gandhi led Gopal Krishna Puranik to close all his relations with all politicians and parties including congress.
Since then, he got fully engaged himself in the creative gandhian programs based on independent and creative zeal of human beings for all round rural development and reconstruction. After that GKP withdrew himself to regular writings and contributions to RURAL INDIA and towards his own way of solving the Indian National problems especially holistic rural development and prosperous rural villages in free and independent India. His experiments, ideas and works on RURAL INDIA especially through his regular rural study tours, supervising the work in rural villages and rural development centres, regular meetings and conferences, continuous interactions with Adarsh Vidyalaya students and teachers,ASS workers and farmers and trainers in rural training institutes, in Gwalior State and the Rural India office in Bombay, remained his main schedule of daily activities till the end of his life. He gave the pioneering ideas of establishment of All India Rural Development Conference in 1940 which Gandhi denied, then he propounded the idea of establishment of rural university for which he founded rural training and workers institute in Pohri in 1944. Then in 1946, due to food deficiency in the nation , he gave a call for All India Food Production Conference with a slogan “Grow more food”. He professed the idea of planned rural economy based on cottage industries and sustainable agricultural practices for successful rural reconstruction and development. He ensured minimum wages to all farm and rural workers and he wanted to have a new economic order of the best type anyone can imagine in free India. With independence in 1947 and formation of congress governments in the centre and states and their power hungriness, their big egos, their unrealistic policies and plans towards real rural India was the final onslaught on Gopal Krishna Puranik, he started to have strained relationship with congressmen and congress governments in Centre and states especially with Jawahar Lal Nehru. Jawahar Lal Nehru happened to have a very old close
relationship and great regard for Gopal Krishna Puranik, but Jawahar Lal Nehru in his utopian world and power struggle he overlooked the importance of real rural India and with his studies and training in western thoughts and philosophies and through his nation building activities, he tried to build India especially rural India of which he has no grounding or basic knowledge, on western policies and beaurecratic rural plans and programs. This dicotomical differences between Gopal Krishna Puranik and Jawahar Lal Nehru and congress, led them going apart despite very personal and old relations and mutual regard and respect, these differences starts widening after independence and in 1949 he called for All India Food Conference in Pohri where Jawahar Lal Nehru was to preside, but unfortunately, the so-called differences and insecurities were so huge for Jawahar Lal Nehru that it could not be materialized and since then it was the story of Gopal Krishna Puranik and Indian National Congress and Jawahar Lal Nehru drifting apart. Gradually Gopal Krishna Puranik became very critical of Jawahar Lal Nehru and congress governments and their imported and transplanted policies of capitalism and then socialism from abroad in 1950s. Gopal Krishna Puranik became politically active opponent of congress and Nehru, with Acharya Kriplani he actively participated though Praja Mazdur Workers Party then again with Vinobha Bhave and Acharya Kriplani and others he fought for Swatantrata party and then finally with Rajgopalachari through Swatantrata party, but in all these endeavors they failed utterly.
Finally, the war with china made him depressed, detached and frustrated, gradually he left active public life and make himself isolated in his own house in Bombay till his death in August ‘1965.
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Concise Biography
Gopal Krishna Puranik Gopal Krishna Puranik(09th July’1900—31st Aug’1965) The Founder of Adarsh Vidyalaya, RURAL INDIA, Adarsh Seva Sangha, Gram Kala Mandir, Rural uplift Centres, Rural Workers Training Institute, Gopal Krishna Degree College, Krishnaganj - New Pohri Town, in Pohri, District SHIVPURI, Madhya Pradesh, INDIA Also He was First to give the idea of a Rural University and All India Food Production Conference in India
SALUTATIONS TO A KARMA YOGI Gurudeva Pandit Shri Gopal Krishna Puranik(09th July1900—31st aug1965) was a man of God’s gift. Though he never attended any school, nor had any regular tuition by a teacher, he attained such high proficiency in English by self study that he edited ‘ Rural India’ and wrote with remarkable command over the language. In his youth, he was a voracious reader, whatever good book fell to his hand, he not only read it, but digested it. Most of the books on Education, Politics, Rural Economics, General Topics and Biographies that are found in the library of Adarsh Seva Sangha at Pohri, were purchased and read by him. He was a great lover of books and a man of high learning and erudition.
A Man on Mission Pandit Gopal Krishna Puranik who founded Adarsh Seva Sangh and started the publication of Rural India was a man of high mission endowed with exceptional qualities of long vision and firm decision. He was a practical idealist. What he thought, he put it into practice. His sole passion was to see his people happy and prosperous following the eternal principles of ethics and morality. He visualized
the establishment of Ram Rajya in Madhya Bharat. He worked day and night for this ideal and did his utmost to transform life in this area.
Birth Pandit Gopal Krishna Puranik was born in 1900 at Pohri District. Shivpuri ( M. P.) in a very respectable and reputed Brahmin family of Puranik's which had the tradition of reading and reciting Puranas. His grandfather, Pandit Vasudev Puranik or Vasudev Maharaj as he was commonly known, was highly respected in the area for his scholarship In Sanskrit and knowledge of Astrology. Teaching of Sanskrit was a family tradition. Students came from far and near, lived with the family as ‘Shishyas ‘and left after attaining high scholarship. There is a well in the is one of the most trusted and best loved compound of Shri Puranikji’s house, which, was built by the students.
Love for Sanskrit Shri Purariikji’s education commenced with Sanskrit learning under his grand-father just when he was three years of age, and ended at the age of eight when his grandfather died. Yet he could recite hundreds of Shlokas’ (Verses) of Sanskrit and explain their meaning like any Sanskrit scholar, It is, however, unfortunate that ill treatment of the orthodox Sanskrit Pandits towards him during his teens created in him a sort of revolt against Sanskrit which resulted in the loss of a huge treasure of Sanskrit literature including many a valuable manuscript which he had inherited from his forefathers. It was late in life when he realized the importance and high place which Sanskrit holds In Indian culture. When doctor’s degree was confirmed on Ravindra Nath Tagore, the chief host, some chief Justice of India spoke in Latin and Tagore In turn replied in Sanskrit. He was so much struck by this incidence that on the death of Tagore Puranikji composed verses in Sanskrit which were highly
appreciated by Pandits and the same appear in J941 Sept. issue of Rural India.
Early Life Shri Puranikji was orphaned on the death of his grand father. His father had already died much before. He had no schooling except some lessons it home. Yet he became an English teacher In the local school of Pohrl at the age of IS. A Civil Engineer, Lala Alakhdhari happened to visit Pohrl. He asked Puranikji his name, when., the latter came on a courtesy call to him Puranikji said, “ Gopal Krishna “ Alakhdhariji paused for a while as if in meditation and again asked, “ Do you know, whose name you bear ?“ Puranikji referred to Lord Krishna. Then Alakhdhariji said with some emotion, “No I don’t mean that, I mean Mahatma Gopal Krishna Gokhale, whose place is still void, It is yet to be filled,” Puranikji took it to his heart and resolved to fulfill the wish of Shri Alakhdhaji. The words of Alakhdhariji rang into the ears of Puranikji He immediately wrote to Dr. Annie Besant offering his services to her. On receipt of her reply, he left his job and started to meet her. While on his way, at Shivpuri he met Acharya Rameshwarji of Srahmacharya Ashram who engaged him as his assistant. For some time, Puranikji worked with him. One day while he was in Mandsaur on his subscription tour, he felt that he was enmeshed and had lost his path. He at once, started on his life long journey for the realization of his dream of filling the place of Mahatma Gokhale by complete dedication to the service of the motherland. Puranikji reached Bombay with no money in his pocket. He struggled hard. He contacted Mahatma Gandhi at Ahmedabad to be taken in the editorial staff of Young India. But Mahatmaji wanted first to test his ability not in writing but in scavenging by working for six months in Ahmedabad streets, Puranikji could not reconcile himself to it. He therefore left Ahmedabad and joined Dr . Keshavdev Shastri of Delhi who had just returned from America after obtaining the degree of M.D. He had also married an American lady whom he had brought with him,
Shri Puranikji was inspired by then to go to America for specialization in journalism. In 1917 trio of Dr K D Shastri,Lala Lajpat Rai and NS Hardiker founded the Indian Home Rule League of America for liberation of India and through their writings in The Hindustani and Young India tried to make aware internationally the plight of Indians and freedom of India.For this work of national freedom movement young Gopal Krishna Puranik was asked by his mentor to go to USA and to learn journalism and to take charge of these journals published from America for at least a period of 10 years, for which he went back home to take permission from her only two relatives left alive Mother in Chharch in Pohri Jagir and only sibling,his sister in lukwasa in Kolares Tehsil. He was also greatly motivated by the stories told by Dr K D Shastri and his American wife Minnie Jensen of Omaha and Lala Lajpat Rai and inspired by the Americans progress and development particularly influenced by Booker T Washington,Black Slave of Alabama who by virtue of his wisdom, sweat and efforts, he was able to become special guest of American President Theodore Roosevelt in White House in 1904.He founded the famous Tuskegee University with small 2 huts in 1881 and through his sheer brilliance and devotion became the household name in America and Europe. Thus young Gopal Krishna Puranik was eager to go to America.
'Preparations to go to America' Puranikji decided to go to America for as long a period as 10 years. In order to make necessary preparations for it and to meet his people, he came to Pohri. Here the people said, “Panditji, by going to America you may personally become a big man, but Pohri people will remain what they are.” Puranikji was touched to the quick by these words. His potent spirit of sacrifice for the welfare of others was awakened. He decided to dedicate himself to the service of his people and abandon the idea of going to America for personal
advancement. This led to the starting of Adarsh Vidyalaya, a High school, at Bhatnawar, a village 5 miles from Pohri—’his birth place on 12th January 1921. Later the Vidyalaya was shifted to the present head quarters of Adarsh Seva Sangha at Pohri, when the Sangha was constituted on the lines of Servants of India Society founded by Mahatma Gokhale. Actuated with the purest patriotic motives of selfless national service, the late Shri G. K. Puranik started Adarsh Seva Sangha on 12th January 1921 in a typically backward area, Pohri, Pargana of the then erstwhile Gwalior State. Shri Puranikji had then just crossed his teens. Offers of marriage came from a number of highly educated girls of well-of families. But Shri Puranikji had wedded himself to the cause of service of his country-men and therefore he humbly declined the offers. Before starting the Sangha, he had met almost all the top leaders of the land and Mahatma Gandhi’s dictum, “Salvation of India lies in Cottages” came to stay with him .
Puranik Family Shri. Puranikji hailed from the noted Puranik family known for its Sanskrit scholarship and impartation of education with free food and clothing to the taught. Shri Puranik’s father expired in his infancy and grand - father Pt. Vasudev Puranik died, when Pt. Gopal Krishna was only 8 years old. During this period he learnt all that was to be learnt. He had been to no school. He was married early and got a son at the age of 18. When his only son Murari died in 1922, Shri Puranikji said, “God has lifted the only hurdle of my way. I shall now serve my country with perfect concentration”. Many other trials and tribulations came. He courted jail in the second Non-cooperation movement started by Mahatma Gandhi. But nothing could deviate him from his chosen path.
Personal Life Puranikji led a very pure and simple life, God had blessed him with good and stout physique along with the mind of a genius. He set up
very high ideals of chastity, morality, truthfulness and self abnegation. He renounced all what he had for the service of the nation. Puranikji was married at an early age. He had one son also. His wife died at nineteen and only son at twenty-two. He was persuaded by friends and relatives to remarry. But he refused, saying, “God has now given me chance to serve my people and country with single and undivided devotion.” From 1921 he had the life of a true ‘Aparigrahi’ and left no material possession of any kind when he left this world. Though Puranikji was born in a very orthodox family of Pandits, ha was a strict follower of Gandhian ideology and secularism. Because of his modern views, he was ill treated and misunderstood by the caste people. But unmindful of it all, he unceasingly worked for social reforms and uplift of Harijans,
Humble Beginning Adarsh Seva Sangha was started by founding Adarsh Vidyalaya with seven students on roll on 12th of Jan. 1921Bhatnawar at Village Bhatnawar of Pargana Pohri. The only means of communication was the bullock cart, with no telegraph or post office, not even a good washerman. Adarsh Seva Sangha and Shri Gopal Krishna Puranik are synonym of each other. Shri. Puranikji founded the Sangha by starting Adarsh Vidyalaya with the following seven students:— 1. Bhavani Prasad, 2. Had Shankar Vaishya, 3. Amarchand,4. Chidanand, 5. Shri Lal, 6. Madanpal,7. Harishankar Dwivedi
Shri. Puranikji’s first lesson was ‘Have unshakable faith in God in every circumstance”. He also recited the following two verses Of Bhartharictihar Shatak before his disciples and students :
1.Whether people well-versed in Niti may disparage or appreciate, whether Laxmi (Goddess of Wealth) may come or desert, whether death may come today or life be prolonged for thousands of years,
the resolute and persevering will not for a moment deviate from the righteous path.”
2.“The third rate people do not begin a good venture out of fear of difficulties, the second rate people start it but give up in the middle when faced with ordeals and tribulations, but the first rate people having objectionable activities, as the talk about thoughtfully initiated a good venture, even when repeatedly attacked and afflicted with severe ordeals, under no circumstances, do they give it up”. The Shilokas though addressed to the few then present, Pt. Kishorilal, Pt. Jiwanram Dwivedi, Chaudhuri, Amarchand and Seth Jagnnath but in fact he addressed them to himself and not withstanding a thousand temptations and difficult situations, he lived to them till he breathed his last. He would stand firm like Himalayas under the most trying situations.
Puranikji so much identified himself with Adarsh Seva Sangha. that he had no separate identity altogether He and the Sangha were one. He had nothing personal. His every thing belonged to the Sangha. Though he had inherited large property, he renounces. cede and took the vow of non-possession like a Sanyasi. Throughout his life, he strictly adhered to it. After starting Adarsh Vidyalaya. the institution was his home1 Its workers, family members and their children his own children. Shri Puranikji was married when he was just in his teens. He had begotten a son also. But bath, wife and son died very early the former in 1918 and the latter in 1922 Puranikji, instead of feeling bereaved on these deaths, heaved a sigh of relief. He took it as a blessing in disguise to be completely free to devote himself to the service of the motherland. So, he did not remarry. He rather wooed the cause of elevating an uplifting his illiterate, ignorant and poverty stricken fellowmen living in backward run areas. They were his be-all and end-alt. PANDIT Shri G. K. Puranikji was a self made man. He had his education not in colleges and Universities but in hard knocks of
life as he used to say. He suffered much and the suffering was of his own choice. He was against all material possessions. He had full faith in the goodness of God and his paternal care. He chided his colleagues when they went In for life insurance He said. “ You are Nastika (atheists). You don’t believe in God. Is He not all powerful to protect you from risks ?“ When he started Marsh Vidyalaya, his first lesson to the first day seven students was,” Have abiding faith in God. He had this faith in himself and he lived by it. It was this living faith which kept Himalayas in good spirit even against odds and crushing difficulties. He was rather pleased when difficulties came in his way. He always threw a challenge to the difficulties saying, “ Let me see who wins—whether difficulties or myself?” Shri Puranikji had indomitable courage and unflinching determination. No situation how-sever ,bewildering and terrifying, ever bewildered or terrified him. He took it as an insult to his manhood if he could not overcome it. He felt, he must face the situation boldly and rise equal to it; and so he did It is difficult to imagine the magnitude of’ difficulties he had to face in conducting Adarsh Vidyalaya in It's early days against all It was this opposition from both, public and the State., The public was misguided by Interested people in the name of religion and the State suspected politics in the activities of the institution. Afraid of State wrath, even friends showed reluctance In giving him shelter or any helping hand. Yet, Puranikji worked with undaunted courage and determination ever expanding the activities of the Institution and leading it from one success to another. some self.
State Wrath The institution fast grew into a High School and the atmosphere round about started throbbing with national spirit. Even before founding Adarsh Vidyalaya, Shri Puranik had started a good library which was then subscribing about half a dozen dailies, a number of weeklies and monthlies. It could not for long escape the argus eyes of the then Government of India, who pointed this to His Highness
Maharaja Madhorao Scindia— the strong ruler of Gwalior. The Maharaja gazetted a circular in the State Government Gazette on 21st April 1923, asking the Jagirdar (Pohri Pargana was then a Jagir) to get the school closed and inform the Darbar by telegram or letter. The following circular was issued by the Home Minister, Gwalior Government to end all the activities of Shri. Puranik, English translation of the Circular No.4, Sam vat 1979 published in the Gwalior Government Gazette, dated 21st April 1923. A few days back a school “Adarsh Vidyalaya” by name, was founded in Pohri Jagir, which subscribed the news-papers prohibited by the State, and in which other ‘Khilafat’ and ‘Swarajya were afoot. As it is highly probable that in other Jagirs also such institutions and societies might be found now, or there may be a talk of starting them in future; this circular order is issued to the effect, that if in any Jagir such institutions or the above-mentioned conditions are present, it is the immediate duty of the Jagirdar to check them, and to inform the Darbar by telegram or letter. The procedure to be adopted for the suppression of such activities should be the same as the Darbar followed time after time in connection with similar matters, of the Darbar. Its detailed facts are given in the policy of the Trade Department, Appendix 9 and 10, column No. 55, page No. 30. (Sd.) SADASHIV RAO PAWAR, Home Member. Everybody thought Adarsh Vidyalaya would not stand it. All over shadow of gloom was spread up, for who dare defy the wishes of powerful Maharaja Madhavarao Scindia. But Shri. Puranikji said So long as I am living, no earthly power can end Adarsh Vidyalaya”,
The Jagirdar of Hard Metal The late Maharaja Madhorao Scindia of Gwalior was among the three strong Indian rulers. The other two were Maharaja Sayajirao Gayakwad of Baroda, and Maharaja Gangasingh of Bikaner. Right or wrong, their wishes must be carried . Sardar M. N. Shitole was the Jagirdar of Pargana Pohri comprising about 250 Villages. He was selected as an adoptee by Maharaja Madhorao Scindia. His
metal was put to Severe test, he was also a staunch nationalist at heart,to believed, young Puranik was pursuing a just and righteous cause. Raj Rajendra Shitole is known for his strong mindedness and backing a just cause even at great personal risk. It is still a mystery to us what reasoning of Shitole Sahib could prevail upon the Maharaja, And at last instead of taking any action, Shrimant Shitole Saheb started helping and actively cooperating with the institution. He is a member of Adarsh Seva Sangha and his help to the Sangha in the shape of land, buildings, and cash must be near about Rs.15 lakhs. Interested people in the name of religion and the State suspected politics in the activities of the institution. Afraid of State wrath, even friends showed reluctance In giving him shelter or any helping hand. Yet, Puranikji worked with undaunted courage and determination ever expanding the activities of the Institution and leading it from one success to another. Though at the core of his heart, Shri Puranikji was not only a nationalist but internationalist, his greatest contribution was the awakening and enlightenment he brought about through the agency of Adarsh Vidyalaya and Adarsh Seva Sangha in Pohri Pargana and round about area which was totally cut off from all civilizing forces and where ignorance and poverty reigned supreme. Educationally and otherwise it has now much advanced.
Main Activities Within ten years, all the activities of the Sangha were manned by the local products of the institution, In main, besides (a) Adarsh Vidyalaya, Junior College and Higher Secondary School, the Sangha has run (b) Rural up-lift Centers leading to the All India Food production conference at Pohri in 1949. (c) Adarsh Seva sang in 1931 (d) Rural Workers Training Institute which attracted students even from out of India and the best Village uplift plan was planned by one of the students of this Institute. Which has the approval of Mahatma
Gandhi and appears at the end of the book—Capitalism. Socialism or Villagism by Dr Bharatan Kumarappa. (e) Gram Kala Mandir—Centre of a number of Cottage Industries, e. g. Khadi, hand made-paper, blanket making, bee-keeping , etc. (f) Rural India — Monthly from Nana Chowk, Bombay—7.
Upper Primary to High School Whereas in the then Gwalior State, there was no High School at even district Headquarters of Bhind, Morena, Shivpuri, Guna, Vidisha (Bhelsa) and Shajapur, Pohri had a High School in 1923. By 1930 Shri. Puranikji had prepared his own graduate life member workers mostly from Pohri Jagir itself to share his burden By 1929 a number of other activities Khadi, handmade paper, hand-made matches, bee-keeping, Rural uplift work were also started.
Revitalization of Villages Puranikji firmly believed that salvation of India lay in its Cottages. He therefore turned his back to the lures of cities and devoted himself entirely to revitalize the villages. A number of Rural Development Centers were started to carry out all sided development programme covering speedy improvement in agriculture production by adopting improved methods of cultivation & increasing irrigational facilities, adequate attention to animal husbandry, reorganization of Village industries, imparting social and moral education, setting up village Panchayats to work out the programmes, building Approach Roads by self cooperative effort, constructing wells for pure drinking water and arranging for proper sanitation and hygiene and above all setting all village disputes in the village itself through the medium of Panchayats. Puranikji attained remarkable success in it. In certain centers, agricultural output was more than doubled; all disputes in villages were settled through Panchayats; a number of Village approach Roads were built; literacy went up appreciably; milk yield was greatly improved;
village debts were considerably lowered; and at the top of all, people regained confidence in themselves to improve their lot.
Founded New Pohri Shri Puranikji was born in village charcch of Pohri, district Shivpuri of Madhya Pradesh in l900. Pohri was once the capital of a feudal chief with beautiful palaces and buildings. It was protected by a strong fort surrounding it. It had seen jubilant days in the yore. But by the beginning of the twentieth century, decadence had set in it. Every succeeding decade saw its gradual decay. It shocked Puranikji. He pondered gravely over the situation and saw its escape only in building a new colony and shifting the people there. He pursued the idea with faith and determination and founded Krishnaganj Colony (called New Pohri). The new colony is now developing into a modern township with electric facilities, tape water and multiple means of communication. In 1931, Adarsh ‘Vidyalaya was shifted from Bhatnawar to Pohri, in the Sangha’s own colony-Krishnaganj. Buildings of Adarsh Vidyalaya, Gram Kaja Mandir for cottage Industries, hostels, Teachers Quarters, Vyayamshala and Agriculture College building-began to be constructed. In 1934 in Bombay free Hindi Classes were started at Dadar, followed by Institute of Success and Sell-culture at Chowpathy and lastly in 1938 Rural India monthly magazine was started which is hailed to be one of the top-ranking magazines of India, with its readers also abroad in U S A., France, Germany, Japan . Activities Shri Puranikji undertook Shrimant Sardar MN. Shitole the jagirdar of Pohri wholeheartedly cooperated and helped him. Soon Pohri was being called ‘Poona of Gwalior State” in the matter of education. Shitole Sahib got all the buildings of the Sangha constructed at a cost of over 15 lakhs. Besides, he was paying a few thousand every year for the running expenses of the Sangha. He has given three hundred and one Bighas of Land for the Laxmi Gram Seva Trust together with a number of buildings in the most
conspicuous locality. The buildings, the land and their rents, are all meant for the use of the Sangha. The beauty is, neither Sardar Shitole Sahib nor any member of his family is a member of the Trust. Even in those days of financial crisis, it was Sardar Shitole Sahib who managed a sum of Rupees Twenty five thousand for Laxmi Saraswati Gopal Krishna College.
Political Awakening The political awakening that messed in the area today is greatly the initial efforts of Shri Puranikji. Adarsh Vidyalaya was considered to be the seat for spreading national ideas and training workers for freedom struggle. Government wanted to stop these activities. It issued circulars against it. But somehow, Puranikji succeeded in sailing through troubled waters. Puranikji attended practically all sessions of National Congress. He participated in Satyagraha movement in Delhi in 1930 and was jailed. Efforts were made to set up Praja Mandal in the State. But Government did not allow. Puranikji then organized Gwalior Rajya Seva Sangh with its headquarters in Gwalior to carry on political along with constructive activities in the state. When Kriplaniji, Kidwaiji and other leaders formed Praja Party, Puranikji joined hands with them and headed the Ad Hoc Committee set up for the state. He propagated for Kisan Mazdur Praja Party during first Election in 1952.
Kakori, Lahore and Delhi Conspiracy Commission, Tripuri Congress and Quit India Movement: Unsung heroes There was an intense, violent and do-or-die revolutionary struggle — much before Mahatma Gandhi came on the political scene and during his non-violent Civil Disobedience and Non-Cooperation movement — against the British rule to free India. These young persons carrying out these revolutionary activities especially Kakori Robbery Case, were then the darlings of the Indian masses. This revolutionary movement was sought to be suppressed by the British
by constituting various commissions. One such commission was 3 member Delhi Conspiracy Commission under the chairmanship of Mr L S White. It was constituted to put a group of revolutionaries on trial and punish them for their armed activities to free India (which was termed a conspiracy by these persons to overthrow the legitimate – British – government by violent means). In the voluminous “Proceedings of Delhi Conspiracy Commission” it is revealed that in addition to the accused tried by the Commission, there were a large number of persons who had actively participated in the Indian revolutionary movement of “Hindustan Socialist Republican Association”, which was headed by its Commander-in-Chief Chandra Shekhar Azad. The armed actions were carried out by this revolutionary organization under the name of “Hindustan Socialist Republican Army”. The names of these revolutionaries were disclosed by the approvers/prosecution witnesses in their statements made before the Commission, they were the true sons of their motherland who had risked their lives for the liberation of this country. Upon the disclosure of their revolutionary activities by the government witnesses / approvers before the Commission, most of these revolutionaries were arrested (during the currency of the Delhi Conspiracy Commission and after its disbanding) by the British police, brutally tortured and sent to jails. Even in the jails, they were tortured. During these brutalities, their life was made hell, which is testified by their statements, memoirs and writings after their release from prisons during the British period and after the independence. Most of them have taken refuge in secret hideouts of Kuno Palpur forests of then Pohari Jagir and also some of them lived in Adarsh Vidyalaya as teachers in disguised names and as social workers in villages under Adarsh Seva Sangh under the the confidential protection of Gopal Krishna Puranik. They also secretly participated in making the radical Subhas Babu as Congress President against the wishes of Gandhiji in Tripuri
Congress in 1938 and thereafter taken active parts in Quit India movement revolutionary activities of 1942 in Central India and Bombay Presidency. 1.Ram Prasad Bismil 2.Chandra Shekhar Azad – Azad; Panditji; Mahasheji; Gupta; Ram
Narain Gupta; Bhai Sahib; 3.Bhagwati Charan Vohra – Harish; Arjun; 4.Yashpal – Jagdish; Pran; Sohan Singh; 5.Vidya Bhushan – Ramesh; 6.Bir Badar Tiwari – Bhaiya; 7.Satgur Dayal Avasthi – Kapur; 8.Sukhdev Raj – Siraj; 9.Sada Shiv Gajanand Potdar – P; 10.Sada Shiv – Sakha Ram; 11.Kailashpati – Raj Bali Pershad; Raghu Nath Pershad; Kali
Charan; Sital; Daya Krishen; Kalyan; 12.Ram Lall – Bhoot; 13.Bishamber Dayal – Bhagwati; Bhai Saheb; 14.Babu Ram Gupta – Babu; 15.Khayali Ram Gupta – Chatterbox; Gupta; 16.Madan Gopal – Kabal; Munshi; 17.Keshub Chand – Bhoot Nath; 18.Rudra Dutt Mishra – Kailash; 19.Sada Shiv Rao Mulkapurkar – Sakharan; 20.Bhagwan Das – Kailash; 21.Shanker Rae – Double Rote; 22.M.P. Avasthi – Khanjar; 23.Kailashpati Asthana s/o Hirdat Narain r/o village Muftigunj
district Jaunpore; real home in Azamgarh (party name: Raj Bali Parshad; Raghu Nath Pershad;Daya Kishan Shrivastava, B.A.; Kamta Parshad at Ajmer; Sital)
24.Nand Kishore Nigam (professor at Hindu College; Superintendent of Hindu Hostel)
25.Bhimal Pershad Jain (son of Benarsi resident of village Sissana district Meerut, living in Khari Baoli, Delhi) ( party name: Balam)
26.Bawani Sahai (party name: Ram Pershad) 27.Bhawani Singh (Ramjas High School 10th class in 1928) 28.Narain Das (Shivpuri) 29.Gopal Kishen Puranik 30.Gopal Rao Bharve (Lashkar) 31.Sita Ram Sheore (Ganesh Mandar Jhansi) 32.Ashraf (formerly in C.I.D.) 33.Bhagwan Das 34.Gajanand Sada Shiv Potdar 35.Vishwanath Rao Vaishampayan 36.Sada Shiv Rao Mulkarpurakar 37.Bhagwati Charan Vohra c/o Rup Chand Sharma, Sharma
Brothers, Chauk, Gwalmandi, Lahore (party name: Arjun) 38.Dr. Amar Singh (working for Delhi Air Force) 39.Champa Lal Joti Pershad (of Asli Ghee Store, Khari Baoli) 40.Khiali Ram Gupta 41.Babu Ram Gupta 42.Hamid (compounder at Civil Hospital, Cawnpore) 43.Vashishtha (of Sewa Dal, Benares) 44.Prem Duut (of Delhi Shudhi Sabha) 45.Shridhar Sharma (Ajmer) 46.Ram Chand Bapat (Ajmer) 47.Daya Shankar Shukla (of Naryal Bazar, Cawnpore) 48.Master Raj Bali Singh (student of Commercial High School
Delhi) 49.Bhagwan Das 50.Hardwari Lal (worked as tailor at Egerton Road and lived in
Bazar Sita Ram) 51.Hazari Lal 52.Rudra Dutt Mishra
53.Krishna Kumar (student in St. Stephens College, Kashmere Gate)
54.Ramesh (c/o Matsaddi Lal, Malakpur district Muzaffarnagar, United Provinces)
55.Ram Lal (of Saugar, Central Province of Saugor, formerly in C.I.D.
56.Pandit Daulat Ram (Professor at Lahore and living at Court Road, Srinagar, Kashmere)
57.Vatsayan (party name: scientist) 58.Bisheshar Nath 59.Keshab Chand Gupta (of J.P. Bhagarhatta, Ajmere) 60.Madan Gopal (party name: kewal) 61.Gopal Kishen Puranik (of Shivpuri Bazar, Gandhian) 62.Hari Shanker (of Gwalior) 63.Ram Gopal Gupta (of Gwalior) 64.Hirde (professor of Hindi in Victoria College, Gwalior) 65.Shanker Rao (of Jhansi) 66.Madan Mohan (first year student of Hindu College) 67.Sher Singh 68.Sohan Lal (a B.A. student of Hindu College) 69.Charnji Lal Paliwal (of M.A. class Hindu College) 70.Ratiram Vidyarthi of Pohri 71.Laxmi chand Ozha of Shivpuri 72.Narihari Prasad of Sirshi
Invitation to Ministry Shri.Gopal Krishna Puranik was a true savant of the nation. He was not for acceptance of office. When the first public minister was to be included in the then Gwalior State’s ministry, first offer came to Shri. Puranik through Shri. H.M. Bull. We felt a little elated. But Shri Puranikji politely refused the offer. Arouse political consciousness throughout the then Gwalior State During thirties of the present
century Shri Puranikji extended the activities of the Sangha beyond the limit of Pohri Pargana with an idea to arouse political consciousness throughout the then Gwalior State and to do rural development work on an extensive scale, of which successful experiments had been made in Pohri Tahsil villages, a body named Gwalior Rajya Seva Sangha was started with its Head quarters at Gwalior and ‘Rural India’ magazine was published from Bombay, Side by side, a number of Rural Development centres were also started in various parts of Gwalior State. ‘While practical work was done at the Centres, the results and experience gained therein were publicized through the organ of ‘Rural India’ which did pioneering work in the field of rural reconstruction. Rural India is subscribed not only in India but a considerable number of its copies also find their place in the universities and libraries abroad, like USA and UK. Shri Puranikji’s spirit was never bound by narrow geographical limits. There was a period In his life when he actually thought of extending his activities beyond India also. Though Puranikji was essentially constructive worker, politics also drew him He participated in the Satyagraha movement of 1931 at Delhi. He was arrested and tried but ultimately released. However, because of his extreme views, aristocratic nature and too much Insistence on every thing best, noblest and purest in private as well as public life, he could not reconcile himself to work with all and sundry. Though he was one of the pioneers In propagating political Ideas and bringing about political awakening in the then Gwalior State, he later slipped aside and engaged himself chiefly in constructive work. He hated dirty politics which involved any foul play or departure from truth and high standards of morality. He believed and said, “Of what value a thing Is in gaining which, you have to lose your own soul.” Shri Puranikji had intense patriotism. Though an internationalist from his heart every bit of his being was surcharged with the idea of raising and developing Pohrl-his native place-into a capital. He dreamt of establishing Ram Rajya in Madhya Pradesh and building its capital at. Pohri extending up to Shivpuri—nay, even
up to Jhansi. He was the father of the Idea of building Krishnaganj outside Pohri fort, which is a fait—accompli, Kalyan Kutir “ was the first building of Krishnaganj he constructed in 1929.
RURAL INDIA During thirties of the 20th century Shri Puranikji extended the activities of the Sangha beyond the limit of Pohri Pargana with an idea to arouse political consciousness throughout the then Gwalior State and to do rural development work on an extensive scale, of which successful experiments had been made in Pohri Tehsil villages, a body named Gwalior Rajya Seva Sangha was started with its Head quarters at Gwalior and in 1938 ‘Rural India’ monthly magazine was started publishing from Bombay, which was hailed to be one of the top-ranking magazines of India, with its readers also abroad in U. S. A., France, Germany, Japan. Side by side, a number of Rural Development Centres were also started in various parts of Gwalior State. While practical work was done at the Centres, the results and experience gained herein were publicized through the organ of ‘Rural India’ which did pioneering work in the field of rural reconstruction. Rural India is subscribed not only in India but a considerable number of its copies also find their place in the universities and libraries abroad, like USA and UK. Shri Puranikji’s spirit was never bound by narrow geographical limits. There was a period in his life when he actually thought of extending his activities beyond India also.
All India Food Production Conference With the Herculean efforts of Adrash Seva Sangha, at one of its Rural Uplift Centres of seven villages Deori centre, Food production went up by 126% within a period of 10 years (1938-46) by bringing only 18% more land under the plough and with indigenous means of production. This could not escape the attention of Government of India. And an All India Food Production Conference at Pohri, to be
inaugurated by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru and to be presided over by Shri. Jairamdas Daulatram the then food minister at the centre, on 6th of April 1949 was called. All state Governments were invited by the Central Government to participate. Govt. of India’s film section started functioning. Aviation ground was ready for the Prime Minister’s plane to land. All arrangements were complete. The Chief Minister by his letter dated, 29-2-49 No. 2462 promised all support. But the mean minded Madhya Bharat Government thought if the conference were a success, Shri. Puranik or Dwivedi—the General Secretary of the conference, might be forced gots to the ministry, and therefore stabbed in the back. They are reported to have informed the central Government that the State Government were unable to undertake adequate security arrangements of the Prime Minister. Only six days were left. The Prime Minister only informed us that he regretted his inability to come. So much money, so much human labour and energy were wasted. No conference was held.
Fatal Shock This gave a rude shock to Shri. Puranikji. He had a strong physique and would aspire to live for 125 years. During the pre-independence days he used to see seer dreams of Ramrajya of free India. Growing corruption in the administration, nepotism and miseries of the people.With no signs of hope, told upon his sturdy constitution and he expired on 1st Sept. 1965. I was with Shri. Puranikji from 12th of Jan 1921 till his last day. I can claim to have met and worked with many top personalities of this land including the likes of late Pt.Jawaharlal Nehru. I have yet to see another pure and ideal soul like that of Shri. P Shri Puranikji was a bold thinker. His thinking was always constructive marked by very high flights of imagination. He foresaw things much ahead of the time Many of his forecast: were true to the word.
Great Innovator During his forties, Shri Puranikji conceived the idea of establishing a Rural University at Pohri. Much ahead of the present day rural development activities conducted by the government through the agency of community development programme initiated in 1952, Rural worker’s Training classes were started by him in order to train workers to undertake and organized rural development work India-wide. Students came for it from as far Assam, Burma and Ceylon. In 1949, an All India Food Production Conference was also planned to be held at Pohri with a view to raise food production in the country. Every preparation was made for it, but it failed because Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who was to inaugurate it. Did not come on wrong information by vested interests regarding the objectives of the conference. This dealt a severe blow to Shri Puranikji causing much frustration in all hi; future work. Puranikji
An Extremist Shri Puranikji was an extremist. Practically in all matters he held extreme views. He was a man of superlatives. Nothing mediocre ever satisfied him. His motto was / Whatever you do, do with all your might and do it best, or don’t do at all.” No half-hearted or slothful action could be tolerated by him. He had highly exquisite tastes. His food, dress, speech. writing, every thing has the mark of elegance.
Gopal Krishna Degree College Laxmi Saraswati Gopal Krishna College In the Year 1970, besides other schemes, the Sangha started a College called Laxmi Saraswati Gopal Krishna College in July 1970, the college is the only addition to the activities of the Sangha after Shri. Puranik’s death, It's building was already there, constructed by Rani Laxmi Bai Shitole.
Towards setting a Rural University The first act of Shri Puranikji was to establish an ideal educational institution to educate the people. He founded Adarsh Vidyalaya in 1921 with the high aim of raising it to a full fledged University on the model of the University built by Bucker T. Washington for Negroes in U. S. A. Within 3 years, Adarsh Vidyalaya was raised to the standard of a High School and by 1931, the foundation stone of a big two storeyed building covering around area of 125’x 125’ was laid for an a1l faculty College. Today it houses Laxmi Saraswati Gopal Krishna College in Pohri. With the object of establishing a Rural University, Rural Workers Training Classes on all-India level were run between 1943 and 1948. Students for this training came from as far as Assam, Mysore and even Ceylon and Burma. It is an irony that the project of Rural University, although most suited for the development and well being of this area, did not receive response from the Government. But on the part of Puranikji, all necessary conditions of land, building and Village Industries, had been created to work out the project.
Rural University The Sangha was the first to give an idea of a Rural University and the same has appeared through the columns of Rural India in Feb. 1944. Looking to the pointer rural uplift work that the Sangha has done, and services that its Rural Workers’ Training Institute has rendered and selection of the Sangh’s Head Quarters as the Venue for the All India Food Production Conference, amply speaks of the just claim for starting a Rural University at Pohri. We have land running in over 150 acres, buildings, hostels, and all else that is needed for a Rural University. But these days everything is politically motivated. Therefore M.P. Government could not think of this very legitimate and just claim of Pohri, District Shivpuri.
Sanskrit University Adarsh Seva Sangha was the first to give the idea of a Rural University in India, through the columns of Rural India in Feb. 1944. It had the best back ground for the same, as the Sangha was also running an all India Rural Workers’ training institute at Pohri, wherein trainees were coming not only from India, but from Ceylon and Burma also. Best Rural uplift plan—which had the approval of Mahatma Gandhi was prepared at this institute and the same is published at the end of the book Capitalism, Socialism or Villagism by Dr. Bharatan Kumarappa. The land is there; buildings are also there. But in this unfortunate country, everything is politically motivated. And therefore we could not have the university at Pohri which was honestly due. Adarsh Seva Sangha then ready to start even a Sanskrit university and has made a sporting offer of Rs15 lakh at Pohri with land and buildings worth over a Crore rupees to the M. P. Government. Pohri known for its Sanskrit Scholars, was at one time called Chhoti Kashi. Year before last, the Sangha made a sporting offer in writing to M,P. Government to give a building worth rupees 8 lakhs along with land worth over five lakhs round about it and also a cash donation of rupees fifty-thousand, if the Government start a Sanskrit University at Pohri. But our National Government is notorious for acting only out of political motivation, howsoever just the cause may be. If it serves its political object, it would start Universities where they are not at all needed. Despite its just opposition, even Central Government is found yielding for political motivation. We only pray God to give sense to our Government to act justly and vision to see correctly.
Last days of his Life During the last period of his life, Puranikji concentrated all his attention to the idea of establishing Ram Rajya in Madhya Pradesh. Usually he passed his half time in Pohri and half in Bombay. But he abnormally prolonged his last stay in ‘Bombay’s Rural India Office
as a part of preparation for his ultimate object, He wanted to return to Pohri with all the paraphernalia he thought necessary for the execution of his plans. But man proposes and God disposes. He fell ill and was compelled by his friends to be back to Pohri in the interest of his health. On recovery he mustered all his strength to go ahead with his plans. But unfortunately political and other conditions hampered his way. Though Puranikji was keeping himself away from power politics, those in power always apprehended him as their formidable rival. They did not want that his hold over the masses should grow. Therefore, any scheme, howsoever beneficial for the public, was turned down by the Government instead of giving its help. After the woeful sabotage of All India Food Production Conference in 1949, Shri Puranikji prepared an ambitious scheme of Village uplift for a hundred villages of Shivpuri District. The Scheme was placed before Central and State Governments for approval and financial aid. It was discussed by the representatives of both the Governments. Though it met their approval, Government was not prepared to extend financial aid for more than a few villages. Puranikji saw no reason for curtailment. So the scheme remained unexecuted although most beneficial. For reasons enumerated above, Puranikji began to think that in prevailing conditions, it was not possible for him to execute any ambitious plan involving large scale finance and organization. To him, life had no meaning without it. He was so frustrated that he summoned his colleagues and told them with all seriousness that he did not want to live. He asked them to shoulder the entire responsibility of running the institutions he had built. All were stunned to hear what he said. No one thought that his end was so near. But hardly two months passed and Puranikji left his friends and admirers waiting on 1st Sept. 1965. Pohri lost in him her most devoted son who lived and cared for her to be remembered eternally for utmost self-sacrifice and extreme love for the service of the motherland.
The End Alas ! The cruel hand of death has snatched away from our midst our most revered and beloved Pandit Gopal Krishna Puranik, the founder President of Adarsh Seva Sangh and Editor of Rural India. It is difficult to believe that he is no more. Yet, we have to reconcile ourselves to the fact and accept what has been ordained by the Almighty. Shri Puranikji was 65 at the time of his death. He possessed very good health and had magnificent personality. He seldom fell ill. He had vast energy and high dreams. But God willed otherwise, May he rest in peace and may his soul Inspire his followers and successors with the Ideals of selfless service and complete devotion and dedication of which he himself was an embodiment.
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== References ==
1.Pandit Gopal Krishna Puranik- A Biography by Ram Gopal Gupt, published IN JULY'2000 by Acharya Harihar Nivas Dwivedi Sodh Prathisthan, GWALIOR-INDIA.ISBN-81-7734-001-8 2.PANDIT G. K. PURANIK By R. G. Gupta published in RURAL INDIA,March,1966.[Shri. R. G. Gupta is a life member worker of Adarah Seva Sangha and has been elected as President of the Sangha in place of the late lamented Slid Puranikji. He was lately principal of Khadi & Gramodyog Vidyalaya Kora Kendra, Bombay, wherefrom he has rescind to take charge of the reins of the Sangha. He disciples of Shri Paranikji.] 3.50 YEARS OF Adarsh Seva Sangha by Hari Shanker Dwivedi published in "THE RURAL INDIA ", Monthly Journal published from Bombay,INDIA Since 1938 vide Regd.No.B.4183 in January 1970, 4.Rastriya Adarsh Vidhyalaya and Patriot Pt. Gopal Krishna Puranik by Dr. Radhye Shyam Dwivedi published in "THE RURAL INDIA ", Monthly Journal published from Bombay,INDIA Since 1938 vide Regd.No.B.4183 in March 1970, 5.Pohri ke abhudeya ke janak - Pt. Gopal Krishna Puranik by Ram Gopal Gupt published in "THE RURAL INDIA ", Monthly Journal published from Bombay,INDIA Since 1938 vide Regd.No.B.4183 in oCTOBER 1982, 6.Adarsh Seva Sangha - A PANORAMA By Smt.Savitri Devi 7.My Association with Adarsh Seva Sangh by Col.M.N.Shitole in published in RURAL INDIA,March,1966 8.Proceedings of Delhi Conspiracy Commission 1931-32 under the Chairmanship of Mr..L.S.White.
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Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !1
By G. K. PURANIK.
(Article Published in November’1938 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
It is an undeniable fact that there has been ruthless exploitation and deterioration of village life in this country. Villages, once happy and prosperous, have been reduced to a state of dreary desolation and criminal negligence. One of the greatest curses of foreign domination has been the systematic ruin and disintegration of the countryside, and it is left to nationalist India to see that the balance in the body politics is properly restored.
Of late, there has awakened a countrywide interest to rehabilitate the village life, Every section of the patriotic element in the country feels for the miserable lot of the villagers, and increasing measures are being adopted by Provincial Governments and the States to give them protection and immediate relief. It is necessary at this stage that the knowledge of the malady that villages suffer from and its cure, is widely diffused, and the growing volume of public opinion is rightly directed to help the village uplift programme in a constructive manner. Indian journalism is taking its full share in the progress of this nation-building movement, and it is a happy augury that papers and periodicals exclusively devoted to advance the cause, have begun to make their timely appearance.
The understanding of the problem of village uplift, in ill its essentials pre-supposes a humane and patriotic attitude. To the nationalist, the village people are not a pawn in the game of exploitation but valuable national assets, to be protected, cared for and consolidated; else, what hope is there for a country, whose 90% population is completely cut off from the main current of
THE VILLAGE PROBLEM ANALYSED I
1
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 2
national advancement, deprived of facilities for knowledge, amenities of civilised life, and condemned to a life of misery and perpetual segregation. Justice demands that the producer must have a full share to enjoy the fruits of his labours. A social or political system, if it were humane, must ensure an equitable distribution of the basic necessaries of life and see that he, who produces by the sweat of his brow, is not deprived of his hard earned bread. It is denying justice to the people, who produce wealth for the growth of the social, cultural add civic life of our cities, and depriving them of their due share. Village-uplift problem takes cognizance of this elementary justice and pleads for equity and fair play.
We are known to be a poor people, but the stark poverty of our villages is appalling to the extreme. Deductions from statistics anti figures of income, per capita only’ give us a caricature and not an actual picture of the poverty, one sees in the villages. It is to be lived and experienced, to be realised.
Of course, conditions differ from province to province and from village to village. What may be true for one place may not hold equally true for the other. But as a general rule, in most parts of the country, the rich crops, the best foodstuffs anti the milk produce that the farmer produces, must be sold out to pay the Government revenue and other innumerable taxes, the never-ending debts of the money-lender and the illegal exactions of the petty officials. Very often, these payments are so harassing and untimely that the peasant is obliged to mortgage his crops to the money-lender, long before they are ready and then depend on his mercy to advance him food-grain to eat, till the coming of another harvesting season. He and his family must be contented with only innutritious and coarse food and that too in most cases, in insufficient quantities. In certain parts of the country, peasant families live on one meal a day, with hardly any sort of liquid millet-preparation to be taken in the evenings, after their day’s hard labour in the fields. In years of bad harvest even this frugal supply of food is denied to a large section of the peasantry. Poor grumbling children are frowned into submission to satisfy their hunger with insufficient and unpalatable food, or go without it, and this drudgery of hopeless existence continues endlessly.
Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !3
Truly, most villagers in India do not know, all the twelve months of the year, what it is to have their hunger fully satisfied. How cruel and unjust is the order of the present day society, that takes away every thing from the producer, though lie produces many times more than his needs and yet leaves him to starve.
Villagers can ill-afford to spend money over clothes. Except a pair of loin- clothes and hardly a set of clothes to cover their bodies occasionally, the majority of the villagers live bare-bodied, exposed to sun and wind, liven women find it difficult to manage for an extra set of clothes for occasional change. The usual sight, one comes across in the villages is to see village people getting rid of swarms of lice, with which their bodies and clothes are infested. Expecting such people to observe standards of personal hygiene and cleanliness appears to be a mockery.
Village-dwellings are a cluster of irregularly raised mud huts. They arc made out of the earth, dug oat from a pit near by and covered with thatching. There arc hardly one or two rooms in these huts with any privacy. There are no windows or ventilators in the houses, except one main door, which they must close in the night for fear of thieves getting in. All members of the family, including the cattle, must share the room in common, for they cannot afford to build a separate cattle-shed for the animals. The huts are generally dark, with no inlets for air or the sun. Here, in these smoky dark and closed huts, the peasant families live in the nights, side by side with their cattle. This close association with the animal world must produce one of the two results: either animal are to he humanised or human beings are to be animalized. It is the latter that is found to be the case. If there are good, white looking pukka houses in the villages, they invariably belong to the money-lender or the zamindar, and stand as an exception to the general rule.
Village surroundings are awfully dirty, full of rubbish and dung-hills. These stinking dunghill are usually the first sights to be met with, when entering into a village. Human beings also answer their calls of nature in the vicinity of these rubbish-heaps, scattered in and outside the village. The lanes and by-lanes are dirty and uneven and
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 4
become especially muddy during rains. The pits in which rainwater gets collected become awful cesspools and breeding grounds for all sorts of unsanitary germs. It is in these surroundings that a large section of our Indian humanity lives.
The aforesaid conditions of living speak volumes for the proverbial poverty found in villages. Theirs is practically no economic standard. Most of the villagers are born in debt, live in debt, and die in debt, leaving the burden of debt many times heavier as an evil legacy to their posterity.
They are virtual slaves to the moneylender and victims of all sorts of tyrannies of the Government and the zamindari agencies. All their lives they are not supposed to raise their heads high and aspire for an honorable existence. This economic slavery and suppression has practically killed the man in them.
For every probable social or religious expenditure in the family birth, death, marriage, pilgrimage fairs, and festivals, they have no savings to fall back upon. They must fall a prey to one or the other money-lending agencies from which there is no escape. The writer has a personal experience of the meagre income of the farmers based on authentic record, kept for every peasant family at one of the rural development centres of the Adarsh Seva Sangha for the last three years. It was l rupee per month per head in 1935, 1 rupee 12 annas in 1936, and 2 rupees 1 anna in 1937 and it is by luck that these were successive good years on our side. A good fraction of this income goes to the pockets of the moneylender and what is left is hardly sufficient for the maintenance of a peasant family.
The present day agriculture has ceased to be a paying occupation to the cultivator. It is because, he does not know, where to go and what to do, that keeps him to the plough. His condition is many times worse than the condition of a labourer in a city. We in cities can have no idea’ as to how on earth a villager can live on less than one anna a day.
Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !5
By G. K. PURANIK
(Article Published in November’1938 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
The starting of a ‘Village Centre’ is the first step in he work of rural reconstruction. Right selection of a village or a group of villages is about half the battle. Mistakes are liable to be made in the initial step for want of experience, resulting in waste and consequent failure. A preliminary study of the village and the psychological, social and natural conditions obtaining therein should therefore be a determining factor in the choice of a village and it will pay for the labours many times in return.
SELECTION OF LOCAL LEADERS
The primary requisite to be determined is the right type of local leadership in the village. A Rural Reconstruction agency or a worker will be advised to know that a progressive-minded, sympathetic and selfless leadership is rare to be found. Most of the present day leadership, found in villages is corrupt and selfish. It is an agency of exploiters and oppressors. Either, he is a Zamindar or a moneylender, or one of those who are favorites of the local or circle officers. They wield their influence, not for their good offices or for the service they render for village welfare, but for their material possessions or the harm they can do to people to force them to submission. Such people are very clever to talk and show wide sympathies. One is naturally led to believe their bonafides, which is generally found to be a mere moon-shine and a delusion.
HOW TO RUN A VILLAGE RECONSTRUCTION CENTRE
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! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 6
Wise course for a worker is to acquaint himself with the past conduct of such village leaders, before depending on their assurances or support is a general rule, with few exceptions here and there, the expiators and the vested interests are not easily converted to relish the ideas of public good. And, where such people predominate, village reconstruction does not make much headway.
“Social factor too must not be lost sight of. The institution of caste is very strong in villages, and by long traditions those of the high caste have learnt to claim the monopoly for themselves of everything that is good in this world. They have got deep-rooted prejudices against the low-castes and can hardly tolerate the idea that some agency or individual should work in the interest of social justice or betterment of these people. It is much better, not to start work in a village, where the high caste people dominate, and if a beginning is already made, to proceed very cautiously, avoiding possible chances of flearing up of the prejudices. The writer has many personal experiences of such situations, in which the work of years was undone through the wrath of the high-born and the truth of the adage dawned” Prejudices die hard”.
Geographical and natural conditions are also to be taken into account in the selection of the village. Man is powerless to fight against nature. The village to be selected must have areas of good fertile lands and easy facilities for water. As far as possible, means of communication to the village should also be easy. Villages, situated at the top of hills or in hilly tracts and those, surrounded by dense forest areas suffer a great drawback. And then, aid, decaying and deserted villages for the depressing associations about them that it is wise not to have a start made with them.
To recapitulate, the best village for starting to work is the one, where the local leaders are good, and if possible moderately educated and progressive-minded. They must be strong-willed also or sometimes mischievous people create situations and upset all plans. It is desirable that the dominating section and the majority of people belong to the agricultural or industrial class and not to the one, which lives on exploitation. The village above all, must possess natural
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facilities for the growth of agriculture, cattle breeding or one or more of the main cottage industries.
THE VILLAGE WORKER
Right selection of man is equally important if not more. It has been found to be extremely difficult to get the right type of worker needed in a village. One in about ten may be tolerable and may stick to village work for a considerable time. Conditions are so different and life in village is so prosaic and uninviting that a town or city bred man feels there lost to himself and to the world he had lived in so far. Absence of amenities of life he is accustomed to is a virtual trial for him and he is generally seen getting bored and run away. Not-withstanding preparedness on one’s part, it has been found by experience, that a permanent type of village worker has rather been an exception than a general rule.
Local village material is rarely available. Even, where it is, it does not carry influence with the elderly people. On the contrary, homely village surroundings present a great temptation for him to degenerate into idleness and do nothingness. There, of course, can be no definite formula for the selection of a village worker. But satisfactory work can be taken from an ordinary set of workers, if there is a competent supervising agency to direct and to get things done.
Even for the most devoted workers the difficulty comes in winning the confidence of the villagers. The village people are generally very sceptic and will not easily put their confidence in any outsider. A paid worker from an outside agency is not easily trusted by them, unless he proves so, by identifying himself with their life and living. To be truly worthy of their confidence a worker must be prepared to reduce himself to their standard of life and to set his example of better and prosperous living with the same occupations under the conditions, in which a villager himself lives. This prospect is startling, if not staggering and many workers might shudder with horror at the idea of such a contingency. However, a national- minded
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 8
worker familiar with or bred in village surroundings makes a better village worker than those coming from cities or towns.
THE ORGANISATION OF VILLAGE PUNCHAYAT
The actual work of village reconstruction begins with the formation of the village punchayat at the centre. The election of this body should be on the basis of the adult male franchise for the village or a group of villages forming the centre. The strength of this body may vary according to the population of the Centre. Generally speaking 7 is a reasonable number. One of the members commanding influence and holding progressive ideas should be elected the President, while the village worker may work as the Secretary. The meetings of this Panchayat or Sabha should be held once a month, conveniently on Amawasya or Purnima as the case may be. Care should be taken that this monthly meeting is representative of all sections of the people in the Centre. The Secretary should prepare an agenda for the meeting touching as many phases of village development as possible, more particularly sanitation, education and economic improvement. There will, of course, he special programmes suited for particular seasons. Educational and industrial programme, preparing of manure pits, laying out of roads and certain other works connected with the village improvement, may best be taken up during the months of summer: sanitary programme like the plastering and white-washing of village homes should best be done during the time of Diwali. Suggestions from public or the members of the Punchayat should also be included in the agenda. Items of agenda, should be discussed among the members and decisions are to be recorded in the Proceedings, Book by the Secretary. It should be seen that only practicable and workable programmes are to be adopted. The Secretary, with the help of the President, should create an atmosphere of responsibility and reality in the members of the Punchayat, and see that the people of the centre carry the decisions into effect. Of course, it is only gradually, that the members will begin to feel and develop this sort of responsibility.
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The worker must have a great fund of patience while - working among the villagers. In the beginning and for a long time to come, there will be very little response from the people. It is very difficult to change the life-long habits. The villagers are likely to misunderstand the worker in the beginning. There will be an atmosphere of passivity and indifference around him, which may he chilling to his enthusiasm. But he should persist on. For, perseverance surely wins in the end. Another difficulty is to make the village people understand the necessity of self-help. In the first place there is so much depression of spirits among the villagers that it will take long time to create an atmosphere of hope and better life for them. Quite naturally a suffering people as they are, cannot easily be convinced of the prospects of a better life. This want of faith is a great stumbling block in the way of their learning self-help. They are so tied down to their routine that they resent the idea of any extra drudgery to be done for self-improvement, which they do not believe in. Not believing themselves in the thing they expect somebody else to be doing this extra botheration for their improvement.
The best and the safest way for strengthening and making the Punchayat a living and vigorous body is, to take up constructive programmes like adult, male and female education, village sanitation, improved cattle breeding, and the introduction of some cottage industry, preferably hand-spinning and weaving.
Evidently, the villagers do not relish these things in the beginning. They expect the Punchayat to decide their disputes and flight their battles with the moneylender and the Government. Village atmosphere is mostly surcharged with personal jealousies, feuds and party-feelings. It is too much to expect a high standard of justice and impartiality from the members of the Punchayat. It is too severe a strain on their personal relations and feelings when the decisions affect those near and dear to them. Many of the members break under this strain to prove “Blood is thicker than water.” However important this judicial function of the Village Punchayat may be, it would be wise not to rush in with these responsibilities in the early stages of village work.
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 10
Let the village people have sufficient training in public service before they are called upon to discharge these onerous responsibilities.
Taking all these limitations into consideration a village worker will be wise enough to confine himself to constructive work alone till the Punchayat has established a credit in the estimation of the villagers and the members have developed a balance of mind which is necessary for discharging great responsibilities.
Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !11
By G. K. PURANIK
(Article Published in December’1938 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
(Continued from the previous issue.)
Illiteracy and ignorance, WITH all pretensions and defences on the contrary, the abysmal
ignorance and illiteracy in the villages is the result of deliberate neglect, if not denial, both by Government and the higher section of Indian Society across centuries, Administrations in British India and the Indian States having been irresponsible a n d autocratic from ages past, it lay in their interests to keep the toiling masses in the villages shut out from educative and enlightening influences. For, education ultimately leads to consciousness and the questioning of the authority which irresponsible administrations and vested interests are not prone to tolerate.
Added to the denial of opportunities for education and improvement has been the determined attitude of exploitation and suppression under which village-communities have suffered from times immemorial. City section of population prospered and enjoyed at the sufferance of the village. Roads, Railways, posts, telegraphs, telephones, schools, colleges, libraries, hospitals, banks, pictures, radios, lecture halls and all other amenities of life, one after the other appeared in the cities, while the claims of 90 per cent of village population for the enjoyment of similar opportunities have never been taken into account. All money for providing these civilising facilities in the city comes from the taxes gathered from the toilers in the
THE VILLAGE PROBLEM ANALYSED II
3
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 12
countryside, whose right for getting service in return for money has not been admitted in practice so far.
This back-ground explains the ignorance found in the villages for which the system of government and the present ii a y structure of the society cannot escape responsibility, A community that carries the burden of the society must have no share to enjoy the amenities of civilization. Is that our sense of justice and humanity? The curse of ignorance and illiteracy takes its heavy toll from the accursed victims in the countryside in many and varied ways who, knowing not a way out, accept the resultant miseries and deprivations as ordained. The prevailing fact of illiteracy deprives them of the benefit of religious and cultural legacy of their country, so vitally essential for cultural solidarity a n d national self-expression, The same draw-back restricts their sphere of interest in a bigger world outside which they cannot know and narrows down their outlook to the things immediately around them. Except with the help of a spoken word or through personal visits, they find themselves helpless to create wider contacts or to communicate with their friends and relatives, even when there is a necessity ‘ for it. In large number of villages in the country, human society is living in the same old primitive conditions, unacquainted with the improvements and unruffled by the changes taking place, the world over. The accident of a written letter or an official order in vernacular reaching a village presents a problem, which is only solved when some literate person passes through the village or the man concerned goes to some other village with an educated man in it to have his letter read out. The writer, once on his tour, in the midst of a thick forest met a villager with a written piece of paper in his hand running to go to a judicial court for his case. Not knowing the actual date of his case in the court and there being none in his village to be able to read that slip of paper for him, he started to the court, when he accidentally happened to meet the writer. He was already away six miles from his village and there were another five miles to be covered to reach the headquarter of the court, when he could get the help for his written piece being read to him. Curious as it may appear, the date of his attendance in court was still off by a month or more. This is just a
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small price which most of the villagers have got to pay in this country for being illiterate.
Where the effects of illiteracy and ignorance are more prominently felt by the village workers are the spheres of occupations and business dealings of the village communities. Nowhere in the country, the agricultural classes have any idea of their investments in and income from the fields year after year. With the effects of growing indebtedness, poverty and hunger they are found to continue the same ancestral occupations, without ever calculating, whether particular crop or industry is running at a loss or giving something in return for their labours. Even in years when the yield appears to be good, it is not meant for the ignorant villager to enjoy it, rather, it goes to pay the accumulated debts of the Sahukar and the old arrears of the Government assessment, He is quite blank as to what part of his produce goes to the State treasury as revenue assessment; how much of it is tricked away by the wily moneylender and after all how much it is, he is left with for his family to carry on the grim struggle for the next year.
Not being in a position to calculate and scrutinise and to draw conclusions for himself the right of a ‘Living Wage ‘ does not yet exist for the starving Kisan in this country. If the crop is bad which is generally the case at least once in three years. the arrears are accumulated and written against him by the Government and the Sahukar to be all realised in the year of good yield leaving him to starve, as he was. According to present day conception it is a part of moral obligation on the Kisan to give preference to pay and enrich Government and Sahukar agencies at the sacrifice of daily bread of his family, while on the contrary it is perfectly legitimate and moral on the part of the Government and the Sahukar to extract all possible produce of the agriculturist without taking into account whether sufficient has been left for the maintenance of the man who sweats his brow for his earning.
That ignorance is a curse is nowhere more potently demonstrated than in the case of an Indian peasant, who works the hardest, produces the best, but suffers and starves the most, while those sitting over him, do little, live in ease and roll in wealth and
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 14
splendour. This stark poverty of large mass of producers going side by side with the riches and affluence of the few above them is sought to be sanctioned as a divine right which none should dare to question. And, there could be no better safeguard to preserve this right unquestioned than to keep the victims of exploitation ignorant.
This ignorance is being in full exploited by the Government agency by taxing land on any basis they like and by introducing any number of taxes, without taking the consent or judging the capacity of those to be taxed, nor even doing any service in return for the money taken. The Sahukar sucks him by charging any amount of interest on the money advanced, by purchasing things at the cheapest and selling at the dearest by manipulating and changing cash into kind and commodities and vice versa always with a solid margin of profit in his favour. Instances are not rare when an illiterate peasant is duped to put his thumb impression on any paper, which ties him down to the servitude of the moneylender from which he can never get himself extricated for life.
Petty Government Servants, public servants in name but tyrants in practice is just another agency which preys upon the villagers and exacts about as big a toll as any of the two above. From a village Patwari and Chowkidar to almost all petty Government servants connected with village in Police. Judiciary, Customs, Forest, Co—operative and the like are there not to serve the villagers but to harass and exact their own toll from them. Even a vaccinator is a terror to the villagers and he is not found there on a mission of relief to humanity, but to create a sort of frightfulness for making his exactions. A Government responsible to the people and governing expressly in the interest of the masses can put a check on many of these evils and give protection to the villagers. But all these big armies, forming agency of exploitation know it for a fact that it is they who constitute strength 0f The Government and in its own safety a foreign Government must safeguard their interests as against the interest of the toiling masses. The real evil at the root is the policy of the foreign Government, which is all in favour of the classes as against the masses. Villages are not immune from the policy of “Divide and Rule” where Patwari, a representative of the Government carries the same game
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by playing one class or community against the other and organising well-to do people into coalition, as is being done by more competent heads of the Government in bigger political spheres in the country.
A part of the blame for this state of affairs lies with the village people themselves. As a result of long and continued depression of spirits, they have begun to depend on any body else for their improvement and not on their own efforts, They may easily spend money over unproductive social ceremonies and functions rather than on productive and on things which may give them a return. It is difficult to make an average peasant understand not to spend much money over marriage ceremonies of his children, but to spend a part of it over their education. He can easily borrow money for going on a pilgrimage or even for litigation purposes than doing the same for sinking a well or for bringing about improvement in agriculture. By a combination of factors operating against him from ages past, his outlook has narrowed down to such an extent that except for the immediate claims of the family, it is difficult to get his willing co-operation, even for the improvement of his village. But as the signs are unmistakably perceptible, with change of atmosphere in the country and the attitude of the Government in his favour, as the advent of the Congress Government has shown in the provinces, the unchanging countryside in India is also to change and the prosperity hitherto denied is bound to follow.
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 16
By G. K. PURANIK
(Article Published in February’1939 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
(Continued from the November issue)
VILLAGE SURVEY
‘The village worker should start with a complete survey of the village. The history of the village if any, geographical conditions, rainfall, means of communications, the distance from railways and nearest metalled road, whether the village is in flourishing, or decaying condition, water facilities, the population and its composition, main occupations and industries, area of cultivable land, and condition of soil, crops produced, cattle wealth and its chances of improvement, decaying cottage-industries and their chances of revival, facilities for education and standard of literacy, sanitary conditions and facilities of medical aid, economic condition of the people, income from agriculture and other sources, debts, land revenue and other Government taxes, social customs, religious beliefs and every other thing intimately connected with the life and condition of the village are to be surveyed and recorded. This survey is the foundation work of future village reconstruction and should be as thorough as possible. This should be a basis for starting the village improvement activities and review of year-to-year progress is to be made in the light of the distance covered from the original condition.
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HOW TO RUN A VILLAGE RECONSTRUCTION CENTRE
II
Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !17
RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL MISSION
The village worker is required to associate himself and to make his daily attendance necessary at a place where village people congregate in the evenings. This is just the place where he should start giving some moral discourses and religious sermons and make people interested in this sort of religious entertainment. The discourses or recitals are to be given in a way acceptable to the village people. The Ramayan, Gita or any other proper religious book may be used as a basis. A worker who understands the psychology of the village can interpret religious thoughts in a way, which may have bearing on the day-to-day life and dealings of the people. This daily moral and religious propaganda goes a long way to improve the moral tone of the villages and to prepare them to receive the ideas of progress and reform. These assemblies if properly captured exercise a healthy influence in putting a check to village quarrels and mutual rivalries and mobilising the organized energy of the people for village improvement.
ADULT EDUCATION
Adult education classes will have to be taken in the night, either before or after the religious discourse as the case may be. The atmosphere in the villages is not conducive to the pursuit of education and it goes difficult to win over full grown people, dead tired after their days work in the fields to come to sit for lessons in the night. It is difficult to secure regular attendance in these classes and those who get little initiated keep away for some days and unlearn the whole thing. Religious discourses have been found to be a tonic to refresh the tired nerves of the villages and help to attract them to take lessons in reading.
No doubt, the campaign of liquidation of mass illiteracy is essentially important in the scheme of village reconstruction. Ability to read and write and to keep accounts is the minimum desirable standard to be aimed at. Efforts and experiments aye being made
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 18
without proportionate results. The psychological background and the environment in the village present a difficulty to contend with. To be fair to the village people, no human being in their place and under those conditions would do better. The worker should therefore have patience with his students and be satisfied even with small results. This, of course, does not mean that he should relax his efforts1 for these are conditions on which he has no control.
(to be Continued. )
Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !19
By G. K. PURANIK
(Article Published in March’1939 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
(Continued from February issue)
MORNING SANITARY ROUNDS
Mornings should be devoted for taking rounds in the village or villages of the centre. Cleaning of houses lans and by lanes is to be seen during the sanitary rounds and where it is not done the village worker should see it done, either through the help of the villagers or by the village sweeper. In the last resort and for effectively teaching the habits of cleanliness to villagers, he must not grudge doing the village sweeping himself. Soak-pits, and manure-pits should also be seen. Santation of the village wells wherefrom the villagers get their supply of drinking water as also the cattle-sheds, are to be seen. Through continued propaganda, persuasion and pleading he should see that the people have taken to go out of the villages, in the Jungle to answer their calls of Nature.
A pains-taking village worker should occasionally visit the houses from inside and see the cleanliness of the clothes, utensils and other articles of domestic equipment. Village people should be explained the absolute necessity of observing cleanliness in every thing and of taking daily bath. All these improvements will require a great deal of persistence and continued hammering. Mere sermonising or preaching has little chance to succeed if the worker is not prepared to set his own example of clean living and has not a passion for creating sanitary conditions in the villages of his charge.
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HOW TO RUN A VILLAGE RECONSTRUCTION CENTRE III
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 20
During his rounds he should also visit sick and ailing people and give necessary medical help, for which he should always keep a good stock of medicines. In the villages h will find, that there is want of human sympathy and spirit of service. A heart that goes out in sympathy to his fellow man in sickness or distress is very rare to be met with in the villages. Therefore as a messenger of civilisation it is his duty as well as an opportunity to attend to the sick and render all possible service.
PRIMARY EDUCATION
Compulsory primary education is one the main items of village reconstruction programme. The worker should see to it that all the boys and girls of the school going age go to school to learn. Roughly speaking about 15 per cent of the entire population of the village is calculated to be of school going age and the worker is charged with the duty to manage for the education o all this school going population. Co-operation of parents is greatly to be sought in this effort, for which better and harmonious relations should be created with them. The worker in the beginning will find it difficult to persuade the parents to send their girls for schooling. But with industry and perseverance he will surely win over the village people in favour of girls’ education. It is to be borne in mind that the education of the girls is as important, rather more important than the education of boys and should never be neglected by rural development workers.
Village library is an important educational agency. No village centre should be without it. Important papers and periodicals and a select stock of books, preferably literature on rural topics should be stocked. This should be circulated among village people if they are literate. If not the worker should take an opportunity with the villagers when they sit round village fireplace and road educative and informative literature to them. Important provincial and national events should be talked and discussed with them and they should be drawn to develop interest in thugs beyond their immediate
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surroundings. If it is more than and village the worker should carry his programme by turns.
ACTIVE ASSOCIATION WITH VILLAGERS
The afternoons should advantageously be utilised in actively associating with the villagers, while they are engaged in their occupations. For instance, the worker can go to the fields and study the various processes of field operations. It is a well-known fact that the method of agriculture in this country stands in need of great improvement. A poor and depressed ‘Kisan’ has no heart in what be is doing for he knows that it is not he but other organised agencies, who will snatch away the fruits of his toil. Such a friendless and depressed man will find a great encouragement in, if knows that there is some body to stand by him and to show him a way out of his miseries. Let alone scientific farming, almost every process right from ploughing and sowing o- seeds in the fields to the reaping of harvest calls for improvement If the worker knows his business and has insight into the things, he can certainly suggest and induce agriculturists to adopt many improved method of cultivation. But this is only possible when he complete identifies himself with the villagers in their daily occupations.
Besides agriculture, he is there to resuscitate dead and dying cottage industries. Most of the Communities and professional castes have left off their ancestral occupation for they have ceased to be paying to them. Weavers, carpenters, blacksmiths, shepherds shoemakers, etc have all-taken to agriculture, which has certainly increased the pressure on land. The present condition f these industries, which are capable of absorbing large village population, are deplorable to the extreme and efforts should be made for their revival.
LIVESTOCK
Next to agriculture in importance is the improvement of cattle-wealth in villages. This source of income has been badly neglected and that, which would have added to the prosperity of the villagers, is
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now a sheer drain on their scanty resources. No regard is paid for the proper feeding of the cattle nor do the villagers stock sufficient fodder to feed them. They are deteriorating every day and in most cases left to die of starvation. It is through the efforts of Village Panchayat that the village worker should organise public opinion and awaken humanity among Villagers to look to the proper feeding of this dumb creation. The Villagers should be explained to reduce the number of cattle and keep only such al they can properly feed.
When feeding is assured, improvement in breed follows. A stud bull of approved Indian breed should be maintained at the centre to serve the cows, while other bulls of low breed in the locality should be castrated. In this connection, the worker will’ do well to direct his efforts to reduce the number of cattle and see that every peasant family keeps just sufficient which it can manage to feed.
BEE KEEPING AND POULTRY FARMING
These two are also profitable industries and should be introduced in villages wherever conditions are favorable. In villages which are nearer to big cities, these industries have better chances to prosper. Besides these, there are many other industries like rape making, paper manufacture etc that the worker should use his discretion to introduce, in conditions best suited to their growth.
FEMALE EDUCATION AND SPINNING CLASSES
Afternoon is a suitable time when village women are mostly free. If there is a lady worker regular ladies’ teaching class should be started along with spinning or any other domestic training. In the absence of it, education of females may not be possible in the village. For village women would not at the first place, like the idea of getting education at their grown-up age more especially when their teacher is other than one of their own sex. However, there would be no difficulty in starting a spinning class with the assistance of one of the village ladies. Female education is certainly very important in village
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areas if progress in the lives and conditions of the people should take a deep root. But this may not be possible unless lady workers are available for village work.
HABIT OF KEEPING ACCOUNTS
It has been found by experience that the habit of keeping accounts has greatly helped the villagers to improve their economic condition. Village people never keep any account of their investments in crop and returns there from. In all the occupations they are engaged in, they never calculate, whether the thing is paying to them or it is merely a waste of labour. 1 his process of ignorance results in loss and is in operation from generations past reducing him to abject misery. Money rending and other exploiting agencies too, have taken full advantage of this ignorance of the peasant. To ameliorate his condition, he needs to be awakened to the knowledge of his liabilities and assets through regular keeping of accounts. If the villagers are literate they should be persuaded to keep their accounts of income and expenditure. If not, the worker should help to write the same for them.
WANTED SPIRIT OF SERVICE
The catalogue of duties of a village worker can never be exhaustive. It is rather frightening. A few of the elementary items have been touched in the course of this article. Bigger problems of cooperation, marketing of produce, liquidation of debts, consolidation of holdings and collective-farming call, for a separate thesis on each one of the topics. Seeing conditions in villages, it appears, it will take tine for the villager to learn to appreciate the advantages of these advanced measures.
How on earth can an ordinary human being tackle all these varied problems of village life and effect improvements? A single man can never successfully shoulder this tremendous responsibility unless he gets co-operation of local leaders of the village. He should strain every nerve to make the village Panchayat a responsible and a representative body
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 24
and should never forget that he is not an official of the government but a servant of the village people. And it is through the spirit of service that success in village work can be achieved.
Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !25
By G. K. PURANIK
(Article Published in November’1939 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
ONCE while on my visit to the Schools in Pohri, Gwalior, I noticed some 50 to 60 heads of cows scattered about the Dak bungalow. I was staying in, on a casual enquiry as to whom the herd belonged a shepherd boy who was also a student of the village school claimed that they were his. Further questions and answers with the boy revealed the amazing fact that he was not getting even a chhatak of milk out of his animals. 50 to 60 cows, and not even a chhatak of milk, appeared to be wholly unbelievable at first sight; but that was a fact.
This was the spring of the year. The dry summer months were still ahead. Except in the rains and the early part of the winter, getting of milk in the villages is not a practical proposition. Having been in the habit of taking a glass of milk before going to bed in the night. I had perforce to forego this luxury while on my tours in villages, more particularly during the months of spring and summer. Villages contain hundreds of cattle, cows and buffalos but all rickety, life-less and pity inspiring skeletons of animals, which are condemned to perpetual starvation; The shocking sight, that one usually meets while moving about in the country-side, is to see the pitiable condition of cattle, which are driven out of the houses in the morning to roam about in the sun-burnt and dried up jungle where there is not sometimes even a blade of grass to eat and brought back to the homes to be put into the enclosures in the evening, No wonder; such famished cattle give no milk for about six months in the year. The villagers, themselves a starving people, who are denied the elementary need of even rough food fully to satisfy their hunger can very well forego this extra luxury of milk or its produce.
Not that there are no good forests pasture lands or grass growing areas to take cattle to or to stock fodder for them, but because the
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CATTLE WEALTH IN VILLAGES
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 26
villager has no heart to do it, In the absence of interest in the proper breeding of cattle, the question naturally arises: why after all, do the village people maintain such a large herd of cattle, when rather than an economic gain, it is a perpetual drain on them? Not only in keeping cattle which is a second best industry in villages but also in agriculture, which is the main staple industry all over the country, the villager bears an attitude of pious resignation. It is net an active incentive of good profits or adequate returns that keeps him engaged in these industries, but there is nothing else to do and he is helpless in finding anything better in the villages or in the neighbourhood, The present Government, because of its alien character, never bothered to be sympathetic towards the peasantry in the villages and to help the countryside to come out of its helpless condition.
Why at all are there such large herds of cattle in the villages? And if their keeping is uneconomic, why can’t people do away with them? Left to themselves, the villagers would consider it a boon if it were possible to dispose them off They are maintained because there are no good customers in the villages to purchase them. Besides as the people do not have to spend much on their maintenance, and even though it is un-economic, it has a redeeming feature in that that it adds to the social status of the family. Above all, however depleted it is, it still a form of wealth which stands as security against taking loans from the local Banias. Incidently, in certain months of the year he gets milk for his children, manure for his fields, bullocks for cultivation purposes and occasionally some money by selling a surplus stock of ghee, if any. This is all incidental. The main fact is that Nature goes on multiplying the animals and the villager does not know how to throw off this burden.
The economist would blame the lethargy and indifference of the villager in not making full use of the economic resources available to him. He would assert, cattle, if properly bred and taken good care of would increase about 50% of annual income of the peasant, and would add to his all round prosperity through milk and milk- produce, the health and economic well-being of the family; through manure, better crops in the fields; through good bullocks better farming. But his brother the physiologist would claim priority in analyzing these
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complex to view economic problems with a psychological back-ground. The present inertia and indifference found among the villages to putting their heart into exploiting economic resources and thereby improving their own condition, is due to the fact of their being deprived of the enjoyment of the fruits of their labour for generations past. Even in agriculture which provides them some sort of food for their half-starved existence, they are lacking that active interest; and had it not been for the sword of Damocles hanging over their head in the shape of the annual land revenue to the Government, which is lawfully binding on them and from which they cannot extricate themselves, they would have been as negligent in tilling the soil as in the upkeep of cattle. The writer has personal experience of a large number of agricultural families whose annual income per capita is between Rs. 3/- to Rs. 5/-, i.e., 4 to 8 annas a month, which income is quite insufficient for human existence. There are Found a number of families in every village, that derive practically no income from their fields and to whom every new year adds to the burden of debts, but they still don’t know how to leave off their plough. Since food is a primary demand for which they also have to labour and because they must meet that irresistible demand, they do tilling. When that too is not properly met and they have to go without it partly their indifference to cattle, milk and milk produce is easily understandable. When there is not sufficient bread, the butter question does not arise at all.
Who should be blamed?
For this state of affairs, the present political and social system prevailing in the country is rightly guilty of the offence for so devising things as to take away almost three-fourth of what the cultivator produces, leaving only a very small margin for his maintenance. The unjust land revenue system of Government, the loot of the moneylender and that of the petty Government officials coupled with the ignorance of the villagers themselves have all combined to reduce them to this unenviable lot.
“Raja Kalasya Karanam” says Mahabharat, and so long as the Government’s unsympathic policy of exploitation of the masses exists, neither the villages nor any of the village industries can be improved to
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the advantage of the villagers, be it agriculture, cattle breeding or cottage industries. Therefore, it is the policy of the Government, which is responsible for this idleness and inertia in the villages and not the villager himself, as he is wrongly accused in most quarters.
The Remedy
The “Sine qua non” of all rural development is change in the present policy of the Government, If the Government policy is just and sympathetic to the masses there is bound to be a change in the attitude of the officials and it will not fail to put an effective check on the wiles of the moneylender as well, But whether the foreign Government will do it is a question.
First Things First
It is a common knowledge that there is hardly any separate class of people who entirely live on cattle-breeding in villages. And, if it is somewhere, the number is very insignificant. Where such class or community exist, they are in no way better off than their brother agriculturist. Broadly speaking every agriculturist is also a cattle breeder. And most naturally, unless he is assured of enough of grain for the feeding of his family, he cannot be made interested in the improvement of the cattle. Surely one improvement leads to another. Well-fed people will naturally feel the necessity to add milk and ghee to their dietary to improve the taste of their food. Better and nutritious feeding will encourage taste in good dress and promote other cottage industries will encourage village people to seek better markets for sale and establish business contacts with distant towns and villages. Contacts with advanced places will awaken among the people the necessity of education and culture, improvement in means of communication, better standard of living, the development of aesthetic senses, the creation of art and literature and every other thing that goes to make up an improved and civilised life. I sometimes marvel at the extraordinary wisdom of some authorities on rural reconstruction that want to encourage fruit growing in the villages and advocate fruit diet to the villagers when they are not getting even the
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rough sort of food to fill their stomachs. There are others who want to bring about sanitary improvement in the housing condition of the villagers by introducing windows and ventilators into the delapitated thatchsing of the villagers. Others still advocate the necessity of using mosquito nets by the villagers as prevention against mosquito bite and the attack of malaria, when the villagers find it difficult to have two sets of clothes for occasional change. These and similar improvements are suggested by those who hardly know anything of Indian villages or have ever tried to enter into the spirit of the villagers.
Gradual Improvement in cattle Breeding
The whole programme of rural development is so interrelated with each other that no separate item can be taken up com. part mentally. Improvement in the condition of cattle should go side by side with the change in the policy of the Government and with the improvement in the condition of agriculture. But, however, before good breeding, comes the good feeding of cattle. In a scheme of rural development all efforts should be made to initiate the villagers into the habit of stocking sufficient hay or fodder in proper season, for the number of cattle they keep, so that the cattle get a good feed at home when grass grows scarce in the jungle. This experiment has been tried in the village centres conducted by the Adarsh Seva Sangha with satisfactory results. An outline of the same is given here for the benefit of the villagers in general and village workers in particular.
Stocking Hay and Fodder in Proper Season
The village work as such is not writing on a clean slate. All methods and processes connected with the life and living of the villagers have come down from generations past, without any change, and have been so hardened into their routine of life that they can only admit of slow and gradual improvement. Any innovating or startling improvement will certainly defeat its own purpose. As a rule, all village
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 30
people stock hay and collect fodder of their cattle for the dry months of the year in the months of October and November, of course, in a limited and insufficient quantity. Bullocks and milk cattle are only given a part feed and the rest of the cattle are left to suffer starvation.
The Gram Panchayats which have now begun to function in
many parts of the country should bring in a resolution in the meeting enjoining every family in the village to stock twice the number of cart— loads of hay or fodder according to the number of cattle in the family. At least two cart-loads per head of cattle should be a slogan and the necessity of it should be impressed on the minds of the villagers through regular propaganda and may be made binding on them by taking their signatures on some sort of document. Towards the end of November or near about Dipawali, the members of the Panchayat should ascertain that the quota assigned to each family has been fulfilled.
Keeping a Model Animal in Each Family Later on each family in the village should be enjoined by the Panchayat to maintain at least one animal in ideal condition. By way of giving incentive to improve the breed of cattle it will be advisable to organise some cattle show at a centrally situated place once or twice a year and to award prizes for the best animals. The Panchayat should also try to educate people in improved methods of keeping cattle in good condition.
Supply Stud Bulls for Village Centres
When sufficient enthusiasm has been created among the villagers stud-bulls should be supplied for improving the breed. But it is desirable that before stud-bulls are supplied to the villages, rickety and inferior types of bullocks that roam about the village should be castrated.
Introducing Other Improvements
Gradually, kutti making and silage methods should be introduced. In certain areas, wherever there are advantages of irrigation, fodder crops may also be grown. As far as possible milch
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cows and buffalos should better be fed at home and only sent outside for taking a round to give them some exercise.
What Will It Pay?
On an average, every agriculturist family of 4 to 5 members maintains 5 to 10 cattle, about half the number of which are many cattle. If there are 4 to 5 milch cattle in every family it will certainly add to the income of the family from Rs. 30/- to Rs. 40/-a year in the case of cow and from Rs. 50/-to Rs. 60/- in the case of buffalo5, i. e., about 50%. No other industry can be revived and started on such an extensive scale and with such results as cattle-breeding. Improvement in this direction will be sure but slow. Village workers all over the country should give their careful thought to these practical suggestions.
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!
By G.K. Puranik
(Editorial published in July’1940 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
The First Step
THE Adarsh Seva Sangha started the first Gram Sudharak Sabha in March 1931 at Bhatnawar, a village in Pohri, Gwalior, as a programme of village reconstruction in its present accepted sense of the term. The Society has during the last 10 years made various experiments in the field of rural reconstruction and has tackled this problem from many stand points, before coming to the present stage. Certainly, 10 years is not a long period in which to see tangible results in a nation-building sphere of such magnitude, But these experiences are given here with an idea that they may be of help to the village workers in this country.
This Gram Sudharak Sabha was started at a village with more than two thousand population, consisting mainly of business and money-lending classes. Then the conception of village uplift was to make a village a model one from the point of view of education, economic betterment and improvement in the moral tone of the villagers. This Sabha consisted of 16 members to make the representation of all classes of people possible. Naturally it Was the moneyed and high-class, influential people who found a place in such a Sabha For some time it appeared as if every thing went on well- Rather than taking interest in the service and betterment of the village, the members began to exhibit greater interest towards judicial functions of the Sabha, to decide cases and settle disputes of the villagers That being the important village of the locality, the Sabha began to attract a large number of neighbouring villages to get their cases and disputes settled by the Sabha. This sort of work naturally gave importance to the individual members, whose selfish tendencies
EXPERIMENTS IN RURAL RECONSTRUCTION
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began to manifest themselves in more ways than one. Under the cloak of re-establishing the old order of things, they started to perpetuate tyranny over low caste people, and professional classes by reducing their wages in their own selfish interest. They wanted the barber, the carpenter, the shoemaker, the washer man, the oilman, the potter and all such village professionals, to accept such wages for their service as were paid to them at their grand and great-grand fathers’ time, while the members themselves were not prepared to admit any reduction of wages or profits in their own occupations. Naturally, those affected by this tyranny and high-handedness of the Sabha raised their voices in protest. Those who protested were tortured and excommunicated by all classes of village people. They had to go thirsty, because they were banned to draw water from any of the village wells. The cowherd would not take out their cattle for grazing, and no shopkeeper would sell any food or provisions to them. They and their cattle had to starve and go without water in the village, or they had to submit to the rule of the Panchayat. This was just the opposite of what a village Panchayat was intended to serve. When an effort was made to put a check on the selfish and inhuman tendencies of these members, they started a campaign to exterminate this Sabha and those who originated it.
This was the first shock and sad experience during our first experiment in rural reconstruction. The Sabha was abolished, and those responsible for giving it birth were subjected to the severest tyranny of mobocracy. Of course, this experiment taught many lessons, the chief being that the villages are just like warring camps, in which there are clashing interests between one class of people and another, and where the higher classes live on the exploitation of those that are poor. It is evident that Village work, therefore, is not possible in the villages where high castes and moneyed class predominate. It can only be successful in the villages where the population is predominantly agricultural and there is not much class difference.
The Second Experiment
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The bitter experiences of our failure in the first experiment awakened us to the necessity of making a thorough study of a village and conditions therein, before a selection was made to start a Rural Reconstruction Centre. It requires sufficient educative propaganda to prepare villagers’ minds for an understanding of the significance of this ameliorative movement. It is a mistake to think that every village is good enough to start village work in. There must be receptive ground for every new experiment. To ensure success there must be well-meaning, influential local leaders, and the village populations should not have the dominance of moneyed and high-class people over them.
Our next experiment was to prepare the ground by educative propaganda in the villages. The area of two hundred villages of Pohri Jagir was divided into three halkas or circles, and one worker was deputed to each halka. He was entrusted with the duty of touring over a number of villages and carrying on educative propaganda about the essentials of village reconstruction among the masses in the villages, at all times-morning, noon and evening. This propaganda work suffered from one serious disadvantage: that it had no tangible results to show at the end of the year. It was difficult to check the work done by workers among the village masses. A rough study of all the villages and types of people inhabiting them could be made. At the end of the year a study tour, with a view to make a final selection of the best village or the group villages, was made, and three centres, which satisfied necessary conditions, were selected.
The Third Phase
The third phase started with the selecting of a village or a group of villages to form into regular village working centres. A worker or two, according to the size of the population, were appointed at each centre, and an all-round programme of Rural Reconstruction was initiated, with special emphasis on the development of the economic side. A complete survey of the economic condition of the village was made and recorded, and a comprehensive scheme to improve the educational, economic, social, administrative and sanitary condition of the villages of the centre was adopted. It is 4 years since this scheme is working in some of the village, centres, with tangible results.
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These ameliorative programmes have not worked equally satisfactorily in all the centres, or in all the villages of the same centre. Things have differed from village to village according to the education, intelligence, understanding, and the capacity of the local leadership to guide and influence the village people. In some of the villages sanitary conditions have greatly improved and the villages appear to be the models of cleanliness. Nearly 25% of village population has attained the primary standard of literacy, and can read and write. Paper and periodical reading habit has been cultivated. An atmosphere favorable to self- improvement has also been created. In several villages, the village people themselves have made approach roads, connecting their village with the metalled roads and with the other neighbouring villages, too. The places, which were hitherto unapproachable, have been opened to regular vehicular traffic. The working of the Panchayat system has also begun to be effective, and the people have started to think for themselves and to make an effort to carry out their decisions. They have started their own grain and seed stores, and have introduced a system for collecting six monthly and annual grain contributions to accumulate their stock. They have also started gathering fodder in large quantity to feed their cattle during the drought season. Economically, too, they have improved much. At certain places, populated with a type of people eager and enthusiastic to work, their average income has improved by 15% within these four years, and about 40% of their aggregate debts have also been paid off. Co-operative spirit is also being cultivated in them and a spirit of co-operative enterprise fostered.
These concrete improvements are sufficiently indicative of the growing interest of the village people in their self-advancement. But more reassuring than all these outward manifestations, is the mentality of self-help and self-confidence that has developed in some of the villages. At some of our successful village centres, the village people assured us that, even if ‘ye closed our centre and withdrew our worker, they themselves would continue the work of village uplift. This is all very hopeful, but it should not be supposed that it is all smooth sailing.
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The Fourth Stage of Planned Economic improvement
Beginning with the first stage of shocks and disillusionments, and passing through the second stage of educative propaganda and preparation of the ground, we have reached the third stage of the systematic work at the village centres, with visible and tangible progress in all phases of village life. But it is a growing conviction with us that we have just come on the track. The end of the journey is still far off. The consciousness is only just dawning on us, that the village problem is essentially an economic problem, and it is only solved when the average income of a villager has reached the standard of a living wage. The criterion of the living wage has been computed to be the reaching of Rs. 5 per head per month, and of a point where 75% of the village population is completely free from debt. Even in our most successful working centres, we have not reached the halfway point of this average income, and the journey upwards appears to be difficult indeed.
Notable Drawbacks
In the first place, the initiative does not come from the village people, and they have not developed to such an extent that they can be entrusted with the responsibility of village administration through their own Panchayat. To be able to manage their affairs, without outside help, is still a distant ideal. The village worker or the responsible public workers connected with this movement, are still the levers by whose initiative, persuasion and driving power this machinery moves. It is they who get things done, seldom willingly, and most of the time by authority and influence. Village people in general appear to be passive agents or halfhearted, though obedient, followers. Left to themselves they are not in a position to manage things for themselves. This is draw- back No. 1, and this can only be removed when village leadership is educated and developed to such an extent, as to be able to initiate measures and lead the people to advancement.
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The difficulty No. 2 is due to the immobile nature of the villager. For centuries, life in the villages has become so dull and inert, and its routine course has become so rigid, that it admits of no new improvement. Where every phase of life has to be moulded and improved, and every routine and process of working is to be changed or improved to a better way of doing it, the immobility of human nature offers the greatest resistance to any change. Even an earnest worker finds himself at his wit’s end, to win over such a people to the adoption of improved methods and better ways of life. This changing of the habit and the methods of the village people and preparing their minds to be receptive and progressive is the toughest task, and even the most earnest village worker does not know when a fairly satisfactory respective stage will be reached in the village.
The third drawback is the complete absence of the spirit of co-operation cooperation has been admitted to be the very basis of village improvement, but one finds in the villages, selfish and separatist tendencies, so pronounced as to shock the most optimistic person. This is again a question of the complete transformation of the mental habits of a lifetime. Phychology tells us that life patterns do not change so easily. And, in the villages, the atmosphere is surcharged with complete mutual distrust and every man has come to believe, although through ignorance, that every other man is his potential enemy, and his interests lie in preserving rigidly, and safeguarding his separate entity. Long and continued exploitation, a depression of spirits, born of penury, and privations of life have narrowed down his outlook to such an extent that, individual selfishness has become the law of his living and overshadows every other human consideration for social existence. This is the sort of material which has to be moulded and organised on the basis of co-operative principles. It is nothing short of moral transformation of a people steeped in ignorance and divided in factions and warring camps. History has it on record that common danger unites a divided people. Economic benefits, accruing through common effort and co-operative enterprise will certainly in the long run improve the mental outlook of the people, and curb their separatist and destructive tendencies. But this is a moral crusade against the present rigid habits of the village people and village workers should proceed undaunted
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on his mission of winning people, for co-operation is the spirit of a crusader. It is going to be a painful experience of stubborn resistance, pathetic indifference, distrust and disappointment, but sure progress towards the ideal in the end is indicated.
Solving the Problem of Living Wage through a Ten-Year Plan
The foregoing is just a review of the ground covered during the past ten years in making various experiments in the field of Rural Reconstruction. The successive stages of development have also been recorded for the benefit of the workers. It may also be of advantage to unfold the plan for the future and indicate the stage we have been led to. It has been our experience that, wherever the workers are successful in winning the confidence of the villagers, a process of all round village improvement is bound to follow. Although the problems of village improvement are many, yet the most important is economic. By proper planning and methodical work it has also been seen that improvement is quite possible. A stage has naturally been reached in our case when an intensive programme with a definite ideal should be adopted. Such a plan: A Ten-Year Plan to solve the problem of the Living Wage in the villages, is under preparation, and is shortly going to be adopted. The plan aims at raising the average income per head per month, from rupee one and a quarter to rupees five, in the course of next ten years.
Planned economy is certainly a very helpful instrument with which to organize rural masses for economic development. With State aid wonders can be achieved in an incredibly short time. It is an irony of fate that the State in this country does not feel concerned to provide even bare necessities of life to the producing masses, on whom the structure of national economy rests. To treat such a vital question as a charitable affair, and to give it a sort of step motherly treatment appears to be a sin against humanity. But under the present circumstances State attitude being one of indifference, the village worker will have to make up for it through his own devotion, and the inculcation of the spirit of self-help and co-operation among the
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village people. Our past experience encourages us to hope that, as a result of the working of the “Ten Year Plan” that we are about to take in hand, we will be able to raise the average income of the villager, to satisfy the standard of a living wage in this area of about two hundred villages in Pohri Jagir.
In conclusion, it will be of benefit to the worker to know how to successfully organise the work in the villages, and get the villagers interested in this process of their self-uplift. At first sight, one usually finds in the village a completely lifeless, cheerless and unresponsive atmosphere round about him. This is a problem psychological in essence, and one should know how to create, in its place, an atmosphere of hope, cheerfulness and responsiveness. This can be done through propaganda alone. A systematic and vigorous propaganda has certainly a telling effect, and it is a potential instrument to make indifferent village people come round and listen. Morning rounds in parties, (Prabhat kirtan), in and a round the villages, with inspiring songs accompanied by music, will certainly help to create a good atmosphere and attract the village people. Evening religious discourses and a good recital of the Ramayan and the Gita at a centrally situated place of village assembly are just other devices to influence village people. Magic lantern sows and occasional dramas will also tend to create interest. The same type of propaganda among the ladies can be carried through lady volunteers, who side by side, by organising Charkha classes; can utilise this occasion to introduce songs suited, to women folk. These are all ways to influence the life of the villagers and to win them over to improvement. To this may be added occasional demonstrational propaganda which should be organised by the workers with the help of village school teachers and young lads, These should devote a day to their complete identification with the village work, and do every item of village work themselves, with their own hands, beginning with street cleaning, and participating with the villagers in every essential item of then daily life. Too much emphasis cannot be laid on this item of preparatory work; for without it, villages will look dreary and lifeless, and the very atmosphere of them will chill the ardour of the worker.
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Village Administration through Panchayat
Improvement without corporate life can never be possible. The only organisation to create life is the Panchayat working effectively. This presupposes high moral tone and the development of public spirit among the village people. Village life, distracted by factions and feuds, and in an atmosphere where evil and mischievous influences reign supreme, presents a riddle which is very difficult to solve. Since constructive nation- building programme demands that this riddle be solved, and every village republic be provided with a strong, public-spirited leadership, the worker should always aim at discovering the right type of local men in the villages and develop them to shoulder more and more responsibility of village administration. Enough has been said in the preceding pages about the necessity of developing cooperative spirit. This is again a question of moral transformation. Let this process of transformation start with the village worker himself, he being the most essential factor in the process. His transformation begins when he starts on his mission in the spirit of a crusader, and does not flinch or look back till his vision of a transformed and prosperous village turns into a reality.
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By G. K. Puranik
(Articles published in November’1940 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
IF life as a whole is to be renovated in the countryside, universal education is an essential pre-requisite. The system that is in vogue at the present is both limited in extent and unsuited to the needs of the village population. To put the result moderately, one is forced to admit the fact that this education has failed to evoke the interest of the villagers who normally ought to have been attracted to it. The view most commonly held among educationists in this country is that the type of primary education imparted to the boys and girls in the village schools is either a waste or a positive disservice to the village community. The recipients rather than being equipped to improve life and economic condition of their homes and surroundings, as a rule, develop disinclination for paternal and village occupations and finally desert their villages to swell the ranks of job-hunters in big towns or cities. Though unintentionally but nonetheless injuriously, the present education is undermining the roots of socioeconomic structure of village community life, without introducing any alternative redeeming feature. A pithy folk saying, common among villagers, thus pointedly sums up the ruinous results of the present education. With little of education, a boy leaves his plough, if more of it, he leaves his home.”
The reasons for this sad commentary are obvious enough. If education has failed to make an appeal to village people, it is because of its inherent defect that it fails to prepare people for life. On the contrary, it brings about disintegration in the social and economic order. The very conception that it puts literacy or letters at a premium and neglects the economic efficiency of the people is wrong and as a result almost everywhere in rural areas, even with huge public expenditure, it has made very little headway in this country. Addressing at the Royal Institute of International affairs, at the time
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THE PROBLEM OF EDUCATION IN VILLAGES
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of the Second Round Table Conference, in London in 1931 Gandhiji is reported to have said, “I say, without fear of figures being challenged successfully, that to-day, India is more illiterate than it was fifty or a hundred years ago, and so is Burma, because, the British Administrators, when they came to India, instead of taking hold of things as they were, began to root them out.”
This process of rooting out indigenous institutions, social, economic and educational, which represent the accumulated wisdom and genius of the people has naturally disturbed the social order. To reconstruct the life of people in villages, we will have to look back at things as they were in the country before this process of uprooting began and will also have to revive the very same institutions to a great extent, of course, with necessary adjustments and improvements to suit modern conditions. The programme of Rural Reconstruction has no meaning, if it is not a determined crusade against the process of uprooting that is going on and seeks to revive and reconstruct life on sure foundations of old. It is a folly to believe that a people can be detached from their social, economic or ethical moorings. An attempt is made in the course of the present article to discuss a few basic principles of education suited to the needs of village people, helping at the same time to revive the system, as it once existed in this country.
Indigenous system of Village Education
That there was more literacy in this country before British introduced their system of education may appear startling enough but the assertion all the same stands unchallenged. In place of one school teacher in between a number of villages, for every village has not yet been provided with a teacher formerly there was the temple priest, the Mulla in the Mosque, the village Purohit or Pandit, the Bania and the village Guruji in the employ of the Panchayat to administer to the educational needs of the community. One or more of these educative agencies were to be found in almost every village and people themselves paid for their own education whether general or of special type. Because they paid for it, they had control over it and it was made to suit their general and particular requirements. And the times being different, education had spiritual rather than material appeal to the then
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society and the people mostly took to learning, to study the scriptures of their religion or to fathom the mysteries in the realm of spirit.
Decentralisation
At the root of the trouble is the policy of centralisation. Wealth, power, resources, intelligence and every other thing has to be centralised. The whole system of administration is based on centralisation, which is at variance with the indigenous system of decentralisation that was prevailing in this country. The present system aims to impose things from above whereas the old aimed to build from below. The whole process is from head to foot. Every thing is an imposition from above and not an orderly growth from the bottom. Not only in administration but also in educational and industrial activity the chances for taking initiative and the existession of free will of the people are barred. Opportunities to take initiative, make, mould and change things to suit people’s requirements are more or less banned since the British came to this country. The people have been denied the expression of their will even in matters that vitally concern them and as a result, perversity, lifelessness and dead uniformity reigns in every sphere of national life.
Centralisation and its accompanying evil of suppression of life must necessarily give place to decentralisation and expression of free will of the people, if rural reconstruction should be a reality. And to that end education should be so designed as to help the process of orderly growth.
Aim of Rural Uplift Programme
The Government should define their objects as to what they aim to achieve by this scheme of rural reconstruction. If the scheme does not aim at improving the economic condition of people, they will naturally have no use of it and it is sure to die out of inanition, as has been the lot of so many welfare schemes before it. If the Government really mean business and wish to improve the villages, they should
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 44
clearly state their policy. The problem in essence being economic, it is but fair that this scheme should aim at solving the problem of living wage of the villagers, which in other words mean increasing per capita income of a villager from the present depressing low level and raise it to Rs. 5/- per month per head in a given period of say ten to fifteen years. Experience has shown that it is not impossible if the Government really mean it.
Economic Incentive to Education
“Education for education’s sake”, is an exploded theory and will never have an appeal to the starving masses that are being crushed under economic pressure from all round. Education to be acceptable to the people should provide an incentive to their economic betterment and ensure prospects of better living. After all, what is it that makes a boy or a girl in a city to go in for education? Surely, it is the temptation of better economic prospects in life, which numerous educated professions in a modern city offer to an educated citizen. Human nature being just the same everywhere, it is pertinent to ask what incentive does education provide to a boy or a young man in a village locality. Are there literate professions to absorb him? Is he any way better fitted with his education to improve his farms and fields or start some other profitable industry? Does it raise him in rank or society? It is difficult to answer these questions any other way but in the negative. On the contrary, an educated villager is not an object of envy or admiration of his fellow people but that of pity and is very often exposed to public ridicule. His education and learning is laughed at, he is jeered at and talked about as a simpleton, good for nothing chap, unworthy of his father. Since the scales of material acquisition judge success in life in the present day world, our educated villager proves a complete failure and migration to a neighbouring city or town becomes his inevitable lot. The repentant villagers thus bewail the unfortunate lot of our educated villager and warn other enthusiasts not to follow his bad example. “With all his scholarship of Persian, poor fellow lives on selling oil. Smile of fortune is the only thing that pays, nothing else.
Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !45
It is difficult to get away from the fact that if education should reach and attract the masses in villages it should necessarily provide an economic incentive which it fails to do at present. Farming being the only occupation of about 90% village population, conditions will have to be so altered as to make fair amount of literacy a necessary equipment and an indispensable qualification for those who take to this profession. It should be made a literate profession and economically remunerative too. Either object can be achieved within a measurable distance of time by a change in the policy of Government.
Change in the Basis of Revenue Assessment
The basis of revenue assessment should change from that of land to the actual farm produce of the cultivator and that too in a fixed proportion and in kind, as was the system in this country in days of yore. For security of life and property that the institution of king or Government provide to the people and the welfare to which it looks after, they should contribute a fixed quota of their income to maintain it. This claim is admittedly just and logical and the people who owed allegiance to this institution agreed to part with 1/6 of their produce of land by way of tax for its maintenance. Naturally, it should only be in the same kind which they produce (i.e.) grain and not in cash or coin, which they produce not. If one of the two parties should suffer in the process of bargain and conversion of this produce into handy cash, it should only be the stronger of the two; the one that is responsible for giving protection to the weak and that is the Government A just Government should never shift the responsibility of taking risk in a transaction, which is their concern, to a weaker section and thereby expose him to the exploitation of the agency of the middle man and the capitalist. And, is it fair from any cannon of moral law to compel a people to pay taxes when they have not grown any thing from the land or even failed to sow the land for the vagaries of the elements on which they have no control? Should not the people and their Government both shares the misfortune in such a case? If this basis of collecting taxes in kind out of produce of the land and not on a fixed measure of land is correct, Government should revert to the old
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 46
system which is based on justice and equity to the producer, And having reverted to it, they should compulsorily make it binding on the cultivators to maintain actual accounts of produce of the land. Village Panchayats are best fitted to introduce this system of compulsory account keeping among the cultivators within their jurisdiction.
Cultivator to keep account
1/6 of farm produce (i.e.) 16% of the cultivator’s produce of land should be taxed by the Government in the same way as they tax commercial or business communities on the basis of the examination of their accounts. Cultivators’ farm produce account books’ should be open to similar public examination and form the basis of fixing assessment of the Government. With the functioning of the system of Panchayats in villages and the administrative control that it will have over the people within its jurisdiction, the chances of inaccuracies, irregularities and dishonesty can be reduced to minimum. By reverting to the old system of taxing land produce in kind and making it compulsory for the cultivator to keep regular accounts of farm containing accounts before proper authorities when demanded, the Government can by a stroke of pen remove a grievous injustice under which the producing masses suffer and provide an economic incentive to the villagers for educational equipment as probably nothing else can. This one move of Government based on justice and equity would impress upon the masses the necessity and utility of education for their day to day existence and without any great public expenditure on the part of the Government for the education of the people, the people themselves will efficiently look after their own education as they used to do in the past before the British uprooted and discouraged their decentralised system of village education for love of centralisation. This change in the basic conditions answers the why of education for the masses in the absence of which it is futile to blame them for apathy.
Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !47
By G. K. Puranik
(Articles published in December’1940 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
IT has greatly pleased me to be present at the opening ceremony of the “Village Workers Training Class” organised under the auspices of the Adrash Seva Sangha and to witness the happy spirit of comradeship that exists between the teachers of the Education Department of Pohri Jagir and those of Adarsh Vidyalaya, whom I see together here in these precincts after a lapse of over 8 years in connection with their training in village service. How natural it is that this association may bring back to our minds the sweet memories of the days when the Adarsh Seva Saugha managed the Jagir education and we had opportunities to work in intimate association with each other to advance the cause of education in the villages of the Jagir. That is an unforgettable memory of the wonderful spirit of dedication and absorption you had shown then in your work. Undoubtedly that will long be remembered as a golden period in the education of this Jagir, which has left its indelible impression on my mind and I believe, that will also be cherished by you as one of the sweetest memories of your life.
On an occasion like this, when we, who are pledged to constructive work have come together here to receive training in village service, I consider it a part of my duty to offer my respectful thanks to Raj Rajendra Shrimant Shitole Saheb who has kindly deputed you to equip yourselves with necessary training to undertake the educational and economic survey of the Jagir villages. I am confident, in the new undertaking with which you are entrusted you will once again display the same old spirit of service, dedication and absorption, which characterised your work in the past and add a brilliant luster to the glory that was yours.
9THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE
VILLAGES WORKERS
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 48
It is needless to say that this time you are here to be initiated into the sacred work of village service. You are to undergo a short course of training in economic and educational survey work. In order that you discharge your responsibilities properly, it is necessary that you understand the significance of this village survey work and the great objective with which it is being undertaken.
The Village is already your sphere of work and by your long and constant association with it you are aware of awful ignorance, appalling poverty and absence of culture that is found among the village people. It is, therefore, unnecessary for me to emphasise the absolute urgency of rural uplift work and the great role that the village teachers are called upon to play in it.
The poverty and ignorance of the village is a painful sore in the body politic of the country, the necessity of whose cure has been admitted both by the Government and the public workers’ agencies. Our great leader Mahatma Gandhi, has already made a village “Sevagram” his home and it is not rare that news-paper columns contain the news of occasional visits of the Viceroy to the villages showing his interests in the weal and woe of the peasants and also giving some active encouragement whenever possible.
To remove the poverty of the cultivators who are the producers of the country’s wealth is the foremost national programme of our times. The work of economic survey that you are about to undertake is nothing else than the preliminary diagnosis of the prevailing poverty of the villages. Every member of medical profession knows it thoroughly well and so, I believe, you do, what important place right diagnosis has in the treatment of a disease. A good doctor or Vaidya is he who is a specialist in the correct diagnosis; for, his treatment alone can be a reliable one. In the same wa1, your economic survey would be a dependable basis on which the remedy of the prevailing poverty and ignorance of the villages would be sought.
The causes of ruin of village life are many. Enumerable, therefore, are the processes of treatment of this chronic malady. Within a short period of a fortnight at our disposal, it is not possible to
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impart any detailed training in the various aspects of rural reconstruction work. But an attempt will be made to acquaint you with the general broad-outlines of your work. The immediate sphere of your training is the survey of the villages and all that you are required to equip yourselves with, at the movement is, how best to obtain fuller information from the villagers about the condition of their villages and how ably and efficiently you learn a way to make an approach to their problems and qualify yourselves to discharge your present responsibilities. All your entries in the charts and tables and the replies of your questionair should be marked by high accuracy. You need not wait to be disillusioned or depressed when you find yourselves confronted with a wall of ignorance and want of interest of the villagers in replying the many details of your questions. Surely, they know not many things concerning themselves and are also suspicious about the motives of such enquiries. Under these circumstances, you will have to use your tact and resourcefulness to extract replies from them. Even in getting the village people together to conduct your enquiries, you will have to exert your influence and use tact and will also have to obtain the co-operation of the zamindar and local Government authorities. I am confident, you will do all this most cheerfully in obedience to the wishes o your master for the sacred ‘yajna’ of rural service. Strict accuracy should be your watchword in all that you do in connection with this responsible work of yours.
In this connection I feel the necessity of pointing out to you why we, the educated, bear a special responsibility for the uplift of the villages. The word “Vidya” is derived from its Sanskrit root ‘Wit” which means to know. But knowing without doing, as you know, has no meaning. “Vidya” carries the sense of knowing as well as doing. To know merely that the villages are in the grip of poverty is not enough. On a close analysis you will find that the original motive of all people behind education and learning is economic efficiency, pure and simple. Those who receive education know it well that thereby they equip themselves to improve their economic condition. But this again is a narrow individual out-look while education in its broader sense teaches a man to outgrow from his selfishness and merge his individual self in the good of the community. If one equipped with arms confines the use of his weapons only to protect himself and will
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 50
not use them to protect his neighbour or his village when in danger, such a one rightly deserves to be denounced as a coward and a mean fellow. The same analogy applies in the case of an educated man, if he merely sells his knowledge to sub serve his selfish interests, and does not give the benefit of his priceless possession to remove the misery and poverty of his neighbour, his village or country. Our education has ill-served its purpose if it has not developed in us a sense of social responsibility and duty towards our neighbour. The duty of removing the ignorance and poverty of the village people all the more devolves upon us when the State or Society has already made provision for our livelihood and we find ourselves in a happy situation to render a free service. So sacred a thing as knowledge is not meant merely to sub serve one’s selfish interests.
Our scriptures say knowledge, wisdom, wealth, and power are blessings of GOD and man has been ordained to use them for the good of all according to the suitability of the time, the place and the object This has been termed ‘Knowledge’ and that which is opposed to it is ignorance. It does not require a prophet to tell us that of all the spheres of social service the one that has the most appeal to us, at the moment is, the constructive programme of rural reconstruction. Of course, the gigantic tree of rural reconstruction has many branches and sub branches, education, sanitation, moral and cultural improvement and economic reconstruction, being just a few of them. They are all interrelated to each other but certainly the basic problem is the economic one. Almost everywhere, wherever, the economic survey of the villages has been undertaken so far, it has been found that the income per capita per mensem is Rs. 1/- or near about it. A human being who has been made to live on this scanty income of 2 pice a day is certainly the embodiment of pity as well as of our shame. As worthy children of the soil, we are required to use all our knowledge and wisdom to raise this average income from Re. 1/- to Rs. 5/- per head per mensem. You will be glad to know that in the village centres of our Jagir where systematic efforts have been made in this direction for some time past, the average income of a villager has increased to about Rs. 2-8-0 per month. It is being proposed that there should spread a network of these village centres all over the Jagir and let it go down to your eternal glory that you may be the
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first to be blessed to solve the problem of living wage for the villages, before this high ideal is being realized anywhere else. Stated in brief, the problem resolves itself into increasing the average income of the villager by four times. It is a standing challenge to the constructive talent of this country and all available energy of our educated people will have to be utilised to achieve this ideal within the next 10 or 15 years. To me this is the greatest task awaiting this country. While addressing Arjun Lord Krishna has said, “0 Arjun, let poor and hungry be fed by you”. That commandment has an eternal and universal appeal, and I feel, as if Lord Krishna is exhorting us all to remove the misery and poverty of the village people. If all our education and learning does not help us to tackle this major national problem of our times it is much more honourable, we give up our claim for high learning and education.
Then, you are not required to have very high education or training for this village work. Speaking inversely also, one with big schemes, finances and tempting emoluments cannot lay claim for the success of the work. The basis of this work is to effect a complete change in the psychology of the villager. Hope has to be generated where despondency reigns at present, a scattered and divided people have to be organised and united, people who have lost faith in their own capacity for improvement have to be restored with confidence and self reliance, the narrow limits of outlook that is circumscribed by individual self interest have to be extended to embrace social welfare and mutual co-operation, finally broad mindedness and progressive outlook will have to be developed among those, who are the victims tradition, narrowness and ignorance. In short, this is a complete psychological transformation. Human conduct is only influenced for such a change by noble examples set and the elevating atmosphere created by social workers and the sum total of this effort must result in an all round improvement including the economic betterment of the people: The duty of affecting this change in the mentality of the village people devolves upon you, and the demand of the occasion is that you should rise equal to it.
It is through selfless service alone that the human heart is touched and won over for improvement and rural reconstruction can only he a
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possibility when a large number of such workers take to village service. That you may take up this mission of village service in a truly missionary spirit is all that is expected of you by your master Raj Rajendra Shrimant Shitole Sahib and the Adarsh Seva Sangha.
Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !53
!
By: G. K. Puranik.
(Continued from the November 1940 issue)
(Editorial published in January’1941 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
Unjust Government policy
WHAT has brought about the ruin and decadence of the countryside is the unjust policy of the Government. With their over insistence on centralisation, during all this period of “British Rule”, the village life in this country was left totally uncared for and neglected. It has been a continuous process of squeezing out everything worth while from the villages to beautify the cities and to provide comforts to the city dwellers. This complete neglect of the vast majority of producing population living in villages on the one hand and degenerating life of lure and luxuries created in the cities at the cost of the villages on the other, has been one of the conspicuous features of British domination in this country. “Milking the cow every time and feeding it not” has in effect been the Government policy so for as the villages are concerned. The idea that a reasonable fraction of people’s money realized in taxes should be utilized in their own improvement and facilities of education, medical help, easy means of communication, training in agriculture and home industries and in creating opportunities of cultural life on identical lines as they are being provided to the city people, which should make life in rural areas worth living, never bothered the Government. Except the over-taxed and unpaying occupation of cultivating the land, which in its decaying and starving condition is in the hands of illiterate peasants,
THE PROBLEM OF EDUCATION IN VILLAGES
10
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the villages have long been left practically without any other occupation demanding development of intelligence and need of receiving education. Had the Government realized their duty towards educational, cultural, and economic development of the village population in this country as they certainly do in the case of their own people at home, they could have easily created opportunities and employment for the educated masses in the villages. If it is to be conceded, as it should, in all fairness that the people living in the villages are as good human-beings as their brethren in the cities and since they are more useful, as they provide wherewithal to run the Government machinery, they are entitled to receive greater care and consideration at the hands of the Government. H is unfortunate that Governments of our times are not human. They are lifeless machineries and ethical and human considerations do not weigh with them.
Creating Opportunities
Since countryside has been economically starved, there exist no opportunities, which should provide incentive for education to the people; On the contrary, mere literary education catered through steno-typed village primary schools, makes a boy un-village like and unfit for his paternal occupation. Such being the case, is it tot the duty of the Government to start agricultural schools all over the country to suit the demand of the population, which is predominantly agricultural? What facilities have the Government provided to the boys of the village artisans to learn the trades and occupations of their fore fathers and to improve their languishing cottage industries Education suited to the genious and environment of the village population is non-existent and one is amazed to see the indifference of the Government in such a vital nation-building concern.
But
There is a big “but’ which is at the toot of all this neglect and indifference. While discussing certain nation-building topics, one responsible Government official once spoke to me, “But the Government never thought over the problem in these terms.
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The very composition of the Government of this country is such that it is incapable of thinking of the welfare of the population on humanitarian or on any other considerations except that of treating it as a profitable market for the goods of England and consolidating their political power to that end. A set of foreign administrators, who are here to protect the interests of their country which interests naturally clash with the interests of the country they govern, and whose policy has throughout been responsible to drain the country white and ruin its national economy, can not, all at-once put on a different pattern of life to become human and start behaving benevolently. Those who will build the nation will be a different set of people than those who have ruined it.
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 56
!
By G. K. Puranik
(Editorial published in April’1941 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
SHRI Mashruwala is a great thinker and an eminent writer. He is one of the few people in the country, who have taken pains to understand the Gandhian philosophy and tried to live it. The Rural India” and its readers greatly appreciate his thoughtful contributions. In the March issue of this journal, he has presented a topic connected with constructive village work for opinion and elucidation. The topic in question is the consideration of a self-sufficient unit in village organisation. The village workers and those who have thought over these problems seem to agree with Shri Mashruwala in many respects. There is almost unanimity of opinion among the workers that our villages are too small both in population and in area to be a self—sufficient unit separately either economically or for administrative purposes. The consideration seems to have passed the stage of theoretical discussion. The practice has already established a working model where theory as yet remains undecided. Almost everywhere in India, where rural reconstruction centres have started functioning and the Panchayats have been established, it is rarely that there is a single village Panchayat. In the vast majority of cases it is for a group of villages that a. Panchayat has come to be established. At one of our Society’s village centres there is a Panchayat for a group of seven villages and at another one, where the
SELF-SUFFICIENT UNIT IN VILLAGE ORGANISATION
11
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population of the villages is large for four. To my knowledge similar is the practice followed in most places. This unmistakably indicates the direction in which the final solution of the problem under discussion a self-sufficient unit in village organisation lies. A single village, unless it be a village with a population of 2000 or more and an area of 4 to 5 Sq. Miles can never be a self-sufficient unit. Therefore, the practice already adopted by the workers to take a group of villages as economic and self- sufficient unit for organisational purposes is welcome and desirable.
The solution of the problem of future reconstruction of self-sufficient village units lie in grouping together a number of small villages and ultimately making the scattered population to agree to come together and develop into a big village. This of course must remain a distant goal to be reached by gradual and very cautious steps, notwithstanding all earnestness and sincere advocacy on the part of the workers. For all practical purposes, the ideal implies a revolutionary change in the character and composition of village settlements as they are at present. It also raises several complicated and baffling issues of land settlements and zamindari rights to be adjusted and reconciled. And then the unwillingness of the rural masses is the greatest obstacle to be overcome who for generations are used to a life of small group settlements to venture on a career of enterprise at great sacrifices of their present hearths and homes and move down to form big settlements, the future advantages of which step they can neither comprehend nor anticipate. It is almost as touchy a spot to be cautiously handled by a village worker at the present stage of development of the villages as placing of anti untouchability in the forefront of village reconstruction programme. It is neither the one nor the other which is acceptable to the village people. On the contrary the positive risk is always there that it may scare the people away from the worker.
Personally, it is my own conviction based on a life-time spent in the service of the villages that it is almost impossible to raise the standard of life in rural areas either economically, socially, educationally or culturally to an appreciably high level as long as the population, remains scattered in small hamlets and villages. It is as
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 58
impossible to improve the village life economically or otherwise without breaking the isolation of its small village settlements, as to develop the Hindu Community, to a high social level without breaking the barriers of its thousands of caste and sub-caste groups. Narrowness of outlook bred by this isolated existence is a psychological impediment in the way of creating an atmosphere of hope and ambition for the village people to raise their standard of life. Rural Reconstruction more than anything else is a psychological problem and the mental attitude of people is only possible of improvement, when the village environment is also changed or improved. Living in big villages and daily chances of large community contact are sure ways to bring about this desirable mental change. Otherwise also, it is not possible for state or philanthropic public to create institutions and agencies in every village for service and social welfare as long as the villages contain only a few dozen souls The object of rural reconstruction programme can only be served best when the villages grow more or less resembling into small towns, where ordinary facilities of civilized life are possible to be provided.
Under the inspiration of CoL Raj Rajendra Shrimant Sitole Sahib of Gwalior, whose definite views on the topic, we have extensively quoted in the last issue of this magazine, our workers including the writer himself have for the last 4 years been consistently propagating this idea in the 7 villas of our model centre at Deori, without any success attaining our efforts so far. It is difficult to conceive of more favourable conditions than what obtain at this centre. The active encouragement of the master of the Jagir, who in order to launch this beneficial move for the betterment of his ryots in the villages, is there to create all facilities and conveniences, and which fact is well-known and understood by the villagers themselves. Fortunately, the village people have complete faith in their workers and they understand the good intentions behind the advocacy of this new project. Amongst the people themselves in the 7 villages of the centre there is harmony and sweet social relations. They have begun to understand the economic and social advantages accruing to them by coming together and building a big village and they also know the disadvantages of separate and scattered existence. Still the chances of
Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !59
consummation of the project are not within sight and they have not yet started to relish the idea.
Recently the people from 2 villages of this Centre, which are in a decaying and depopulated condition since long consulted us to fix up for each one of them a new locality to build a new village and vacate the present one. This question officially came up for consideration before the Panchayat of the Centre, which, we advocates, thought was a God-sent opportunity to materialise our long differed project to build a united big village. But to our dismay, the proposition could not find support from the members of the Panchayat, and fell through. The reason being that the Zamindars and other vested interests are not prepared to lose their identity and self- importance which they think is well safeguarded in their small, isolated villages.
This actual experience prominently illustrates the genesis of small village settlements and shows that self-interest of the Zamindars is mainly at the root of the perpetuation of this isolation in small villages. Social consciousness has yet to be developed in the country when individual learns to sacrifice his interests for the advancement of the community. In rural areas for a man of means and intelligence the office of a zamindar being inheritary has a lure and charm all its own. Sustained educative propaganda followed by state legislation would only be a solution of this intricate problem. But the progress in this direction is hound to he slow and by stages.
In this connection, besides the consideration of population and area of this self-sufficient unit of village of which casual mention has been made in the preceding paragraphs, there are other equally important requirements of the population, which should also be taken into consideration. Sufficient fertile lands for cultivation, pasture lands for cattle, forest area for fuel and timber, river or some other means for good water supply are equally necessary. To make the village socially self- sufficient the population should contain a large population of each community, and a good number of professional classes, such as priests, merchants, weavers, gold-smiths, tailors, barbers, carpenters, black-smiths, washermen, potters, oil-men, shoe-
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 60
makers scavengers etc. and also the unskilled labourers. Then to meet religious, cultural and administrative requirements of such a village population, there should also be a temple, a mosque, a panchayatghar, a school, a library, a hospital or Ayurvedic aushadhalaya, a club, a co-operative society and a post office. Man cannot live by bread alone and neither can a village be conceived as a self-sufficient unit if it is merely economically self sufficient. Other phases of life are equally important and adequate provision will have to be made to develop them all. A village which answers the above description may alone be taken to be a self-sufficient village and the population of such a village should be near about 2000, with a cultivable land of about 75000 acres and an area of 4 to 5 Sq. Miles.
It is also necessary to state where I differ in details of arrangement proposed by Shri. Mashruwala in the formation of unit of village organisation, Connecting a Tehsil, a SubTehsil or a Kasba with its surrounding villages or a city or town with its suburbs or neighbouring villages and thus forming a unit of a Municipal or Panchayat administration will not, in my opinion, be conducive to the development of life in villages. It is likely to do much harm in their free growth. Co-operation and mutual helpfulness is desirable and beneficial when the cooperating parties stand on the same financial or intellectual footing. It proves a curse if cooperation is forced between superiors and inferiors, those who exploit and those being exploited. The standard of life lived between a City and a village, the degree of intelligence, the means of earning and the capacity of the two people stand in marked contrast with each other. Municipal laws of taxation and sanitation in force in the cities cannot be applicable in the conditions that obtain in the villages at present. Similarly, the migratory and floating population of a kasba, a town or a city will not, I am afraid, obey the rules and the decrees of the Panchayats. In this arrangement the advantages are likely to accrue to the city or town people because of their superior intelligence and resources. In actual working it will be like foisting the domination of the exploitor class of the city over the village people, who being ill-matched would have to submit to their exploitation.
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Then the unit of population from ten to fifteen thousand for a Panchayat or an organisational unit suggested by Shri Mashruwala appears to be too unwieldy. With the exception of certain thickly populated rural areas, the average population of a village in our country may safely be taken to be 300. On the basis of this calculation, it will be rather grouping together 40 to 50 villages in one unit of a Panchayat, which seem to be not only unwieldy but an unmanageable affair. At the present stage of village development it will be rather impossible to secure regular attendance of these widely scattered representative units of villages in a monthly or a quarterly meeting. It will also be difficult for a Panchayat to cater to the Social, Educational and other needs of this widely scattered area from one centre.
Briefly stated the following points emerge out of the discussion on the topic under consideration:—
1. A group of villages and not a single village, unless it be a very big one, should be taken to be a unit of organisation in a Panchayat.
2. The Unit of village organisation should be composed of villages only. It is not in the interest of the villages to link them in an organisation with a town or a Kasba.
3. The area and population of such a group unit of villages should be from 4 to 5 sq. Miles and the population in the neighbourhood of 2000 souls.
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 62
By G. K. Puranik
(Articles Published in May’1941 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
THE Holding of Basic Education Conference in Delhi during Easter was an event of national importance. This was the second Conference, the first one being held at Poona in 1939. The Conference was opened by Babu Rajendra Prasad and presided over by Dr. Zakir Husain. A number of educationists from all parts of India carrying on the experiment of Basic Educational system, read papers, exchanged notes and experiences. Mahatma Gandhi blessed the Conference with his message. The significance of the event lies in the bold spirit of educational enterprise with which the nationalist India has undertaken to evolve a system of Education suited to the genius of the country.
Out of universal discontent, chaos and confusion of thought in the realm of education, the new system of education is in the process of being shaped. The principles on which it is based are sound. They are:-
(1) It should be rural, (2) It should be national, (3) It should be self-supporting and built round a handicraft.
It is a welcome reaction against the present system of western imitation in vogue, which is urban in out—look, denationalising in effect, too bookish and fails to prepare a young man or woman to face the life. As said by Dr. Rajendra Prasad in his opening address “The task before us is very difficult indeed.” And the real difficulty before the educationists lies in harmonising the practice and the method of training to attain the three objects lay down as basic principles. The experiment is only two years old. It is a non-official venture to remodel the system of education, which should produce self-reliant productive citizens in place of helpless job-hunters of to-day, True, he
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BASIC EDUCATION—A STUDY AND APPRECIATION
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must be a bold man, who can vouchsafe complete success in such a difficult experiment, when it is yet in an experimental stage. “A tree is known by its fruit.” And those interested would do well to give all sympathy and active support to our educationist pioneers in their difficult venture and refrain from passing any premature judgment, before full period of seven years’ course is completed and the first fruits are seen.
That the stage of educational experiment on indigenous lines has come in this country is no small aim. It should not be forgotten that British model of education took 150 years and more to come to this stage. Naturally, Basic system too must take fairly long time to be perfected. From time to time the experiment will have to be tested in the light of experiences and revised and improved. It is a difficult pioneer work of educational reform, the success of which very much depends on the quality of teachers. These educationists should be a sturdy band of truth seekers, possessing high critical faculties of judgment, original in ideas and resourceful in carrying out those ideas into practice. In the words of Dr. Zakir Husain, “We must, like the children we seek to educate, learn by doing, learn by a better appreciation of our objective,, by a sound calculation of ways and means and by severe judgment of the results we have achieved.” It is in essence an educational crusade against the denationalising present system of education and it is expected that the educationist fraternity fully understands their great responsibility in the matter.
The experiment which envisages to produce a nationalist and a self-supporting type of citizen, must, as Gandhiji has rightly said, in his message, be thorough. As one deeply interested in the future of education of this country, the writer would specially stress the necessity of utmost thoroughness in this experiment, lest a little slackness, a little slipping from the main principles may deprive the country of the results, fondly expected. In an agricultural country with more than 80% people living in villages, our system of education must of necessity be rural. It is but returning justice, where it is due and trying to remodel the system to suit the requirements of 80%, who have been callously neglected.
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 64
It should be Rural
Since, the new system (Basic education) should be rural, it naturally follows that it should be given in rural surroundings. If Gandhiji can comfortably live in Sevagram, there can be no justification for these schools, big or small, to be located in the neighbourhood of a city or a town in the artificially created rural environment, That will be a wrong beginning. To obtain different results, the whole process has to be reversed. The bigger the school the smaller the village and the more difficult the sources of production, should be the rule. To effect psychological change, the source of inspiration and attraction, which so far, has been big towns or cities, have to be transferred to the small villages. The biggest school located in the smallest village and setting the example of being self supporting under more difficult natural sources of production in the locality should really be a model school and a centre of inspiration.
Teachers and students of these basic schools should become a part of the hard-life lived in the villages. They should engage themselves in the same sort of occupations from which the villagers earn their living. Their standard of living, food and dress should of necessity conform to the standard that obtains in the village. If basic education should produce an educated young man, able to live and work in the villages, he should not be estranged from his surroundings during his impressionable years. Taking a village boy to the environment of a city or town and expecting to give him rural education is a beginning from the wrong end. The first basic change of basic educational system should start with the location of the schools from cities to the villages.
It should be National
Education to be national should be given through the medium of the mother tongue of the child. This is a second and a very desirable change introduced by the system. But education really concerns more with the formation of character than with the medium of instruction. National language is a necessary vehicle for the intellectual evolution
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and the highest individual expression, which is not possible through a foreign tongue. But it can never be an instrument for moulding any particular national character. And education to be national should necessarily develop, distinct national qualities and character among the educated. As they say “Education without character is a sin.’ The drawback of the present education is that it is only a commodity of the market place, which merely concerns with purchase and sale. It completely neglects human soul. Rather than developing moral qualities, it stiff les the very personality of man. The new system to be truly indegenous cannot afford to neglect the formation of character of the individual. In the curriculum of studies of the basic schools, this essential side of character formation seems to have suffered neglect. It is an audible whisper going on all the time round about us that we Indians have no character. I may be excused for the strong expression. But that is merely stating a fact, which is a common experience of every day life. I would rather say, more important than literacy, training in handicraft or education itself, we as a nation have greater need of a distinct type of national character of our own. After all what type of individual do we wish to produce and what character do we wish to develop in him have to be understood.
Among the western nations, specially the English, whom we know more intimately, a particular type of character is clearly discernible, Love of their country, sense of duty and discipline are the prominent traits of character found in every English man. Their social environment, traditions, educational system takes particular cares to develop these qualities in every boy or girl. Judged by this standard, we are afraid, we cannot lay claim to any particular trait of character among our people.
In our old system of education, a student while under training at Gurukul or at his Guru’s place had to live a life of self—restraint. He was required to practise many Yamas and Niyamas (i.e.) moral principles. He was to live a life of Brahmacharya, plain in habits, truthful in action, disciplined in life and obedient to his teacher and elders. In Sanskrit literature, all castes and professionals have been enjoined to follow their particular code of conduct. People belonging
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 66
to different stations in life are required to cultivate and possess different qualities suited to their position. Throughout the vast literature a rigid standard of life and behaviour has been prescribed for the various members of the society. A Student of history and sociology has no difficulty to trace back the fall of Indian Society along-side their fall from the principles laid down by the lawgivers of old. During the centuries of foreign rule in the medieval times we have lost our national character.
It is with the advent of Mahatma Gandhi that there has been a distinct elevation of character. This has been due to his simple personality and his insistence on the observance of principles of Truth and Non-Violence. His has been a great contribution in restoring faith and confidence in the sublimity of moral principles to a people, who were practically lost to this rich heritage. I do not suggest that Truth and Non-Violence alone, since Mahatma Gandhi has advocated them, should be accepted as basic principles for moulding our national character. Nobody has any dispute about the Truth; but- most people doubt the efficacy of Non-Violence in modern political warfare. There should be no hypocrisy about it, specially when there is the question of moulding the character of a whole Nation, It is the business of the educationists, who have taken the responsibility to build the young generation to decide, which particular set of moral virtues, they wish to develop in the young generation. That combination may be Truth, Justice, Self-sacrifice; Duty and Discipline; Love, Charity and Tolerance; or any other combination, which they think will develop the type of character for their nation, People must have some ‘Dharma’. Building any national edifice without any solid basis of ‘Dharma’ (high principle) can never be a solid and dependable basis of national reconstruction. Even French Revolution was based on Justice, Equality and Fraternity.
It should be self-supporting
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Gandhiji, in his original Scheme, which of course, later on has been modified by the educationists, insisted on making Basic Education self-supporting. This later change has not been much appreciated. The change introduced takes away the real substance out of the Scheme, and what remains, if I may be pardoned to say so. is a mere shadow. Self-supporting education, by which captivating nomenclature Basic Education is known today, was not only a fanciful novelty, but was something tangible and a definite standard to judge the success of this experiment. By deleting the self-supporting aspect of the scheme, the Zakir Husain Committee, I would say, has reduced the scheme into some vague experiment. Dr. Zakir Husain, the author himself has to complain in the course of the Conference at Delhi, that because the Committee has not acquired the patent right and that the Scheme is only experimental, many of the institution and Governments have started to reduce the time allotted to handicrafts and physical labour. From 3 hours and 20 minutes prescribed by the Committee for handicrafts and physical labour, they have reduced the time to an hour or an hour and a half. Dr. Zakir Husain has already apprehended no wonder that the results will be disappointingly inadequate, and brings the scheme itself into disrepute as.
But this was what was expected. And minus self-supporting aspect, there is every apprehension, that the scheme is bound to degenerate into ordinary literary education with vocational bias. A few ardent enthusiasts may for sometime continue to feed their fancies on the slogans of creative child, live classroom and a better individual produced through the system. It is yet fresh in the minds of the public, that the claims advanced by the educationists of the past generation, who with all sincerity and honesty strove to produce, Kapil, Kanad and Patanjali Out of the Gurukuls and Rishikuls that they established, could not be substantiated. Educationists would do well to reconsider the Scheme in the light of Gandhiji’s original conception of self-supporting education once again, which J am sure is a great safe-guard to save the experiment from many a pit-fall and coaseqent frustration of efforts.
The idea of building the educational system round a handicraft also admits of improvement. The 3 hour and 20 minutes time
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prescribed in the curriculum for training in the handicraft appear to be reasonable and well thought out. But it is to be seen which cottage industry or craft is universal in the village. And granting good practice in workmanship it will make the student even partly self-supporting by making him to apply his energy during the allotted time. If the economic returns are not proportionate, the waste of material, and energy, will chill the enthusiasm of the worker at long last and reduce the thing into a druggery.
The Educationists know that in the villages there are only two such occupations, which if properly taken up can make one wholly self-supporting. They are agriculture and cattle-breeding. Other handicrafts are merely subsidiary industries to add little more additional income. Of course, carpentry, smithy, tailoring, etc. are some such industries on which one can live. But their scope is strictly limited.
As has already been discussed in the foregoing if the basic idea of making education self-supporting is conceded, as I strongly submit, should be the nucleus round which the whole Scheme of Basic Education should be bulk, it naturally follows, that the scheme should give preferential place to agriculture and cattle-breeding over other handicrafts in the curriculum of studies. Other subsidiary industries should only have a secondary place, as is the case. With all our very best efforts, the products of basic education will not be able to materially change the natural conditions obtaining in the countryside. They will have to live and subsist on the same occupations on which their fore-father were living hitherto, of course, with some improvement.
Such a thing as making education self- supporting cannot be possible from the very beginning of the experiment. But it stands to reason that at the end of seven-years of Basic- School training, school colony including the teachers and students of highest form should be self-supporting. No student should be turned out of these basic-schools after completing his seven years of schooling, who has not become self-supporting in his final year of the School, It should be the criteria of our basic-schools, that we send a completely self- supporting individual into the world. And let me submit in all humility that such a thing is not utopian and is possible of practical
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achievement, provided our educationists from the very first, conform to the village economic standards.
This necessarily brings us to the very relevant topic of adopting village standards in food, dress and other requirements of life. Rural Education to be successful necessarily demands progressive lowering of our economic standards. Certainly no educated man can possibly manage to live within the present miserable income of the villager, which is only a starvation wage and a deficit economy as we choose to call it, But the average that is proposed to be raised as a result of improving rural conditions through village reconstruction programme is Rs. 5/- per capita per month, and Rs. 20/- to 25/- a month for a family of -4 to 5 people. Since, we aim to raise the level of a peasant’s income to the standard indicated above, it is permissible for teachers and students of Basic Schools to adopt this economic standard. The students under training in basic schools should manage to live within Rs. 5/- and teachers with families within Rs, 20 to 25 a mouth. This income too they should produce by working on farms, managing dairies, and starting other cottage industries and see that they maintain themselves on their self- produce. Such a scheme of Basic Schools envisages self-supporting colonies of teachers and students scattered all over the country in the hearts of the villages. And teachers becoming self-supporting before the students. For unless they become confident of being self- supporting by following agriculture or other village handicrafts, they will not be able to communicate the conviction to their students.
To summarise the conclusions and suggestions, I submit: —
(1) Basic-schools, to be rural, should be situated in the heart of rural areas and not in the artificially created village surroundings in the neighbour-hood of big towns or cities.
(2) Teachers and students should conform to village standards and manage to live within the same average income that we want to raise for a villager, i.e. Rs 5 for a student and Rs. 20 or 25 for a teacher with family per month.
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(3) This colony of teachers and students of the Basic schools should follow village occupations and make themselves progressively self-supporting.
(4) No student should be declared successful, till he becomes self-supporting in his final or 7th year.
(5) Basic-school system should be based on the self-supporting idea as originally proposed by Gandhiji and that basic idea should not be given up.
(6) That agriculture and cattle-breeding should take the first place in the scheme and cottage industries or handicrafts the second,
(7) Basic education should aim to develop moral qualities and distinct national character in the young generation.
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!
By G. K. Puranik
(Editorial published in July’1941 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
(First Day) 10th May 1941:
I left my bed at about 4-0 A. M. and made preparations to start. Soon after having attended the calls of nature, we took light breakfast. The flag-salutation ceremony was gone through. Prabhat Kirtan was started with songs suited to the occasion.
While statting on this village study tour, Mr. Komal Kishore, a student of the Adarsh Vidyalaya, accompanied me. It was decided before-hand to complete the tour on foot, from beginning to end. Accordingly we left Pohri for the first village of our halt, Peon on foot at 6-0 A. M. We carried our belongings and clothing on our own shoulders and reached Deori at 7-30 A.M. This village Centre is 5 miles from Pohri. Mr. Ratan Lalji Dixit met us outside the village. In the afternoon Mr. Devi Lalji Trivedi, who was engaged in the village survey work at a distant village, arrived? Now our tour-party consisted of three members, excluding Mr. Dixit.
According to our fixed time table, we finished our bath taking. The Deori Rural Development Centre is conducted by the Adarsh Seva Sangha. There are two workers working at this Centre. We took our meals with them. The rest of the time of the day was utilised in writing, reading and doing other official work, I went through the Rural Development Scheme of Gwalior State sent to me for opinion in the afternoon. A revised time-table and programme of tour was prepared.
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This tour was chiefly undertaken to emphasise the importance of cattle-breeding. It was, therefore, decided that the whole party should go and cut or pick up green grass for the cattle wherever it was available in the village of our visit. Generally, it was in the sugar-cane fields that the green grass was available. There we went and brought two bundles. Besides the three members of our party, we ‘ere also accompanied by Pt. Ratan Lal Dixit and Mr. Sampurnanand Sharma, the worker at the Deori Centre. Also we were further helped by one or two cultivators who were working on their fields for a short time. At 6-0 P.M. in the evening, a special meeting of the village Centre was held. One or two members who were out on marketing were absent. This Centre is one of our successful village Centres conducted for the last five years, and is regarded to be a model Centre. It was started after the second village Study Tour in 1936. Ii was proposed in the meeting to make this Centre completely self- sufficient and self-reliant. After a good deal of thought and discussion, it was decided that the Sangha should continue to run it for one year more. During this period of trial and preparation, all the executive responsibilities of the Gram Sudhar Sabha should be discharged by the members themselves. In order that, within one year, the entire responsibility of running the Centre be shifted from the Sangha to the Sabha, the Sangha should train its members and make them competent enough to conduct the Centre without any worker from outside. For, to be a model village centre, it should be conducted by the village people themselves independent of any corker from out-side.
In the meeting, the question of getting the Rijoda Dam completed, came up for consideration. Pt. Deo Lal Parashar, the Zarnindar of Aniroda proposed to commence the work after a week. The progress of the well which was under construction at Deori was satisfactory. But inspite of all efforts, no morum could be spread this year on the Circular Road of the Centre. This showed the slackness of the Sabha and its members in this very necessary direction.
It was also felt that the workers of the Centre lacked the training of organising and conducting the meetings. They should receive this training.
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At night, two cows were brought from the homes of the cultivators. They were worshipped and fed with soaked grams. The green grass which we had collected and brought in the evening, was given to them to feed, before the congregation of the whole village. They understood the purpose and the object of this feeding and worshipping the cows. Later on, the importance of cattle- breeding was explained to them in detail. Some of their doubts and misgivings were also removed, At 11-0 P. M, having finished our engagements, the party retired to bed.
(Second Day) 11th May 1941:
The tour party consisted of Pt. Devi Lalji Trivedi, Komal Kishore student, and me.
After attending the calls of nature, we left Deori at 6-0 A M. Shri Ratan Lalji Dixit was with us for a short-while. ‘While going to Kankra, we had to pass through Bachhora village. Here, we met Master Harihar Prasad, the Secretary of the Kankra Rural Development Centre. The Zamindar and some of the village people also came to meet us. We had a talk with them about rural uplift work and found then much interested. The people of Kankra village had good opinion about this village. It appears to be a good enough place to start a Rural Development Centre. This consciousness made it necessary to make further study of the village.
The Nakedar of l3achhora was all hospitality to us. We availed his hospitality and took our breakfast at his. This engagement delayed us at Bachhora and naturally we were late to reach Kankra as well. This day all our arrangements of food and bath taking were delayed. I wrote my diary in the interval. The food was ready at 2-0 P. M. We had our hearty meals. I enjoyed my after-noon nap up to 3-30 P. M. Then I finished the writing work. I could not join the party to bring green grass from the fields. At about 6-0 P. M., I did collect some green fodder.
In the evening, it was a Zamindar’s house, where we stayed and the meeting was also organised the same place. The people were full
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of enthusiasm. Their interest in village improvement appeared to be deep. The majority of people of this village are Kirar by caste. Harmukha is the Zamindar of the village. After worshipping and feeding the cows as usual with green grass, the meeting commenced. The people were explained the broad outlines of rural reconstruction. Although Kankra has been made a Village Uplift Centre for some time, no systematic work has yet been started. Whatever little they have done is a proof that their interest in rural work is sufficiently awakened. But Kankra is a small village of only 250 souls. It is, therefore, advisable to start Village Uplift Centre at Bachhora, which has a population of 600 and more grouping Kankra and Bilbara with it Kankra is known for good cotton production in Pohri Jagir. The peoples’ main source of income from cultivation is cotton crop. They were. therefore, advised to increase the production of cotton in their village.
One barber raised a social issue before the meeting. He submitted that many people of his caste in the neighbouring villages had given up the profession of mid-wifery. He wished that his female folk too should get rid of this duty. He pointed out though at certain villages some of the barbers still continue the profession of mid-wifery, yet at many places, they have completely left it over. The Zamindar Harmukha, assured the barber that he would place this question before the next meeting of that circle at Jhiri and try to get the decision in his (barber’s) favour. This gesture on the part of the Zamindar was much appreciated.
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!
By G. K. Puranik
(Editorial published in August’1941 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
(3rd day) 12th May 1941:
After attending the calls of nature and offering prayers, we started from Kankra to Parichchha village at 6 in the morning. The Kankra people joined us in Prabhat Kirtan and accompanied us for a long distance beyond their village. Throughout, their behaviour was such that one could hardly doubt their interest in rural reconstruction.
We reached Parichchha at about 5 A. M. and stayed at the school building. The condition of the building was bad. No repairs or whitewashing of the building has been, done for a long time. The place looked dirty and bore an ugly appearance. The school boys too were dirty. A few of the boys were examined in their studies, who were much below the mark. As compared to the school building, a temple nearby looked better and inviting and we therefore shifted to it.
It has been our standing experience that the people of this village are not of a desirable type. Although it is a big village with a population of about 800 souls and pays a land venue of Rs. 5000/- a year, there is not a ogle dependable type of man here. The Zamindars of this village are of Ahir and Kirar caste. But not one of them is intelligent enough. The people are of pronounced evil tendencies.
Some three or four years back L. Laxmi Chand Patwari invited me to open a Rural Development Centre in this village; hut I found no genuine interest among the people, The condition is not very much
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changed even today. When the public meeting was called at night, some of the Zamindars and the village people only attended it in an indifferent manner. They were advised to have a right attitude of mind. But it was crying in wilderness, because there was no right type of man in the village. L. Laxmi Chand Patwan attended on us. He and the people of the neighbouring villages had the same common complaint that there was dearth of a right type of leadership in the village, and therefore, the place was unfit for starting any rural development activity.
From 4 to 6 in the evening we collected green grass from the fields. It was given to the cows to be fed in the night when they were also worshipped.
The temple, where we stayed was also not in a good condition.
(4th day) 13th May 1941
Started early in the morning at 6 from Parichchha and reached Bamra in about 2 hours. The distance covered is only four miles. The party stayed at the school. We listened to the school prayer and the Ramayan read by the students. Some of the school boys were also examined, On the whole the working of the school was ordinarily satisfactory. The school teacher, Pandit Rameshwar Dayal was instructed to distribute sweets to the students on our behalf. Since the sweets were not available in the village, the teacher was asked to get them ready and distribute later on.
Master Rameshwar Dayal looked after our stay and comforts and he was also mainly responsible to get the village people together. The behaviour of the people was one of indifference. There are many party-factions in this village. The village people are divided into three rival camps. By nature the people are hypocrites. I searched in vain to find a public-spirited man in the village. Almost all the village people including their leader, Lala Banwari Lal, were prominent active members of the old Bhatnawar Panchayat which was an organisation of anti-Adarsh Vidyalaya people in the Jagir. Master Rameshwar Dayal was very keen on getting a rural uplift centre started in this
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village. In the night the people were explained the main principles of rural reconstruction. There was confusion among the people when the election of the members and the president of the newly formed Panchayat was taken up. However, Lala Banwari Lal was elected the president. The meeting and its proceedings were devoid of genuineness and sincerity. There was too much of selfishness and wrong tendencies of the people on exhibition. The present study of the village does not encourage us to start a rural development centre. The majority of the population of the village consists of Brahman and Vaishya communities. And it has been our uniform experience extending over a period of many long years that a village dominated by Brahman and Vaishya communities is not the best place for starting rural development activities.
There is great scarcity of drinking water in the village. There is only one drinking well both for men and animals. Throughout the day, we stayed in the village, there was one insistent demand from the people, and that was to provide more drinking wells for the village. The village people were heard to say that because of too much of over-crowding of men and animals on the well, not a year passes when a couple of animals or the same number of men and women do not lose their lives by accident of falling into the well. By chance, an unfortunate accident took place that day. In the afternoon as a result of severe push from some of the animals one old lady of Kachhi community, ‘Lalto’ by name, fell into the well and lost her life. In the evening, when our party went to inspect the well wherein the old lady had died, we were horrified to see knee-deep stinking mud all around the well breeding all sorts of insects. It was amazing to find that, that was the well which was supplying water to the whole of the village. And, as ill luck would have it, since the lady lost her life into the very same well, the water became polluted and unfit for human drink. Of course, for animal drinking the people were seen drawing water from the same well. This accident made the drinking water problem all the more intense.
Nearby, we saw the corpse of the old dead lady lying on a cot waiting to be taken to the cremation ground, her grown up grand-son sitting by her. From enquiries made from the Youngman it was a
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revelation to us to find that the young man had no feeling about the death of his grand-mother who met her death under such tragic circumstances. How cheap is human life in our villages.
In the meeting, the address to the people was prefaced with the mention of the tragic accident of the day, and the people were advised to build a pacca Ghat of the well. They seemed to be unwilling to do any thing on the basis of self-help. All that they insisted on was that the Jagir should undertake the construction of a tank and sink their wells deeper. It was evident, that such helpless and unwilling type of people failed to win our sympathies. There was absence of spirit of self-help among the people which drawback has to be removed.
An old Sadhu of 74 years was an exceptional figure in the village. By his own single-handed effort, he has collected more than 2000 /- rupees and rebuilt a nice temple in the village in place of an old one. The Sadhu was enthusiasm and enterprise incarnate. He was very bitter about the people of the village and cursed them as selfish and good-for-nothing people. The same unfortunately has been our experience as well.
Our visit to this village confirmed our experience that it is no use starting a rural development centres unless a dependable type of local leadership is available in the village. It has been observed in many of the villages that the village head-men or the Zamindars are the very people who are at the root of much of mischief anti party-factions in the village. The most primary need of the villages is to discourage such mischievous people and encourage good and well-meaning people for village leadership instead.
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!
By G.K. Puranik
(Editorial published in September’1941 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
5th day (14th May 1941)
Having attended the calls of nature, we started from l3amra after morning Prabhat Kirtan. Took our breakfast in our way at Ranpi River. As we passed through Tiwani village, the Zamindar and other people that they were going to Saloda Village where we were expected informed us. Their information was that according to our programme, we were to reach Saloda that day. At Bamara we were informed that the village survey party, which was doing the survey at Lalgarh under Pt. Makhan Lalji Chaturvedi, was probably proceeding to Chilawad that day after completing their work. This necessitated a change in our programme and in place of going to Lalgargh; we thought it advisable to tutu to Saloda. This village is 5 miles from Bamra. At Tiwani, we observed whitewashing and mud-plastering of the houses done by the people as a part of rural reconstruction programme initiated last year by the ex-Tehsildar, Mr. Shinde. At Saloda, Omkar Singh Patwari and other village people met us. Omkar Singh was the main moving figure throughout the day. He was all entertainment. A khastattee was also improvised and he himself took to watering it to keep the atmosphere cool. This was over-doing in hospitality, but that also shows the quality of devotion of the man.
This village too suffers from the same malady as Bamra. Not a single man from the public could be seen to be a good village leader. In the evening, some members from four to five neighbouring villages
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were elected for the Panchayat. But the whole thing was only a show. There was no reality about the elections. Faction and disintegration reign supreme in the villages. There is hardly any exception. Looking to the present state of things, this place also does not appear to be suitable for starting a rural reconstruction Centre. Unlike Bamra there is no water scarcity over here. The Ranpi river is flowing close-by and there is plenty of water in the wells. Majority of people of this village ate ‘Kachhi’ by caste whose main occupation is growing vegetables. The village is not in a prosperous condition. The people appear to have wrong tendencies. There was one pressing demand of the people, and that is that the Jagir should open a school for the schooling of their childern.
Looking to the population of the surrounding 4 or 5 villages, their demand for a school seems to be just and fit for the consideration of the authorities.
We saw fruit trees like mangoes, guavas and bananas on the banks of the river and on the farms of many of the ‘Kachhis’ when we went to collect green fodder in the fields, We were told by the people that during rainy season hen Ranpi river is in flood surrounding fields are all devastated. Much of their fertile soil is washed off in flood and deep pits are formed on the fields. The river rather than being a blessing to the village people appears to be a curse in this particular case. It has become a cause of the ruin, If the village people. Some expert engineer need be consulted as to how the village could be saved from the inundation of the river. If, instead of agriculture, the people take to horticulture and vegetable growing on the banks of the river, we believe, they would be better benefited.
The condition of cattle is awful ‘in this village. They are a prey to many blood-sucking insects. In some cases, we saw that entire bodies of the animals were infested by these insects and not an inch of space was left free. The people told us that even the tongues of the cattle were not spared. It is the limit of human heartlessness and cruelty- to tolerate this suffering of animals. The state of utter disregard of cattle on the part of the people is simply shocking. The farmers have badly suffered this year on account of wheat crop
Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !81
pest (Roli). This had greatly affected their average income. Towards evening Master Makhan Lalji came from Chilawad and stayed with us.
Sixth Day (May 15th, 1941)
The village Chilawad is some 7 miles from Saloda. The distance being long to cover, our party started a hit early today. Patwari Omkar Singh and one or two more people accompanied us for a considerable distance from the village to give us a send off. In the forest area through which we passed, luckily, we found Achar ‘(fruit trees)’ with plenty of delicious ripe fruits on them. The members of the party helped themselves and enjoyed a good break-fast, This Achar is a delicious fruit, the seed of which is known as’ Chinronji ‘, a fruit commodity plentifully sold everywhere in the market.
At about 9-0 A M. our party reached at Chilawad. The village survey party of the Adarsh Seva Sangha under the leadership of Pandit Makhan Lalji Chaturvedi was already stationed at the village, doing survey. This is an island village of Pohri Jagir surrounded by Gwalior State villages from all round. The village bore a live appearance. The inhabitants of this village are Kachhies ‘ by caste, and it is they who are Zamindars of the village. The whole village bore gala appearance to accord us a grand reception. A large number of people, men and women, accompanied with Village Band were waiting outside the village to receive us. Even the garlanding process was there. The whole village was scrupulously cleaned and white-washed in honour of our visit. White taking round of the village, we ourselves saw women folk white-washing their houses and making them neat and tidy. We passed through the village school conducted by the people by private contributions. Unlike many other places we found clear signs of life and vigour in this village. There was hardly any house in the village in dilapidated and ruined condition. ‘Welcome songs of the ladies stirred us deeply. The whole scene created a profound impression on us.
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 82
After my bath and meals and usual mid day nap, I started my writing work. At about 4-0 P. M. the village people wanted me to accompany them and inspect the village tank, which was in ruin and out of use. The people had a complaint of the scarcity of water in the wells. They averred that by putting up a small Dam on the tank they will get plentiful supply of good water and the village wells too will have sufficient water for irrigational purposes. This will be a boon to the cultivators and will surely improve the economic condition of the village. The village people, one and all were ready with their assurance to partly help the project of tank construction with money if needed and will put in the best of physical labour demanded of them. From all that the people represented to me their demand for tank was justifiable. It is just a little bit of earth-work and bunding. Approximately this construction will cost about Rs. 1000/—. Many village people helped us in collecting green fodder from the fields to feed the cows in the evening. We also enjoyed the pleasure of visiting Shankarpur village in the neighbour-hood in compliance with the pressing request of the Zamindar of the village. All of us were greatly moved to see the pitiable condition of an old lady of carpenter caste lying on a cot out-side her cottage, while her son, who was mad kept looking to the sky, lying on his cot inside the cottage. It was greatly relieving to know that the people of the village were sympathetic and looke1 after the primary wants of these two people the mad son and the helpless old mother.
This village may well be termed as the garden village of the Jagir. It is surrounded on all sides by green vegetable growth in the fields and also by fruit trees, grown by the Kachhies on their wells. We were rather taken by surprise to see some of the nice orchards grown by the people. ‘I he people as a whole were resourceful, up and down. It is hoped, this village has every chance to be ‘A Model Village’ in the near future if means are devised to improve irrigational facilities.
Both the Patels of this village Kallo and Gayajit are intelligent and progressive-minded people. Conditions are all in favour to start a Rural Development Centre in this village. The present study shows that there is every chance of successful working of a centre. Other facilities in favour of the village are that there is a metalled
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road-Parora-Thana road only at a distance of one mile from here. The village can easily be connected with a fair-weather road, rendering easy approach to it both by cycle and the motor car. For marketing purposes, there is a big village in the neighbour-hood named Rajgarh. There is unity among all classes of people and what is more hopeful and assuring is that there is strong local leadership in the village. In the night after the lecture was over, the people made unanimous demand to start a rural reconstruction centre in their village. They were eager to make the programme a success, It seems, the motive that has spurred their enthusiasm for rural uplift work is that this is the best means to invite their master Raj Rajendra Shrimant Sitole Sahib to their village, which honour, they covet most. To sum up, our study has revealed that this is the choicest village to start a rural reconstruction centre, the people want a school and that by repairing and putting a bund over the old tank the village is likely to smile in prosperity.
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 84
!
TO CREATE (A MODEL VILLAGE) ANSWERED
(Editorial published in September’1941 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
The questionnaire on creating “A Model Village” circulated by the All India ‘Women’s Conference for opinion together with the replies sent by us are published below, to invite more opinions from interested readers and village workers to help the authorities of the Conference in their humanitarian project in hand. Answer to this questionnaire may be addressed to The Hon. Secretary, All India ‘Women’s Conference, 15th Road, Khar, Bombay 21.
—Editor.
Q. I (a) In view of the vast size and wide differences in areas in India do you recommend starting the Village Project by undertaking one only as a first Model, or how many in your opinion should be undertaken?
Ans.— For an All India Body like the Women’s Conference, I am of opinion to create at least ‘one model village” in each one of the major British Indian Provinces and also one in each one of the five premier Indian States. In all there should be at least one dozen model villages in such a vast country as ours to begin with.
QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE PROPOSED PROJECT OF
THE ALL-INDIA WOMEN'S CONFERENCE
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Q. I (b) Do you advise that it be a village with Hindi as its mother tongue or, should we try a village in each of the major language areas?
Ans. — The latter. I am for having a village in each of the major language areas including Hindi speaking one.
Q.I (c) If one only at first where should it be located?
Ans. — In some centrally situated area of U. P., Central India, or Hindi speaking part of C. P., preferably near about Delhi.
Q. I (d) Do you recommend the creation as far as possible of a new village with modern fresh ideas, or do you advise the re-modelling of an already established village with possibilities of reconstruction and uplift?
Ans. — The latter. For that alone is in keeping with the spirit of Rural Reconstruction.
Q. II (1) If any social workers already experienced in village uplift work are available, are you in favour of starting a constructive scheme of work at once by resident paid or honorary organisers, preferably and predominantly women?
Ans,— I am in favour of starting the work at once with a resident paid worker, of course, assisted b’ other interested honorary workers.
Q. II (2) If paid workers what should be the salary?
Ans. — Minimum Rs. 20. Maximum Rs. 30.
Q. III (a) Do you favour the training of some specific, carefully chosen workers for living in the Conference Village before starting direct work now on the Village Planning Work?
Ans.- That is greatly desirable.
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 86
Q. III (b) Where should they be trained, for how long, and how many of them?
Ans. — They should be trained at Gram Sevak Vidyalaya, Wardha, (CF.) or Khadi Pratisthan, Sodepur, Bengal, or Adarsh Seva Sangha Centre, Pohri, Gwalior State. The training period should be about one year, and there should be at least one worker trained for one village centre.
Q. III (c) From what sources should the cost of this training and the salaries for such workers are obtained? What salary should they be offered?
Ans, — To start with, the Conference should collect a small fund from public donations or obtain financial aid from some other fund available, to maintain these workers during the period of their training. While under training these workers should be paid Rs. 15 per month as allowance.
Q. IV Is there any possibility of gaining social and financial co-operation from Local Government sources (District and Local Boards, Panchayats, etc,), from Co-operative Housing Societies, Agriculture Credit Societies, Red Cross and Child Welfare Societies, grants from Rural Reconstruction Boards, and particularly for education (on a vocational basis) from Government educational authorities and from the All-India Women’s Education Fund Association? As per the Pachmarhi Report (re. Lady Irwin Home Science College) on page 15, it is stated that “Rural Education is the first extension of Home Science training and will be started at the earliest possible moment” may we hope that the Conference and the All India Women’s Education Fund Association may work hand in hand from the beginning in this project?
Ans, — Yes, there is. After the selection of the village and the starting of a village centre, if properly approached, there is every chance to get financial help from Rural Reconstruction Boards in - respective Provinces and States, and also from Government educational authorities.
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Social help would be available almost everywhere from public spirited men and women interested in village welfare.
Q. V Would you advise that paying students for training in such village service should be attached to the appointed workers of the Conference? Should their fees be part of the income for the project? Should provinces or areas provide scholarships for such students in training on condition that such scholars should become rural workers in their home areas?
Ans. — Not, till the Conference Village Centre has started functioning satisfactorily, and it has demonstrably become more or less an ideal village. Yes, Provinces and many of the States have started giving scholarships to students to receive training n Rural Work.
Q. VI Please suggest how a village can be found which will accept constructive interest in it.
Ans.— That is a difficult job. Of course, this selection of right type of village could only be made by an experienced village worker, who knows village psychology and that too after making a survey and a study of a number of villages. There are many psychological and geographical factors to be taken into account before making a choice of a village. As a general rule no village should he selected for constructive activities which lacks in progressive1ninded local leader. ship. It would always be advisable to take help from some experienced village worker in the selection of the village.
Q. VII On what model should a new village be planned? Is it preferable to work up a village with only one community such as a Harijan village, or one with people of a general, all round variety of functions and communities?
Ans— Definitely on the economic model of solving the problem of “Living Wage” of the village population i.e., raising the present economic level of the villager by improving his present resources, till it reaches the average income of Rs. 5 per head, per month. This standard of average income is about four times his present low
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 88
earning. A village cannot be a model village till this per capita income of living standard is not reached and 15 per cent of village population is not completely free from debt. That village problem is essentially an economic problem should not be lost sight of. Of course, along with economic development other items of programme such as, providing easy means of communication, improving sanitary, educational, administrative, cultural and religious aspect of life should all he planned and worked out side by side.
The village to he selected should have a variety in population belonging to different castes and occupations, predominently agriculturists. But a village with the preponderance and domination of high castes such as Brahmins, Kshatriyas or Vaishyas—money lending class etc., is a wrong village to start any work.
Q. VIII. Can you make any other suggestion as to how to achieve our purpose?
Ans— The only difficult solution to achieve your purpose that I know of is to produce devoted type of women workers through Sadhana and Tapascharya to whom, village service should be the highest fulfillment of life. Let a few leading members of your conference take lead in the direction and play the pioneers role. Everything else will naturally follow.
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!
By: G. K, Puranik
(Editorial published in October’1941 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
Seventh Day: (May 16, 1941)
It was a return Journey. Now our party consisted of six people, the writer himself, Pandit Makhan Lalji Chaturvedi, Pandit Devi Lalji Trivedi, Master Babu Ramji, Master Dhannekhan and Komal Kishor. With Prabhat Keertan (morning songs), we started the journey. On our way, we passed through Paroda and one more village, where we did some educative propaganda. The Zamindar and other important people of village Paroda, Rajputs by caste assembled to meet us. There was a lively discussion between us about the duties of Kshatrias in the programme of present revival in the country, which was educative and effective.
Beyond this village, our way to Pawa- a beautiful water-fall-lay through the forest with no marked foot path to lead us to our destination. Depending on the guidance given by the Thakurs of the village, we made our way to Pawa in the direction shown to us. The distance was long and it was hot summer. The monotony of the jungle and the parching heat of the hot summer were relieved by the occasional sweet music of Master Babu Raji and Dhannekhan. At about 11 AM, our party reached at Pawa. This place is one of the beauty spots of Pohri Jagir and is rich in natural scenery. Our party passed the whole of the afternoon here. The beautiful water reservoir in the river provided us an opportunity to indulge in swimming and
A VILLAGE STUDY TOUR
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diving exercises to leave off the feeling of tiredness of the journey. The highest record of time of diving under water was mine, which was 1 minute and 12 seconds, while Dhannekhan came second, making a record of 1 minute.
After bath we helped ourselves with a sumptuous meal and took little rest. At about 4 P.M. resuming our journey again we reached Bhensda village. Though our party was to go to Agarra—another village, but this village Bhensda being a centre of 4, 5 neighbouring villages we saw better utility of our staying and halted here for the night. The whole programme of the evening was excellent. In the night, people from Ghatai and Besi villages came to attend the meeting, who were explained the principles of rural reconstruction. From a casual study it appears that these villages in the neighbourhood promise to be a good unit for starting a village uplift centre. At present, of course, we failed to make a choice of a dependable local leader among them. But, with increasing contact it is possible to discover cover local leadership and start a village centre over here. The Organiser of the Rural Development is advised to keep in touch with these villages.
The place where we halted for the night was simply charming. It is a Customs and Forest Post (Naka) of Pohri Jagir, surrounded by dense ‘Palash’ forest. Our host Prabhu Dayal Dwivedi is the Deputy Ranger of forest over here. He is also an ex-student of the Adarsh Vidyalaya. Through out he was all attention, and he and his men left nothing desired in the entertainment of the Party. The associations of the evening have all charm and sweetness about them. While leaving the place we were offered a donation of Rs. 5/- for village service by our host, Mr. Dwivedi.
Eighth Day: (May 17, 1941)
This was the last day of our journey back to Pohri (our Head Quarters). On our way we passed through Basai and Piparghar villages and did educative propaganda. At about 9-0 A. M. we reached Krishnaganj. The Kamdar of Basai, Shri Banshidhar Jam, was asked to start a village uplift committee in Basai and improve the sanitary
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condition of his village, which he agreed to do. Within these 8 days, our party toured the Eastern part of Pohri Jagir and studied a number of villages. In the way, the members of the party utilised their time in discussing the pros and cons of the tour. There was unanimity of opinion about its great practical utility. On the question, as to what percentage of energy has each member of the party put in, in the daily programme of the tour, the verdict was that it was between 40°/ to 50%. The lesson that was brought home to the party was that before proceeding on the second round of tour, it is advisable to chalk—out a detailed programme of daily activities to make the next tour still more successful. It should be seen that while in villages at least 75% of energy of the party should be utilised in the daily round of service activities.
On reaching Pohri, the Head Quarters, the party performed Flag Salutation and the first part of the Study Tour was brought to the successful end with the singing of “Vande Mataram”.
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 92
!
By G. K. Puranik
(Article published in November’1941 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
(Address delivered by him in Hindi to the workers of the Marsh Seva Sangha and the students of the Adarsh Vidyalaya on Vijaya Dashami Day, before starting on their march to Deori Village)
—Editor.
IT is lucky that you could hit upon to fix the auspicious day of ‘Vijaya Dashami’ (Victory Day) for your march to Deori Village, to observe the ‘Akhand Gram Seva Saptah’. The day, as you know so well, is sanctified with memories of deeds of valour and heroism of our ancestors, and I believe, no better day could have been thought of to impart religious sanctity and solemnity for initiating your own project in hand. You have done very well to begin the ‘Non-stop Village Service Week’ programme on such a sanctimonious day, the associations of which provide an inspiration to steel our own resolve to achieve success in our undertaking. As worthy sons of the soil, it behaves you, to maintain the glory of your ancestral traditions unimpaired and impart further sanctity to the ‘Victory Day’ by “Conquest of Misery and Poverty” of the land.
Let it not be forgotten that struggle being the very essence of our existence, the life that we live on this planet is in itself an unending warfare. Every job, if conscientiously done is a veritable field of battle and the one who does it has to play the role of a combatant in the army. Whatever the walk of life, and however humble a persuit one ‘nay be following, none, with impunity, can shrink back from his role of being a fighter. Every duty in life if done well, as it should be
THE MESSAGE OF VIJAYA DASHAMI
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done, demands the best of man, and the best in man only comes out into play through complete dedication and utmost self—abnegation. Every one of us therefore, when at the post of his duty, is a soldier on war-front and has no less a responsibility to discharge. All that is required is that we need a bit deeper understanding of our responsibilities and a clearer realisation of our purpose in life. One need not go to the war-front to win laurels for heroism and to have the honour of Victoria Cross conferred on him. Rather, this world will not be a place worth living, if these war-fares become the order of the day and the sword of conscription is kept hanging over the head of every private citizen. All the same, the distinction of Cross is waiting for every one who is willing to be crucified at his post of duty. Lord Christ met his crucifixion at the altar of ‘Love’ and ‘Peace’ to mankind and was adorned by ‘Cross’ for all time to come. Bhagwan Ramchandra, had his ‘Cross’ earned by being a dutiful son and sacrificed the lure of a kingdom to honour the word of his father. Sita, on the other hand earned the same rich distinction by her fidelity to her lord and Hanuman obtained the same honour by being a dutiful servant to his master.
Nearer to our times, Peter the great had the same distinction earned through the service of his people, Mira Bai through her devotion to Lord Krishna, Padmini of Chittor by her fidelity to her husband, Bhamashah by giving all his wealth to save the honour of his king. Pratap, and Panna Dai by discharging her trust as a faithful nurse to the little baby in her charge. And has not Gandhiji, the greatest pacifist living in our times, got his ‘Cross’ by the service of the poor, the exploited and the down-trodden ?
It is a mistake to think that it is only on the battlefield, the bravery of man could be displayed. No, world has need of heroic qualities:, in every sphere of life. And one who lives up heroically in his own sphere of life will not for long remain unrecognised. “-Victoria Cross’ is not conferred on every private who goes- to the front and perishes fighting, nor does honour go to him, who lives his allotted span-of life without being courageous and doing-something extraordinary and useful to the progress of the world. Cross is the-price of bravery, no matter in what sphere of life it is shown.
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 94
‘‘Ruskin has in his great work ‘Unto this Last’ correctly idolized the dignity of work. He says, every profession at one stage or the other demands the highest sacrifice from man, and one who fails to pay the price at the right moment forfeits his claim for that precious commodity called success. According to him every profession has its own warrior and also a largly army of those dare-nots and cowards who like to sit on the fence. There are not only soldiers of war, but also soldiers of peace soldiers of statecraft, soldiers of humanity soldiers of light and beauty and the one is as valuable an asset-to the world as the other.
You don’t need to be reminded now of the front, on which you have offered yourselves to fight. As members of the Society, “The Adarsh Seva Sangha” your battlefront is “Conquest of misery and poverty” in the countryside. That fight has just begun and is bound to be a prolonged constructive war front. In this as in every other warfare, the duty of the pioneers is to wage relentless war on the enemy and to die fighting if necessary. One cannot foresee at this stage if it is to be a twenty- fifty or even hundred years war. Victory in this war you have pledged yourselves to fight in, should only be considered to have been achieved, when misery and poverty have completely been conquered in the countryside and each’ villager has been provided economic protection by raising his income to Rs. 51/- per head per mensem. This is your pledge and your honour.
Your fight is against the unjust economic order of the society, wherein the toiler, the producer is deprived of to enjoy the fruits of his labour due to the exploitation of organised group of middlemen, the army of petty Government Officials, the machinery of the State and the unfavourable trade control exercised by foreign capitalists. On your front side range all these powerfully organised and entrenched groups of vested interests while the strength of your army consists of self-forgetful victims of unjust exploitations the masses who, from common clay as they say have yet to be moulded into soldiers. In the fight that has to be carried on all these wide fronts you should depend for your support and strength on the righteousness of the cause on which you base your stand.
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Then, you must not forget the means and methods, you have to adopt to fight your battle with. It is not so much fighting some enemy without as fighting the enemy within. Nor, it is snatching something from outside as stopping the drain and exploitation constant watchfulness and organizing the villagers to guard their interests. Our methods being preventive, they require a good deal of-education of the masses to enable them to understand sub tie devices of exploitation of which they have fallen willing victims. They have to be taught that their strength-lies in Organisation in self help self for more economic; it is social, but no less political. And above all; its success ultimately depends on the moral reconstruction of village communities, and not merely on increasing their economic prosperity, however important a step it may be. Solid foundation of this struggle of constructive nation building, should only be considered to have been laid if we make a right choice of recruits in the ranks of our workers. They must be people, who should have physically, mentally and psychologically reconstructed themselves, before venturing upon the career of village reconstruction. As good recruits, they should, through proper training and practical experience, as you propose to be doing now, get themselves properly trained to fight their way to Victory. Confidence in one-self and in one’s capacity to inspire confidence in others, which is a necessary qualification of a rural worker can only be the result of one’s faith in his mission and a consciousness of feeling of having a purpose in life. Mercenary army of workers has not much chance of Victory in this Conquest of “Misery and Poverty” front, as we call it.
To you, who are actuated with a higher motive to take up the cause of village service, my considered advice is to put yourself to physical and psychological test and judge your fitness for the task you are undertaking. Motive being by far, the most important point in this test, 1 would like you to examine your own motive, whether or not, yon really feel the pinch of the miserable lot of your brethren in villages and are keenly anxious to drive their poverty and misery away. Then whether, or not, you are physically, emotionally and mentally fitted for your self-sacrificing job and have finally made up your mind to fight your way to Victory. Know it, successful service of the villages is not a bed of roses. It is a long fight against wants and
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 96
privations, apathy, in appreciation if not active opposition of the village people themselves, physical and mental torture due to solitary existence and to crown this austere Sadhana, peaceful death in obscurity in the end. Such a fight for long can only be fought with faith in one’s mission and with the fire to a crusader.
Your Society “The Marsh Seva Sangha” has taken the brave decision to wage this war against poverty and misery in villages. To put it in a mild way, it is an experiment of a generation, say 20 years, if not more. This ‘Economic Uplift Front’ of the villages has for its implications the’ raising of the present average economic level of the Indian masses by 3 to 4 times. A shorter period than of 20 years has not much chance to produce concrete results in such a vast and complicated experiment. Yours is a small beginning in some of the obscure villages of Pohri Jagir. Who knows, this experiment of yours may one day embrace the whole of Indian continent. All great things had their small beginnings.
It is high time, you should understand the responsibility that devolves on you at the moment. The economic survey of Pohri Jagir which has just been completed, reveals that the gross aggregate income of the Jagir people, numbering over fifty thousand souls, is estimated to be near about 10 lakhs of rupees a year. After deducting the capital out—lay, we get an average per capita income of Rs 1-4-0 (one rupee and a quarter) per mensem. This gross income has to be raised from Rs. 10 to Rs. 40 lakhs, to give out per capital monthly income of Rs. 5/- which is the accepted economic standard of ‘Living Wage’ for village areas. To bring this about, economic resources of the Jagir area will’ have to be developed three times’ more over their present level. Such a’ miracle of reconstruction of economic life, as it apers at the moment, is only possible by enotmoUsly multiplying irrigational facilities throughout’ the Jagir, by improving Live-stack industry.
And making it economic and paying, by developing methods of agriculture and horticulture by reviving old arts and cottage crafts in villages and finally by organising every aspect of life of people on co-operative lines. This is the task that you have undertaken to do.
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No doubt, charity begins at home, but it must not end there. We are a part of a big world, and it will be a mistake to ignore the fact in this as in any other experiment of mass development. While engaged in this experiment in Pohri, let us not forget that we are apart of an All India experiment and our success here will materially contribute and stimulate efforts in the four corners of India.
Do not run away with the idea that it is a Utopian dream impossible of being realised. That is not so. The average income of an Indian peasant or labourer is hardly 1/50th part of what his brother peasant or labourer earns in America or in England. If that is so, as it is, raising it 3 times over, in order to provide bare human existence to him, should not bean impossibility under Indian conditions. The problem is so human, and the poverty of the Indian masses is so appalling that it is nothing short of being criminal to be indifferent about it for a day longer.
Successive failures of rains for the last two years have made it imperative that we should run to the succour of the helpless village people. Bad years and low agricultural income have further worsened the already bad economic condition of the villagers. The gravity of the situation came to the surface when local Tehil administration failed to realise average quota of revenue collections and was diven to the necessity of approaching the Samsthan to transfer large sunas of money to run day to day administration. This in a way is’ Carrying coals to New Castle’. How
Hard these years must have been to the poor villagers can better be imagined. This is just the time that we should bend all our energies and find out ways and means to remove the distress of the village population.
Then, on you, the members of the Adarsh Seva Sangh, devolves a much more onerous duty, which I cannot help bringing it to your notice now that you are on the eve of such an important undertaking. In financing one institution of yours or the other or in supporting one or the other of your public activities a sufficiently big slice of Jagir revenue comes to your share. Let me tell you, the Samsthan of
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Shrimant Shitole Sahib is over doing its part in financially supporting your too numerous and ever increasing public activities. For sometime past, we feel like being weighed down under the heavy but too generous an obligation of Raj Rajendra Shrimant Shitole Sahib and don’t know our way how even to make a partial return of his super-benevolence. The spread of little bit of literacy among the masses, the promotion of certain cottage industries, barely self-supporting and carrying on of village improvement activities should hardly satisfy us at this stage. There is, of course, some justification if cur educational activities and the department of cottage industries do not show tangible economic returns. But our Rural Development activities wherein we aim to raise the economic standard of the masses 3 to 4 times over their present level should now and hereafter justify the investments by concrete results in the shape of increased gross income of the people.
Every public investment made on this branch of activity should be treated as a business investment and should likewise show five to ten times gross return in the shape of increased aggregate income of the villagers. You should drive away the wrong notion that Village Uplift Work is a charitable or humanitarian work, the results of which should not be judged in the scales of economic returns. This sort of pretension is a self-contradiction and exposes the hollowness of our professions. No dynamic movement of which tangible economic returns are expected can be built up on such a self-deception.
To give dynamic character to this movement of economic uplift of the masses, it should be run on the principle of producing satisfactory economic returns in the form of increased aggregate income of the villages of the area served by the movement. The proportion of economic return should be five to ten times the money invested in running the department. We, who aspire to create a smiling peasantry in the Swaraj we are out to establish, should
Give foretaste of our capacity to bring changed economic conditions about by harnessing human labour ire. More profitable ways and by making them solvent and economically prosperous.
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The result of this great experiment of Rural Economic revival primarily rests on the efficiency of our village workers. Let me hope, as true soldiers of Village Service mission, you will approach your task in the spirit of Spartan soldiers, who knew no retracing or giving the fight up till victory is scored. May the ‘Vijaya Dashami Day’ continue to inspire you in your noble mission and bless your efforts with glorious victory in the end is my earnest prayer?
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By G.K. Puranik
(Article published in December’1941 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
Village Renaissances And The Villagers
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!
By G. K. Puranik
(Articals published in January 1942 in ‘The Rural India’ Bombay)
WIDESPREAD irrigational facilities for agriculture and Livestock improvement, in main, constitute ‘Sine qua non’ of economic development of rural areas. Development of these two primary assets of national wealth will contribute more to raise the economic standard of the masses than all the rest of the measures put together. The truth contained in this assertion admits of no difference of opinion and the question remains how best to bring these much desired improvements about.
As to the methods employed to effect these vast improvements, they are either
(i) State planning on Russian Model or (2) Voluntary and Co-operative Endeavour of ancient Village Republican pattern.
Conditions in India being quite unlike the Russian picture after the ‘Revolution’ the adoption of a ‘National Plan’ with a complete drive of the State, is out of consideration. Such an undertaking pre-supposes an Inde pendent National Government at the helm of affairs, which condition is non-existent in this country. And knowing the inherent drawbacks of mass centralised production, the advisability of Russian Model to suit peculiar conditions of a predominently rural community, may be questioned.
The whole conception of Rural Renais. Sance programme in this country is based on the decentralisation of means of production and the distribution of political and administrative powers in small
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village republican units. The choice of adoption of the latter of the two methods-the method of co-operative enterprise and self-help-was prompted by the factors governing conditions at present and also because the same is consistent with the growth. of the genius of this country. Who knows, if history repeats itself, as they say it does, the respect of human personality as against mass regimentation-which in essence is the method we choose to adopt, may be ‘Symbolical’ of the new ‘World Order’ being envisaged after the War.
Consistent with the method of self-help and co-operative Endeavour, the suitability of the agency to work up the programme comes next in importance. Self-help is co-existent with self-initiative. The admitted failure of co-operative movement, started and conducted on State initiative has evidently demonstrated the futility of such a step, where the development of the people is concerned. State activity, no matter even when benevolent, in practice becomes coercion, and robs the people of freedom of spontaneity of asso ciation. Like the Sun, which provides warmth and light to the creation and so stimulates freedom of movement, the busi ness of the Government ends by creating favourable and progressive conditions to the growth of the people. For, the feeling of growth in a people is a biological urge from within and cannot be forced from without. It is best attained when natural and spontaneous.
Things done at the present are the other way round, which obviously is the wrong way? While, there is total absence of favour. Able conditions on one side, certain improvements are being thrust on the people from above. That is like starving a horse the year round and then whipping him with a mistaken hope to win the prize in the race. The State policy as it works in effect, drains every available pie of the ryots, cuts at the root of their community organisation and completely ignores their welfare. How can One expect such prostrate people to take to ways of progress and advancement and for what?
The analysis given above rules out the present method and the chances of paid official agency for the success of village work is very remote indeed. If the people should be left with a choice to take their own initiative, they should have freedom also to select or to create their own agency of local workers. It is too late in the day to discuss
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relative merits of public-spirited local agency as against that of imported official workers. From the dawn of history, self-sufficiency of workers has been the guiding rule in the development of the communities and in the growth of the institutions the world over and as such should not be different in this country.
This is entirely the field of public spirited local workers, risen from the soil and belonging to the very people if also to the village environment itself. It was so in the glorious days of ancient village republics and ought to be the same in future. Where it is the question of confidence, how impossible it is to have such a confidence reposed in a newly arrived school or college boy, who barring an exception here and there has rather unwillingly been driven to the necessity to seek village work merely to ward off the wolf from the door. Nothing can be more damaging to a cause than to entrust a right cause to a wrong agency. The sum total of such an effort can only be a show and unreality.
Of all the Provinces n India, it is only U. P. where Rural deployment is a separate department and where this activity is better organised and more efficiently conducted. Recently during his visit to one of the village centers, Sir Maurice Hallet, the Governor of U. F., was constrained to characterise the work of the centre as mere sham and window. dressing. The testimoui coming as it does from the head of a Province should set those.
In authority thinking to revise their policy and method of working in respect of this department and avoid the very same mistakes that led to the failure of the Co-operative Movement.
Uphill, slow and wanting in spectacular side is the way to real and lasting work in villages. The method of voluntary and cooperative Endeavour advocated in this discussion has in practice been found effective and sure of permanent results in tackling every item of village improvement. It would be advantageous at this stage to follow the theme up to its detailed practical working in respect of providing countrywide irrigational facilities and the improvement of the Livestock.
In order to develop economic or any other sphere of village life, the administrative unit to work up the programme can only be the
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elected ‘Gram Panchayat’. The success of working of each item of programme will largely depend on the capacity, character, enlightened out-look and the spirit of public service which the members constituting these bodies will bring to bear upon their task- Mental and moral development of the members and the necessities of the locality to which they have grown conscious, will find being reflected in varying degrees of standards in their respective units. Therefore, it is diversity rather than uniformity that will characterise the phase of village improvement. Standards may vary from village to village.
Human nature being selfish and the economic need being a primary necessity of - human existence, the people when once convinced of the economic utility of a move will not be slow to learn and act up toot. Irrigational facility, if properly provided I to produce sufficient wet crops, is capable F of increasing the farm yield by 100%. Similarly if the live-stock is properly cared, fed and bred will gradually be capable of giving three times the quantity of milk and milk produce.
On an average, by properly developing these two sources of national wealth the present income of the villagers can be increased by three times.
Not that there is anything new about it or that an average villager is ignorant of the fact, but that his abject misery and prostrate condition have rendered him helpless to administer any remedies to cure the ills he is suffering from. Here is the task waiting for the village worker whoni the people can trust and follow, and who as their guide, friend and philosopher can help to organise their scattered resources and wasted energies in a fruitful Endeavour towards economic salvation. These paragraphs contain a few suggestive hints to the workers indicating practical steps to affect the two improve. ments now under consideration. These may be added, improved upon or abrogated to suit local conditions of every village unit
To start with, the Panchayat of the unit after making a survey of the irrigational requirements of the villages of the area, taking into account the facilities already available and those need be created, can draw out a plan to be worked for a specified number of years fixing
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the amount of work to be completed each year. Such a plan should be approved and passed by the Panchayat. It need hardly be said that a lot of educative propaganda should precede any such weighty undertaking so that the Panchayat may take its decision with a lull sense of responsibility. Once a programme is decided upou, whether it be sinking of a new well, repairing and digging an old one, constructing a tank or a reservoir, putting up a Bund’ over a stream or a river, whatever he the nature of irrigational undertaking, it will require all the driving power of the President, the tact and resourcefulness of the Secretary and enthusiastic co-operation of some of the leading members of the Panchayat o see the programme through. It àhould certainly be seen that this arrangement must
Ensure 5 acres of irrigational land to every family in the village.
A similar programme of Live-Stock improvement, could be laid out starting with collecting and preserving sufficient stock of fodder say atleast 2 cartloads of grass or ‘Kadabi’ per head of cattle for the dry season in the first year, followed by stall ending and giving of some boiled grain food mixed with fodder, oil cakes or cotton seeds td the mulch cattle in the second year, castration of scrub bulls and maintaining of stud bulls for service instead as also cultivation of green fodder crops to feed the stock during hot months of the year say in the third year.
This programme of gradual improvement of cattle-tock by stages can be planned, passed and worked-p by the Panchayat with sure and desirable results.
There is nothing Utopian about this plan of improvement provided the Panchayat in the area has started functioning properly under energetic and influential guidance. All competent authorities on rural problems agree that the agricultural class in the villages finds idle time between 3 to 4 months in the year on an average, when he has no employment. Ideas and schemes are being evolved to create means of employment to the villager during this enforced period of idleness. Introduction of ‘Charkha’ and other subsidiary cottage industries is one suggestion, employment of people on some other manual labour is two,- but none of these minor employments can stand
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any comparison with the rich prospects of economic returns that will follow as a result of the two improvements advocated in these columns.
Every student of rural economy knows that there is one commodity, which is in abundance in the countryside and that is human labour. How to employ that labour usefully and profitably to raise the economic standard of the village communities is a problem the workers are finding ways and means to solve.
This does not mean that during the idle months the villagers should not take up cottage or subsidiary industries. All that is being emphasised here is that in addition to adult literacy and road construction work, every village unit should specially take up the programme of sinking one or two new wells on voluntary and co-perative basis and educate the people of the area to grow fodder crops for green feed to their cattle-tock during the months of summer. As mentioned already, there is plenty of time with the village people, which only needs to be usefully employed in productive, and economically paying pursuits. It is all a question of educating the people as to wherein they should profitably invest their labour to increase their economic prospects. These innovations or new type of occupations may or may not appeal to the people and they may even be slow to adopt them in the beginning. But then, it is a question of forming new habits, and the people get accustomed to a routine by the repetition of a tradition.
There is, of course, nothing new about the introduction of these two additional items of programme to employ the idle labour of the villagers to better economic account. It is merely reviving the old tradition of the villages where jointly and co-operatively the communities used to employ their idle season in works of public utility and in improving the conditions of the villages in India. These works of public utility consisted of construction of village Chowpals or Chaories, temples, tanks or sinking of wells to meet the needs and requirements of the area. These old traditions in one form or the other do still persist in the villages and only need be improved and revived to meet the new requirements of the situation.
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To facilitate the progress of these and similar measures of village economic development, sympathetic and helpful policy of the Government is a vital factor. As good trustees of people’s welfare, let them revise their revenue policy in such aspects of it as now adversely affect the economic recovery of the people. For instance, by reverting to the old system of realizing land revenue in kind to the extent of 1(6th of the actual farm produce, the Government can immediately save the cultivator from the exploitation of the middle-man, and to that extent add to his income. Proceeding along the line, there are so many aspects of Government policy, which need immediate revision.
But whether the Government does it or not, the duty of the constructive workers is great indeed. If they approach their task with confidence and persist long in building this economic structure on self-help and cooperative basis from below as out-lined in this article, success is bound to attain their efforts, notwithstanding every possible confronting obstacle.
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By G. K. Puranik
(Article published in March’ 1942 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
HISTORY produces no parallel of Rural Economic Reconstruction attempted in this country on so extensive a scale as the Rural Development Movement envisages doing. May be, easy facilities of earning a living provided by natural factors in this soil helped the population to maintain a fair economic equilibrium among all classes of society and ruled out the necessity of any such measure in the past. There, of course, have been religious, political, social, educational and industrial reform movements in this country as they have been in other countries as well and have made their contribution to the evolution of humanity. But the problem of Rural poverty is merely the by-product of the capitalistic order of society, which prevailed in the world during the last couple of centuries and more and which introduced the element of unjust economic exploitation of the weak by the strong.
We had in Khadi Movement the first glimpse of the Crusade started by Gandhiji now over two decades against this unjust economic system of society, which movement gained further strength later on with the inclusion of programme of the revival of other cottage industries. But it was the world economic depression of 1930-31, which finally laid bare before popular conscience the abject penury and prostrate condition of the toilers of the soil and compelled attention of the people and the Governments to the urgency of the problem. The situation as revealed brought home to the people and
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the Governments the necessity of building the economic structure of the primary producer, who as a class was reduced to a position of complete economic insolvency. The interests of nation—building also helped to awaken national conscience that not only the economic standard of life of rural population be improved but that all necessary facilities of urban life should be created in the villages and a harmonious link between town and village life be established. At the back of transformation of village life stands this supreme consideration of national advancement, which this movement of Rural Reconstruction has in view.
It is really to be regretted that this Movement has not been favoured by an encouraging start. It has its birth against the hack-ground of scepticism created in popular mind by the failure of the Co-operative Movement and the attitude of indifference that the Government have shown in vital matters wherein the welfare of the people is concerned. No sooner the movement was started than the War came in, the popular Governments in provinces resigned, and the attention of the people and the Governments was naturally diverted to comparatively more urgent exigencies of War. What little of the movement that now remains is but a shadow and a departmental affair of the Government. This has further added to the stock of loss of confidence of the people in the sincere intentions of the Government. The necessity of the hour is that demonstrable results of economic improvement be shown to the masses to evoke their spontaneous response. Notbing like it is being done on the part of the Governments both British and Indian and may I also add by public agencies working in the field. All that can be said is that with the difference of degrees, some sort of social service is being rendered by them with not much substantial contribution to the solution of the real ‘Bread Problem’, which is at once grave and serious.
In the Morass in which the movement has got stuck, the constructive workers who saw in it the life’s opportunity to workout the deliverance of the masses again find themselves in a quandary. Should they wait for the day, till India gets Independence and the National Governments take up programme of rural economic reconstruction in hand? Or, should they be content with the present
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mete-eye-wash efforts going on in the name of Rural Reconstruction in the country or should they dare to make mote dynamic efforts on voluntary and self-sacrificing basis in order to ensure success to the movement? Naturally, the last course is more manly and obligatory too on the nationals of this country.
In order, therefore, to set a definite course for the vigorous growth of the movement some of the drawbacks, which hamper its progress, have to be removed. Foremost among these is the want of clear conception and the absence of one-pointed ness in the objective of the movement. There are as many different conceptions in the country as there are men or agencies working in it. Human nature being weak, it goes easier with a man to mistake a tree for a wood. Who would not like to go in for an easier job of distributing quinine pills during malaria season and doing some sort of teaching to the children in villages, if society and the Government are satisfied with that much from a village worker. But the question is will that do? And how much should be the length of time within which the end of a prosperous, self-sufficient and self- administered village be reached with this halting and crawling pace of progress? It certainly appears too remote an accomplishment to speculate about it.
This premature degeneration in the movement more than
anything else is due to the want of ‘Will’. One reads invain the Annual Reports of Provincial Administrations or those of the Indian Tates to know how much economic improvement has been effected in the condition of the Riots during the year of their good and benevolent administration, How much and by what percentage the burden of debt of the people has been reduced, by what percentage their income over the previous year has increased and to what standard of average annual or monthly income their people have reached. Again what measures the Governments have taken to improve the economic life of the people and what tangible results were obtaied. If economic recovery of the people should be the first concern of the administrations, as they say it is, there should be no administration report, without this most necessary information showing the benefits of their administration reflected in the increasing prosperity of their people. Removal of poverty of the Ryots ought to
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be the first charge on the present day administrations about which they remain studiously silent. This alone can be a piece of interesting information to the public at large and at once a lesson and an inspiration to other sister administrations. But neither the Governments nor public opinion in this country have as yet realised the necessity to give first place to this economic improvement programme of the producing masses.
What we find on the other hand is that while special and reserve funds are being created, large surpluses shown year after year, financial investments made in and outside their jurisdiction, showing in all these various ways that the administration, whether of a Province or of an Indian State is being conducted on sound and progressive lines. Progress in our present age has come to be associated with the opening of a number of schools of useless variety, spending little more money on opening a few dispensaries or starting a few co-operative societies and the like. Experience has shown that most of the money spent over these public welfare measures has more or Less bean a waste, while bread, the primary need of the people is so callously ignored. Judged from this test, most of our administration reports are so much paper wasted, which only try to present a picture of progressiveness built upon the hungry stomachs of Ryots underneath. The more thepeople are exploited and starved, the more the money the administration finds to paint an unreal picture of progressiveness. We have yet to wait for long one does not know for how long-to see a real change in the attitude of our administrations to place economic prosperity of their Ryots, the first charge on their administration. And it is this important piece of information of increasing economic standards of their people with facts and figures that they should in future feel proud to begin their Annual Reports with.
Similar reports of rural development activities conducted by public bodies that are received for publication in “THE RURAL INDIA” are likewise characterised by vagueness and generalities or the in numeration of activities of humanitarian nature, which have no direct bearing on the development of people’s economic life. Except sentimental satisfaction of growing volume of public feeling for the betterment of village conditions of which they are the indication and
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which they provide, they too mostly fail to give inspiration to the practical workers. The real but the difficult task of economic reconstruction, it appears, has suffered a neglect at the hands of most of the agencies working in the field and it is high time that special attention should be drawn to this all important and vital consideration.
The consciousness has long been growing on us that not until complete identity of economic interest is established between the agencies of workers and those of the rural masses, will there be seen clear results of economic recovery. Those who work, and also those for whose benefit they work should clearly understand that their interests are identical and those they rise or sink together. In the Government service, an official knows that his future prospects in service depend on his bringing in more revenue to the State and the absence of which will mar his career the same way. Both the incentive of getting promotion and the feat of losing the job act and react on him and drive him to do the right thing in his self-interest. Our village worker has none of these standards prescribed for him to make him put-in his very best in the creative nation-building effort. Much of the present waste of effort will be avoided; the moment the worker knows that his work will be judged by a set standard of economic improvement of the area assigned to him to develop. And that he will only get a share for his maintenance out of the additional income, that he will cause to produce over and above the average earnings of the people. If he fails to increase additional income, he proves his incompetence and should know that he must suffer along with his people. On the otber hand, if he aspires for better prospects and need more money for himself, he should better increase more national wealth in his area and have his due share in the increased prosperity of his people. I think, 1/10th of the additional produce of the area should go to the share of the worker. And need I say that a worker of a village centre with about one thousand people in his area, has ill-chosen his job, if he fails to improve their income by 2 rupees per head, per annum, to earn his honest share of about 20 rupees a month for himself. With planning and definite direction, this result is capable of being achieved even in the early working of the project. Unless the workers carry conviction by their daring example of becoming self-
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supporting first, I fail to understand how deficit economic existence of the rural masses could be turned into a surplus one.
I have no doubt in my mind that this mutual economic basis
between the workers and the masses vill alone ensure speedy economic recovery in rural areas. This daring spirit among the workers can only be evoked by missionary public agencies and not by Government Departments, where people’s mentality is fed upon high emoluments and security of services. Paid Government services are not the places to attract mission rise
Such is the trend of the ideas that was weighing with the Adarsh Seva Sangha for the past many years. But for a public society built up during the last 22 years and supported by public funds to the extent of Rs. 25,000/- a year, the change of basis from a charitable institution to that of becoming a self-supporting productive body, Dpeared to be nothing short of taking plunge into darkness. In the interest of success of the movement, the Sangha finally took up this extra-ordinary step of self- supporting productive basis in its last Annual Meeting of the Executive Committee. The change is certainly startling enough though absolutely necessary and thoroughly consistent with the spirit of a self-supporting movement.
Holding the views that the Saugha does on the problem of rural economic reconstruction, it was honor bound to have taken this difficult decision. Wedded as the Sangha is to the solution of problem of ‘Living Wage’ in villages and aiming as it does to raise the economic level of the masses three to four times of their present standard, it was only appropriate that it should leave off its own charitable basis of existence. To it the only logical sequence was to throw in its lot with the masses and completely identify itself both with their economic prosperity and adversity.
The decision opens a new era in the life of the Sangha and may
be in the history of the Rural Development Movement as well. With secure and bltered1existence for themselves, men are not known to fight desperate battles of life. The reserve power of man only comes into play when he is exposed to every risk himself. In order, therefore,
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to burn the old bridges behind, lest the Sangha may be tempted to take a retreat to the old grooves, it has finally decided, no more to run its activities by raising public funds. As said already, the expenditure for the last year was about 25,000/- rupees, with half a dozen different types of institutions of local and All India nature and a band of about 50 workers with their families engaged in conducting those activities,
The basic change in the financial basis has of necessity made the Sangha to expand its activities into All India sphere and manage for its finances on the basis of 1/10th share of additional produce, advocated in this article. Wherever, suitable opportunity offers itself whether in British India or in an Indian State to undertake to start Rural Economic Reconstruction programme on the lines indicated herein, the Sangha would be glad to take the project in hand. With its experience of over 20 years in the sphere of Rural Uplift, the Sangha confidently believes that a planned effort under proper guidance should succeed in raising economic standards in rural areas. The experiment of solving the problem of ‘Living Wage’ which is raising the economic standard of the villager to an average monthly income of Rs. 51- per head per mensem is the definite programme the Sangha is engaged in. Since the experiment is to be made on an All India scale, the Sangha would welcome an opportunity from any quarter in India, where proper authorities or the people feel inclined to requisition its servies to develop economic standards of the rural population. But the condition precedent to the starting of this experiment at raising national wealth in villages is that the authorities concerned should be actuated by the sincerest of motives to do their best for their people and should not grudge doing a right thing to advance their happiness.
It need not be supposed that wedded as the Sangha is to solve the problem of; ‘Living Wage,’ it in any way minimizes or ignores the importance of improving other aspects of village life.. That is not the case. The problem of developing Rural life cannot be treated compartmentally and nor could the economic side of life be developed till moral, cultural, social and educational aspects too improve side by side. All that needs to be emphasized is that while endeavoring to improve eerie other aspect of village life, it is
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economic aspect that should be given front place by every field worker. For, it is the poverty in the villages, that pinches amen most and it is along that line that the remedy is to be offered.
The future world-order that is ii the making envisages a world, safe for poor and primary prodder. Whatever else may happen, the fate of capitalistic order is doomed with the present world War and on its ashes will emerge a New order, which would stand to do justice to the poor in this and in all lands on earth. In India, the Movement of Rural Reconstruction is a vanguard of that New order and our administrators in British India and more specially in Indian States, where the ruler and the ruled are bound by common ties of nationality would do well to read the signs of world events ahead and make use of the opportunity that the movement offers, before it gets too late.
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By G. K. Puranik
(Articals published in April 1942 in The Rural India Bombay)
Introduction
TWO main considerations have prompted the publication of this ‘Living Wage’ Scheme of Village Reconstruction. The primary consideration is the decision of the Marsh Seva Sangha taken at its 22nd Annual Meeting of the Executive Committee on the 3rd of February 1942, to change the basis of the Sangha from a charitable institution to that of a body of self-supporting rural workers, drawing its sustenance out of both of additional income increased through its efforts in village areas. The second one is to place in the hands of administrators and rural workers in the country a comprehensive Scheme of Rural Economic Development which aiths at raising the economic standards of the masses in order to solve their ‘Living Wage’ problem by means of developing existing resources of village economic life. These two points need further elucidation,
It has been a growing conviction with the members of the
Sangha for quite a long period of time that consistent with the self- supporting nature of the Rural Uplift Movement, public bodies, institutions and individuals conducting it should first set their own example of becoming self-supporting on a reasonable share of additional income that they should have helped to increase in villages. This alone will establish identity of purpose between village people
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and the workers and harness their combined energies for producing national wealth in the countryside. In order to provide incentive to the workers to identify themselves with the prosperity or adversity of the masses, there should exist between them and the villagers complete identity of economic interests which this Scheme seeks to promote. In the light of this dynamic conception it is incumbent on the Sangha to venture upon the experiment and set its own example of becoming a self-supporting body. From a public organisation, which aims at making this All India Experiment at becoming selfsupporting in order to solve the difficult problem of ‘Living Wage’ for the masses, the people and administrations have a right to demand a plan of work along which the progress of the experiment is to be followed.
There, of course, has been quite a lot of waste of national energy due to absence of proper guidance and definite direction to the movement. The supreme need of the moment is to give the movement a specific direction. This does not mean development of economic life alone at the neglect of every other phase of village improvement but to stress the necessity of giving preferential treatment to the elementary needs of physical existence of the masses in all our development Schemes of the future. For, primarily, the Movement of Rural Reconstruction has been designed to drive away hunger and poverty of the villagers, which is awful and it is to that end that the main energies of the national workers should he directed.
As compared with social, educational or humanitarian aspect of village service this question of improvement of raising economic standards of the masses is something more tangible but at the same times a far more difficult proposition. It is human if workers mostly avoid attempting difficult things and find it convenient to engage themselves in less arduous activities, whose results are not to be judged by concrete tests. The interest of the movement obviously demands that this waste and drift should be timely checked and a New Order of Constructive Workers should be created, who should devote their best creative talents for producing national wealth. They should be trained and brought-up on traditions of community service and be made to earn their living from a share of national wealth that they produce through their creative and constructive efforts.
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It is no wonder, in the absence of right perspective, the movement has so far failed to evoke response from the villagers. This has naturally created despondency in the ranks of workers as well. It is no use shutting ones eyes to the fact that the movement has not yet shown tangible results towards economic recovery of the masses. The present Scheme, therefore, ventures to place emphasis on the vital question of economic improvement and invites co-operation of well-wishers of the country for sympathetic consideration.
It needs to be mentioned that this Scheme is just an amplified and elaborated idea of the working plan on which the Adarsh Seva Sangha has been conducting the working of its village centres for the last many years and where within the past 5 years, the Sangha has been able to raise per capita income of the villagers by 14-6% and has effected reduction in the aggregate debt to the extent of 40%. In these villages the average income per head per rnensem has risen from Rs. 0-15-10 in the year 1936 to Rs. 2-7-6 Th 1941. With the present pace of progress, it is hoped within the next 10 years, the ‘Living Wage’ problem i. e. making average income of a villager Rs. 5/-. per head per ruensem would be reached.
Since, Rural Reconstruction is a comprehensive regenerative movement in the making, the present Scheme details out the outlines and the methods of working, which have stood the test of experience for the past many years. Both the movement and the Scheme are in their early infancy and will grow to maturity with further experience. However, these outlines will provide workable guidance and may be unproved upon by the workers to suit special conditions of their locality.
In the Scheme we have all along followed the unorthodox method of treatment of tackling the problem of ‘Living Wage’ for the village masses on co-operative and self- sufficiency basis, while the financial aspect has been left over to be adjusted by the organisers to suit their particular circumstances where the Scheme operates. The extreme scarcity of finances due to prevailing war conditions in the country at the moment it is rather difficult to find adequate resources to finance constructive Schemes, The question of men and methods
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being of primary essence in the success of an undertaking, the Scheme proceeds on this basic assumption. Experience has amply proved that where right type of men undertakes to work-out a project on right lines money invariably follows.
The Scheme proceeds on the basic outlines as follows:
1 The ‘Living Wage’ standard. 2 The order of constructive national workers. 3. The Test of the administrative authorities. 4. Local leadership in villages. 5. Economic and Educational survey. 6. Need of vigorous and educative propaganda. 7. Where to start a village centre. 8. Organisation and functions of Gram Panchayat. 9. Co-operative organizations. 10. Planned economic development and the working of Rural Reconstruction Scheme. 11. Special programme for intensive work. 12. Constant guidance. And supervision 13. The question of co-ordination, of Departments. 14. Finances and Budget. 15. Productive and selfsupporting basis. 16. Conclusion.
The ‘Living Wage’ Standard
1. Since the movement of Rural Reconstruction has for its origin the problem of removal of grinding poverty of the rural masses, it should naturally have an ideal which may raise their economic standard and provide a Living Wage’ for them.
2. That they must have enough of nutritious food to eat, sufficient clothes to cover their bodies with and a small margin of saving for the education of their children, and also something to lay by to meet certain other ceremonial social expenditures.
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3. Under cheap living conditions in villages it has been estimated by competent authorities that these primary needs of people can be met with within an average income of Rs, 5/- per head per menses. Taking an average family of 5 people as a family unit, this monthly income would be Rs. 251- per month or Rs. 300/- a year. Therefore, a ‘Living Wage’ standard means an average income of Rs. 5/- per head per mensem.
The Present Income
4. Most of the village economic surveys carried on in the country in recent years have revealed that the present income of a villager is about Rs. 1-4-0 per head per mensem on an average. This has to be gradually raised to Rs. 5/- per month per capita, which means raising the villager’s income to about four times the present average standard.
The Order of Constructive National Workers
1. Experience has proved that in the success of an undertaking it is not the means but men that count. The progress of constructive nation-building work is greatly hampered because of dearth of right type of workers Construct ive ta lent has nei ther been discovered nor developed in this country. In order, therefore, to make this constructive nation-building movement a success the first place should be assigned to proper selection and training of right type of workers.
2. In the selection of constructive workers, character, intrinsic qualities and antecedents of the candidates should always be given preference over literary or educational qualifications.
Tests for Village Workers’ Selection
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1. The candidate must be patriotically inclined.
2. He should be pains taking and hard-working.
3. He should be resourceful and should have capacity for organisation.
4. He should be thoroughly honest and truthful.
.5. He should not have city-like habits and tendencies.
6. He should be moderately well educated up to Matriculation in English and in his own vernacular in the case p1 ,a field worker, and upto graduation in the case of an organizer of a Tahlequah or District.
7. He should be able to satisfy the basic test of being self- supporting in villages on 1/10th of additional income produced in the area through his services.
3. After the candidates have been selected as per tests laid down
they should ordinarily be given one year’s training at a Central Institute or at a Village Centre with special reference to make them self-supporting.
4. The Supervisor or the Organising Commissioner for a District
or Taluka should receive 2 years training at a Central Institute and should complete the self-supporting course for one year.
5. There should he provision to give short refresher course to the two grades of staff for one month every year.
Note
Prospectus containing syllabus of studies and Courses in practical training is separately printed and would be supplied to the candidates by the Principal, Adarsh Gram Seva Mandir, Pohri, Gwalior, on demand,
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The Test of Sincere Interest of the Authorities
That the governing head of a province or the ruler of an Indian State accepts this prograninle of dynamic ‘concept of the Rural Reconstruction and agrees to work-up the Scheme of ‘Living Wage’ as laid down herein in his Province or State,
1. That lie is prepared to invest a reasonable amount of money to make this experiment a success in his area
2. That he is prepared to set-up some machinery to tax 1/10th share of additional income from his people and arranges to pay the same to meet the expenditure of the Sangha.
I that the officials and the people of the State or area give their co-operation to the Sangha.
4. That the authorities are prepared to amend some of their laws and regulations to give better protection and encouragement to their people.
5. That the head of the administration is prepared to increase his personal association with the people and is willing to give them personal lead whenever necessary.
6. That in order to finance the Scheme and make it a success he should be prepared to reduce expenditure on unproductive side of his administration.
Local Leadership in Villages
1. The first condition of success in rural uplift work is that the village area to be selected should possess local leadership of progressive views.
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2. It should be ascertained that there is no economic clash of interest between the leaders and the rest of the village people, as that of an exploiter and the exploited.
I that these local leaders should be men of public spirit and should have local patriotism to improve their village or locality
4. That they should be men of upright conduct, weight and influence.
5. That they should be free from fictitious spirit and mischief mongering.
6. It is desirable that they should be ordinarily educated in their vernacular.
Note To start with, village reconstruction centres should only be
started in such areas or group of villages where local leadership Is available. Where it Is not, effort should not be wasted.
Economic and Educational Survey
1. The first step before starting ‘Living Wage’ experiment in an area selected for the purpose is to take complete economic and educational survey of the locality. This survey supplies necessary data and information regarding the present condition of the locality, its natural resources and the possibilities of their future improvement. Such an information is invaluable in as much as, it provides a correct study of the situation and the conditions that obtain there. It is a dependable guide for drawing-up plans for future improvement and is also a valuable record to compare future progress periodically with the original conditions obtaining at the start. No rural work should be started without this necessary survey of the area.
Essentials of Economic Survey
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(a) Survey Charts: In all, there are eight survey charts appended at the end of this scheme, which record. 1. Census of men and animals. 2. Agricultural Produce. 3. Annual Income and Expenditure of peasant families 4. Kinds of soil and its distribution, 5. Imported Articles. 6, Exportable Commodities. 7, Social Expenditure. 8. General Information.
(b) Questioniiatie—1. Do you feel the necessity of starting Rural Development Work in your village for your progress and betterment and are you prepared to work to that end on the basis of mutual help and cooperation? If so, do you also feel the necessity of starting a Rural Reconstruction Centre in your village.
2. Whether there is satisfactory arrangement of up-keep and worship of the village temple and other religious places and what arrangement, if any, is there is your village for Cathas, Citrons and religious discourses.
3. Do you feel the necessity of a Panchayat for your village? in your opinion what duties should be entrusted to the Panchayat? Are there such good people in your village o in some other neighbouring villages that you are prepared to elect as your Panchas and head Panchas.
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4. Do people in your village possess sufficient lands for agricultural purposes ? If so, is it just sufficient? How. Much and of what kind of soil1 in your opinion is required to yield sufficient produce for the maintenance of an average family
5. Do you get enough water for irrigation? If so from what sources wells, tanks, rivers etc, I If not, are you prepared to create such facilities yourselves and what help do you expect from your Government.
6. Do you put sufficient quantity of manure in your fields? If so, how much per Bigha? If not, why? fly what other means the deficiency of manurial supply be made good.
7. Besides rainy season, do people in other seasons pit cattle dung for manorial purposes? If not, why? In the face of scat city of manure for fields, why do people use cattle-dung for fuel when they get cheap firewood in the forests in such abundance?
8. What rich or special crops can be raised in your village? (e. g) cotton, sugar cane etc.? What facilities in your opinion are needed for extensive cultivation of such crops?
9. Do you grow cotton in sufficient quantity in your village? Do people prepare cloth for their requirements? If not, why what difficulty does you feel in the matter of cloth sufficiency? How many Charkhas ply in your village? What solution do you suggest to solve the problem of cloth production for your village?
10. Do people in your village get sufficient milk or milk produce for their consumption? On an average how many milch cattle does each family maintain in the village, and what is the income therefrom? Can you suggest some means which if adopted may increase income from the cattle?
11. What do you think is the cause of the heavy indebtedness in your village-want of fertility of the soil, heavy land revenue or other
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Government taxation, habit of litigation among the people, social extravagance, etc.
12. Wherefrom do you get loans and advances? From the moneylender, bank or Government and at what rate of interest
13. What portion of farm produce remains with a family in your village for its subsistence, after paying the land revenue to the Government, brokerage to the middle-man, interest to the Saucer,. and expenses incidental to selling the crop in the neighbouring Mandi?
14. What should be average annual income of a family consisting of 5 members for ordinary decent living?
15. How many peasant families in your village keep record of the income and expenditure of their farm and cattle produce? Do you feel the necessity of keeping your accounts? If so, how do you manage for it?
16. When and at what time of the year do the cultivators staxid in need of easy credit facilities, either of cash or of kind? How would you like to manage for it amongst yourselves? Do you need some sort of Government help in the matter? ]
17. Do you feel the necessity of starting co-operative credit societies in your village, and are you prepared to carry on your business transactions through them? Cannot you dispense with the necessity of middleman and manage the marketing of your produce through your own co-operative sale societies? If not, why?
18. On what social ceremonies do people display extravagance? How can it be checked? Cannot the people put a stop to this waste through their village Panchayats?
19. Is there any school in your village or in its neighborhood ? If it is away, how far from the village? Do people send their children for schooling? If not why? What educational facilities you require for your village and what are you prepared to do yourselves in this connection?
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20. What is the number of literates in your village? Is there any arrangement for the education of the adults? Do grown up people feel the necessity and utility of adult education? and are they (adults) prepared to learn to read and write? What facilities do they need from the Government in the matter?
21. What cottage industries are being worked in your village and what others can be started?
22- Did professional castes such as the gold-smiths, iron-smiths, cobblers, shoemakers, weavers, potters, shepherds, dyers etc of your village use to earn sufficient living by following their own professions and trades in days gone by? Do they now follow their professions or not? If not, why? How can they earn enough for their living through their own caste occupations?
23. What village industries of old such as sugar-manufacture, paper—making, iron- manufacture etc. have disappeared from your village? How these industries were - being worked formerly? What was the average? annual income of the people? Can you supply the name and address of the people who worked these industries? And can those industries be re-started?
24. What articles of out-side manufacture are introduced in your villages in recent years? Can you manufacture such articles in your village, which may replace them and stop their import.
25. In what months, the cultivators get leisure from their field operations? How do they utilise this idle time? ‘What industries would you suggest to make the best use of this unemployed period in your village?
26. What quantity of grain does a peasant family annually pay to the potter, the shoemaker, the carpenter, the barber and such other professionals in the village as wages for their services?
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27. Does your village get good supply of pure drinking water and from what sources-tank, river or well? If not, what facilities do you want?
28. Is there any arrangement of medical aid to your village at the time of disease or epidemics?
29. Do you feel the necessity of organising “Village Defence Corps” to defend your village against the depredations of dacoits and outlaws? If so, which of you are prepared to join the corps as volunteers?
30. Do you feel the necessity of laying approach roads to connect your village with others? If so, what benefit will accrue to you out of it? Are you prepared to do something yourselves to improve the means of communication to your village and what help do you expect from the Government?
(c) Trained Field Workers: — 1. This survey is a little bit elaborate recording business. It can be done with the help of a separate staff of workers engaged for the purpose, or even with the help of village schoolteachers of the area. In either case because the nature of information to be obtained is difficult and elaborate one, the workers should undergo a short practical training of a month or so under expert guidance.
2. In case the survey is to be conducted with the help of village school masters, the services of these teachers should be placed at the disposal of the organizers for two to three months.
General Note
Inorder to avoid incorrect entries and wrong recording, this survey work should be carried on under the watchful supervision of the experts, who may be able to check and correct the entries on the spot. When this is ready, conclusions should be drawn and the basis is ready for drawing-up a ‘Living Wage’ plan of improvement.
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Organisation of Vigorous and Educative
Propaganda
1. To begin with, there should be a regular system of Morning Gram Kirtans at the Village Centres and also a programme of moral and religions instructions to be given to the congregation of people every evening. These daily discourses should be held at a centrally situated place at Chopals or Chawries and those who give these discourses should better follow the old method of Kathakars.
2. Inter-village competition in sanitation, games and charka etc. should be organised and suitable prizes and other means should encourage the winning parties.
3. Dramatic performances connected with village life should be given and lanternslide lectures be delivered.
4. Village fairs and festivals should be organised on improved lines to stimulate the interest of the village community.
5. Rural Conferences and Exhibitions should be organised and people should be encouraged to attend such conferences arid exhibitions whenheld at other places.
6. Useful literature, papers and periodicals should be read to the village people or be supplied to such ones who are literate.
7. During idle months of Summer or at any other idle period of agriculturists, special programmes such as co-operative well-digging, bunding of fields, making village approach roads should be organised as a part of demonstrational propaganda.
General
Besides these regular forms of propaganda, there should be regular parties of Kirtankars and dramatists moving about from village to village and systematically carrying out propaganda
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in villages. This is an important work to prepare the minds of the villagers to make them receptable. The more organised and vigorous it is, the better and quicker are the results.
Selection of a Village Centre
The task of making right selection of villages to start
village centres is not an easy one. It is more or less a job of an experieneed xvorker Every village is not good enough to start a village centre and neither can success be obtained by making indiscriinmate choice. A village or a group of villages to be made choice of for starting centres should have certain favourable conditions tostartwith. The scope shouldgradually be extendedtoless favourably situated villages. ‘The village suitable for starting a working centre should possess following necessary conditions:— (a) Influential and progressive-minded local leader-ship. (b) Natural facilities of good soil, plentiful supply of water and good grazing grounds etc. c) Proximity of a market place or town. d) Easy facilities of means of commu nications such as road, post office, etc. e) Freedom from dominating influence of high castes and money-lender class etc.
f) Better, if there are educational facilities and the people have seen something of civilized life.
g) Absence of Gunda element and party-feeling.
Note
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Absence of one OT more of these conditions should not debar a village from starting the work. It is, however, greatly desired that more of these favourable conditions should be available to ensure better results.
Organisation and functions of Gram
Panchayat.
1. Panchayat of a village or a group of villages is an administrative unit which looks after the moral and material advancement of the community within its jurisdiction. It discharges both executive and judicial functions. The success of village reconstruction programme more than anything else depends on the proper functioning of this body.
2. A village or a group of villages should be organised under a Panchayat, the members of which should be elected with the majority of votes of the constituent members once a year.
3. There should be Taluka Panchayats also, composed of elected members from Village Panchayats, which should administer beaten functions as the Village Panchayat.
4. The Panchayats should undertake to deconstructive activities, atleast for a period ol first 5 years, before they are entrusted with jndicial functions. It has been found by experience that placing of judicial powers in Sprawl and immature hauds has been the canse of sowing seeds of discord and factions among the villagers. These powers shaukl only be granted when the members have developed sufficient public spirit and have as cultivated balance of mind thtough consecutive service.
5. Villages abound with mischief- mongers and gunda element and the authorities responsible for the organisation of Panchayats should guard against the entry of this wrong element into these bodies. Village people should also be educated not to encourage the bad tlernent to come
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into power. It should always be seen that a large majority of good and constructive minded people come into these Panchayats.
6. So far as possible all classes and communities including the lowest classes in the villages should be represented in these Panchayats, in order to avoid possibility of an injustice being done to any interest.
7. All proposals connected with the welfare and administration of the area of the Panchayat should emanate from the members themselves. It will be suicidal to take away this right of taking initiative from the members even when the initiative may not be wholly right. No worker should have a right to display his superior wisdom by initiating everything himself and reducing the members to a position of automatons. On the other hand every effort should be made to stimulate the interest of the members to initiate their own proposals. It is a common experience that unless the idea originally proceeds from a man, he does not sincerely strive to put in his very best to work it up.
8. The success of a Panchayat should be judged by the standard of its having executed 75% decisions taken during the course of a year.
9 All decisions should be carried out by the majority of votes of the members.
10. Every function connected with moral and material improvement of village people comes within the functions of the Panchayat. A few suggestive out-lines are given here for guidance.
(a) To establish a Gram Sudharak Sabha or a village Panchayat of the elected representatives from the village and to keep regular proceedings of its working.
Co-operative village Organizations
1. The entire life of the village community has to be organised on the co-operative basis. The fact should not be over-looked that it is just the reverse of the co-operative spirit that is found in the villages. There is mutual distrust, rivalries and spirit of disunity and discord,
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which have ruined life in villages. The root cause of all this disintegration, mutual suspicion and distrust is the moial degeneration of the community. Selfishness has undermined the sense of humanity, justice, honesty and fellow feeling among the villagers. It is difficult to make them believe that the interests of an mdividtial are better served and protected in the preservation and the advatI cement of the interests of the community.
2 Reconstructing of village life depends n organising the life of the community on co-operative basis in almost phase of up to 14 years of age and girls till they complete their 12th year.
(j) To manage for the education of adults below the age of 50 and to make them able to read and write and to keep accounts. (k) To sink new wells or to repair the old ones for supply of good and pure drinking water to the villages.
(l) To make the village people self- sufficient to meet their cloth requirements and to see that every family produces necessary cloth for its needs.
(m) The village people should be made to keep their accounts of income and expenditure on agriculture.
(n) To encourage cottage industries such as basket-making, rope-making, shoemaking, etc. wherever possible. (o) To decide cases arising out of disputes in villages.
(p) To start grain stores, co-Operative banks and marketing societies etc.
(a)Co- operative Village Organisations
(b) The Panchayat should look after the moral and material improvement of the villagers and should manage for their education and sanitation.
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(c) To maintain the temples and places of religious worship in good condition and see that these institutions discharge their functions properly.
(d) To manage for moral and religious lectures, Kathas, Kirtans and to improve the moral tone of the villagers.
(e) To improve the means of communications and connect the village with fair-weather roads to the nearest metalled road as also one village to the other.
(f) To manage for the health and sanitation of the village with particular reference to the following:—
1. The length and breadth of a house constructed in a village should be 25X5 feet.
2- The houses of the village should be kept in clean condition with proper plastering and white-washing.
3. All village refuge and cattle- dung is to be deposited in manure pits dug out at a distance from the village away from public gaze.
4. The village road should be at least 20 feet wide.
5. Streets, lanes and by-lanes of the village should always be kept clear. (g) To keep a good stock of medicines for giving medical relief to the village people.
(h) To establish libraries ad reading rooms for the education of village people.
(I) To manage the compulsory education of boys and girls boys more particularly in its economic sphere. This is more or less a process of moral reconstruction and the elevation of character of the community as a whole. The more enlightened, more human, just and honest the people become the greater will be the chances of their united and organised effort. But it is a slow growth, and it mostly depends on
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gradual development of the community on principles of organised and co-operative life.
3. There should he collective efforts at improving Village Sani ta t ion, Vil lage Defence, Construct ion of Vil lage Approach Roads, Building Village Assembly Halls, Common Village Schools, Temple, Mosque, to-operative Live-Stock Improvement, Cooperative Village Bank and Grain Stores, Running of Co-operative and Multi-purpose Societies, Co-operative Marketing, Collective Farming etc. Through all these various ways of improving the life in villages, the method of co-operative endeavour should persistently be worked-up and developed, however slow and difficult its progress may be in the beginning.
4. In the development of this method it is the line of least resistance that should be followed. The upward process of building should be from easy to difficult. The village people should only be asked to unite and cooperate among themselves in a programme, the benefits of which they may easily he able to understand and appreciate.
Planned Economic Development and the
Working of Rural Reconstruction Programme
1. The village area selected for economic development should first be surveyed.
2. It is advisable to draw-up a plan of economic improvement fixing 5% to 10% increase in the income as an ideal in the first year. Each year this plan is to be revised in the light of previous experience.
3. The same percentage is to be fixed for the reduction of debts every year.
4: The Plan should be placed before the Panchayat and b approved by that body. An Executive Body asisted by the Secretary should be responsible for the execution of the Plan.
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5. The Plan should be framed in the following separate heads: —
(a) Agricultural Improvement.
(b) Cattle Breeding.
(c) Cottage Industries.
(a) Agriculture: Agricultural improvement is possible along following lines:-
1. Better and timely ploughing.
2. Proper manuring.
3. Availability of good seed.
4. Introduction of Co-operative Farming.
5. Co-operative well-digging or increasing irrigational facilities.
6. Co-operative Marketing, Functioning of Co-operative Societies, Banks and Grain Stores.
7. Consolidation of Holdings.
(b) Cattle breeding:
1. Satisfactory feeding arrangement of cattle.
2. Introduction of Kutti System and oil-cake feeding.
3. Maintenance of stud bulls for improving of cattle breed.
4.Castration of Scrub Bulls.
5. Collective arrangement for Cattle Breeding.
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6. Growing of fodder crops on 1/4th of cultivable land of the cultivators.
7. Improvement of Cattle Sheds
8. Proper Veterinary Aid.
(c) Cottage Industries: Promotion and encouragement of cottage industries by encouraging professional castes to take to their old occupations.
1, Weavers to take-up cloth sufficiency programme.
2. Shepherds, Blanket and Woolen Cloth Manufacture 3. Carpenters and Black Smiths, carpentry and black-smithy. 4. Shoe-Maker5, preparing leather articles. 5. Certain other communities Sugar making etc.
Note: —It should be the duty of the technical organizers for Cottage Industries to make these professionals self-supporting on cottage industries and satisfy the test applicable to every village worker. A special Summer Programme should be drawn to increase the income of all classes by starting Niwar making, Darries, Tatpatties, Buttons, Brushes, Stone or Wood Work.
Facilities to be created:
I. Creating cottage industries technical department and engaging experts in scientific research and the improvement of technique.
2. That Government Store or some other Central Marketing Store should arrange for the sale of these articles.
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3. That these small producers should be organised on cooperative guild system.
4. That raw materials should be purchased, stocked and sold to these artisans by Government or Co-operative agencies at cheap rates.
Note:—Nods other items of improvement have been separately dealt with under the heading “Functions of Village Panchayat.”
Programme for Intensive Work Every Year
Life in villages is a never-ending drudgery of lifeless routine and the life habits of people are so hardened that they do not seem prepared to accept any improvement in their aide f living and working The worker gets bored of his existence king not how to introduce new improvements in people’s every-day life. With best of efforts it is only rare that the worker is successful in enlisting the co-operation of people in certain items of improvement. Therefore, inorder to create sufficient enthusiasm among the villagers and to utiiiise their idle time in productive channels every Village Panchayat should take-np one special programme of village improvement for intensive work during Summer or any other idle period of the agriculturists. These special programmes may he one of the foil owing:
(i) Co-operative Well-Digging or Bunding Fields.
(2) Construction of Village Approach Roads.
(3) Special Programme of Cottage Industries Production such as Cloth Sufficiency etc.
These intensive programmes will energise the life of village people as a whole, will effect some concrete improvement and will keep-up enthusiasm of the worker. They are a sort of tonic to inject life among people and should he a special feature of a year’s programme.
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Constant Guidance, Checking and
Supervision
1- Rural Reconstruction being a new experiment, every process and method of work have yet to be evolved, tested by experiments and finally adopted when proved useful. There are no ready-made solutions to tackle manifold problems. Competent people with a comprehensive grasp of the movement and a scientific approach of mind to test and improve every technique should, therefore, always be available to guide field workers at village centres.
2. Commencing with daily routine the method of working of every village worker should constantly be checked, supervised and iinfroved upon where necessary. Slaaknesa castes and business taking to GUI and in supervision and timeij guidance will reduce the village woik into a dead routine and ultimate decay.
3. There should be an yearly plan of work drawn for every village centre in detail. The criteria of successful working of the plan are to obtain 75% results in aggregate working.
4. The organising and supervising staff should be out to visit village centres 15 to 20 working days in a month. During their stay they should lead their workers in practically showing ways and methods in improved ways of doing things, which ensure concrete results. It is rather a way of teaching the workers by their own example than to be merely satisfied with the inspection of work already done. There can never be too much of it.
5. The workers or organisers is ho show better economic returns in their area should suitably be encouraged by monetary awards, promotions etc.
6. There should also be a Committee of experts who should sit together at the end of the year and examine the working of the experiment, test every method and technique, improve it and recommend those approved for adoption for the next year.
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Question of Co-ordination of Departments
In all provinces and in most of the Indian States there are a number of departments of public utility that are already functioning. Co-ordination of these nation- building departments is greatly desired and is conducive of very beneficial results. But in practice the departmental mind of the officers and red-tapism have so far hindered the progress of this co-ordination. In future too much progress in this direction is not within sight.
This Scheme is not much concerned with the co-ordination of these departments of Government. However, it will immensely accelerate the progress of nation-building if departments of Public Instruction, Co-operative, Agriculture. Irrigation. Veterinary and the like are all put undenaeparate Minister for Nation Building or Rural Development as the case may be. This arrangement is worth being tried in States or Provinces where right spirited men are available to run such Ministries.
Finances and Budget
It is not within the province of the present Scheme to give-out the details of financial and budgettary arrangement of the working of the Scheme. That is the work of the administrators and organisers of the area as no uniform standard of financial investment is possible to be suggested to suit varying needs and circumstances.
Productive and Self-Supporting Basis
The Scheme to be self-supporting should be worked on one-tenth (1/10th) share of additional income increased through productive resources in villages. Rs. 3 bases this idea on the concept that a constructive worker at a village centre with about one thousand souls to work with, should atleast aim at raising the average income of each villager per head per annum. This is not aiming at the moon. And l0th
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share of this additional income of three thousand rupees so incresed justifies a share of Rs. 300 to the worker.
Organisation and its Proportional expenditure
Following basis is to be adopted to fix-up proportionate expenditure:
(1) 50% of aggregate income derived from this 1/10th share in an area should go to meet the salary of the worker and other working expenses of the centre.
(2) 25% towards supervision and overhead administrativeexpenses
(3) Rest 25% should go to cover preliminary expenses in survey, training and travelling, expenses for supplying stud-bulls, building houses, opening schools libraries, constructing roads, houses for storage, and in effecting other agricultural improvements include provision to famine conditions, taking for granted one year in three to be a famine year.
This technique of fixing a proportion of income for creative
work in villages has to be experimented upon and may have to be modified, or altered as a result of experience in future.
As already referred to in the foregoing, this scheme presents an altogether new-concept in the realm of Rural Reconstruction Movement. The establishment of new basis of identical economic interest between village people and the workers will throw equal responsibility on both and unite them in a common productive effort, It will automatically develop creative and constructive faculties of the workers of which there is such a need at present.
Conclusion
This Living Wage’ SchemeS makes an altogether new departure in the sphere of constructional nation building. It differs from many such schemes already in the field in the following ways: —
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3. This new basis of identical economic interest beteen wor kers and villagers will develop cohstrudtiveAhd creatic’e talent in both in a more practical way than ahy.othedevice that could be thought of, and will revolutionize the whole method of working.
4. That this experiment gives man and method the first place, and money the next place.
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!
By G. K. Puranik.
(Article published in July 1942 in The Rural India Bombay)
WANT of organization is one of our most serious national defects. It cuts at the roots of our national solidarity. Chaos prevails in every sphere of Indian life whether social, religious or political. No matter in whatever sphere one likes to see, disintegration and want of organisation is invariably a role rather than an exception. Social conscience of the people seems to have been blunted in this most vital respect. It is astonishing to see that people in general prefer to suffer and perish in their exclusion rather than unite and work in an organisation for a common cause. Loyalty to oneself or to the family group is the accepted standard, beyond which social mind refuses to expand. Indian life in its entirety presents acme of individualism exalted to a high pedestal and made sacrosanct.
The worst effects of foreign political domination in this country are discernible in the disintegration wrought in the life of the people. Social horizon of the masses not excluding that of the classes is too narrow. The development of mind is hardly above primitive stage and people do not seem to understand or appreciate the necessity of larger claims. Wider interests of nation or society are either neglected or sacrificed in preference to personal ambitions or gins. This only shows poor development of social conscience. Subordination of personal interest for the advancement of society or nation is an idea of recent development, the necessity of which is hardly realised. Just yet it is mostly on the theoretical plane. Through propaganda and literature the truth is being widely circulated. It will certainly take a long time when the consciousness deepens into social habit of the people.
A NATIONAL DEFECT
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Much thought is not being given by the educators and the leaders of ‘people in the country to train the social mind along organisational and disciplined lines. Higher the conception, larger the outlook, the greater is the necessity of wider organisation. Big undertakings by their very nature call for more people than one to join together to accomplish them. If more than one thing has to be attended to at one and the same time, large units of people will have to be employed and a variety of methods will have to be devised. Science has obliterated the distances of time and space and has brought the peoples of the world nearer to each other. The world forces have produced conditions wherein the safety of the individual lies in joining and becoming a part of a big combination. Indian atmosphere particularly lacks the development of group spirit in social or political sphere. The vision of the people has to be widened. Then alone is the possibility of developing national or international loyalties or patriotism.
How to kill this demon of individualism and raise men above family responsibilities is a problem which confronts the leaders of thought in India today. Our public institutions more or less present an appearance of being lifeless. Big public organizations fare no better. Most of these continue to function in a mechanical and lifeless way. Inward potentiality of growth is very rarely to be seen. In majority of cases they exist for the sake of existence. This sorry spectacle, which sickens the heart of a pattiot, is mostly in evidence and only shows lack of vision and enthusiasm among those responsible for working. There is an inward conflict going on among the workers between personal.
Loyalties and social obligations. In very large number of cases, the motivating power is not the advancement of public interest but personal consideration. Naturally, individuals gain while organizations suffer. Herd and there a few highly evolved individuals stand to keep alive the spirit of organisations while a vast multitude overwhelm them, with uninstitutional spirit. A little spark of life is over-clouded by mass of hypocrisy and lifeless traditionalism. That is the fate of most of our organisations at the present day whether social, political or economic.
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Public conscience has of late more clearly than ever realised this draw-back in national character. The disintegration in the congress ranks at a critical time like the present has prominently exposed this weakness of our character. We seem to have sunk low in the face of a great event which otherwise would have been our great opportunity. Why is it that the opportunities find us unequal and unnerved? The only answer is that we are a small people without a great vision, steeped mostly in individual or family loyalties and are victims of selfish and narrow outlook. We shrink at the sight of big responsibilities. Anything that does not sub serve our personal interest or fulfills our conditions.
Individual nerds fail to spur our ambition. Whenever conflict between personal and social ambition arises, small as the people are, it is resolved by them by keeping their separate individual entity rather than merging it in an organisation. Though erroneously but the notion is there that the individual interests are better served by keeping away from society rather than losing oneself in its advancement. This narrow conception is the ban of Indian society and it is to preserve it that the mass of Indian people is Reverse to organisation.
But great things in any sphere of life are only possible to be accomplished through big organisations, through great unity of purpose and through the employment of a large volume of human labour. Big organic sations can only function successfully when the functionaries are united together for a common purpose. A large majority of these, if not all, be trained in common ideals to be able to break the walls of narrow loyalty. Public organisations should try to caltivate this character of broad loyalties among their members. Want of it has worked our ruin in most spheres of life. Need it be said that there can never be an excess of it.
Venn workers are paid at a higher rate than obtains in the village, liveS in a different kind of house, do not themselves do manual work, they are cut off from the villagers’ minds and stamped
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as ‘different folk’ who may perhaps be admired, but certainly not copied. and are there to be sponged on.”
‘‘It is in proportion as you are able to inspire the villagers themselves with a new hope and assurance of God’s good purpose for their village, and free them from their factions, selfishness and predicts, that the work will be permanently a success.”
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BY G. K. Puranik.
(Articles published in January’1943 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
IN the course of the ‘Living Wage’ scheme placed before the country by the Adarsh Seva Sangha, the necessity of working rural uplift programmer with a definite economic ideal has in brief been stated. Rural Problem in essence is the problem of hunger and want and the remedy urgently called for is to ensure subsistence economic level to the masses. The principle of self-help and self-sufficiency on which the scheme is based, the method of planned development of village resources that it advocates and a far more difficult but a realistic test of making the village worker self-supporting on 1/10th of additional income which he helps to increase in the area ender his jurisdiction, that it lays, certainly demands more exhaustive treatment. An attempt is being made to elucidate the points outlined in the schema in this as well as in a series of contributions that are to follow.
The right of a Living Wage
A civilized social or administrative system based upon justice and humanity owe it to its constituent human groups to ensure a ‘Living Wage’ to them, particularly to the producing masses. The utility of these systems is to be measured by the yardstick of their being able to meet the primary needs of the humanity under their charge. These systems are designed to look after the welfare of the society, to help its upward growth and to protect its interests from being encroached upon. Under their watchful care and protection, the community, which owes allegiance to them, should find scope for the fullest development of its physical, mental, moral and cultural faculties a living and dynamic administrative system with a rightful claim to
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THE ‘LIVING WAGE STANDARD FOR THE VILLAGES
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govern and preside over the destinees of human beings is under moral obligation to satisfy these conditions and when it fails to discharge this ‘DIVINE TRUST’, it forfeits its claim of being the guardian of the people.
Judged by this standard, the present social and political systems existing the world over, of course, with the possible exception of Russia, appear to be antiquated and represent a by-gone age. They are the relics of the medieval times when greed of power backed by brute force was the only justification of an ambitious individual or a power to rule. These institutions mostly concern with their own safe-existence and the happiness and welfare of the riot is only a distant consideration. They have created their own oligarchy and drew their strength from the exploitation of the weak for the enjoyment of the few created to support them.
The times have changed and are rapidly changing. The democratic age with its slogan of ‘The greatest good of the greatest number’ has no use of these out-of-date systems. Through unheard of savagery and cataclysmic changes, the world forces are hammering out a new world order, which will usher in an era of justice to the poor, the exploited and the oppressed. Therein alone lies the hope of the suffering humanity.
The facilities for mental, moral and cultural development apart, vast masses living in the villages of India have for ages been deprived of a decent physical existence. They live a life of semi-starvation and misery under most primitive conditions and neither the Government nor the Society feel much concerned about them. That they have a right to feed and clothe themselves and to enjoy the fruits of their hard earned labour on the farm is denied to them in practice, of Course, these social and political institutions, rather than being a help to the poor producer, have evolved elaborate machineries to snatch away the little that he produces leaving him to starve and rot in misery. The conscience of the Indian humanity too have of late seems to be stirred against this injustice and the claim of the masses
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for a decent ‘Living Wage’ standard is being increasingly recognized.
Whose fault?
That they should starve and live a miserable existence is due not to any fault of theirs but to the unjust policy of the social and administrative systems of the day. Not that they do not produce enough through their labour and must on that account necessarily starve. Not even that they are habitual idlers, who refuse to take up some other subsidiary industries to add something more to their scanty income, if such ones are within their reach That they are by nature indolent and do not profit by the educational and cultural facilities provided by the state or social institutions is also not true. The unadulterated truth is that they are so far being treated as a neglected part of humanity who have no particular rights to be taken into account. Theirs was to labour and produce and to satisfy the insatiable demands of those above them for the enjoyment of life as they wish it and to waste and extravagance also, if they so will it. The balance of scales being so inequitable between those who produce and those who sit over them and enjoy, that it is no wonder if the producer has been the real sufferer all through the ages.
Food, the life sustaining stuff, they produce in abundance on their farms and as has been ascertained by competent authorities oh the subject, they produce enough within one year, that will keep their families in reasonable comfort for three consecutive years. But the Government taxation in varied forms, exactions of the money-lender and the middleman, The bribery and corruption of petty officials, litigation and what not, all these factors have combined together to take away the lion’s share of their produce without doing any beneficial service to them in return- obviously, the fault for this injust state of affairs can reasonably be laid at the doors of our social and political institutions, whose selfishness has deprived the productive humanity of its due.
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Change of Outlook
The present moral and material disequilibrium can only be set aright by a revolutionary change of outlook and the recognition of the right of the primary producer and worker for freedom from want. Unlike the old, the new state as a true custodian of the people’s rights and interests will have for its primary concern the supply of elementary demands and the provision of average standard of life’s amenities to all its constituent units. Such a state of things, of course, is not at all impossible of achievement, provided the interests of the primary producer and the worker becomes the foremost concern of the state.
Having given recognition to the principle, the state can revise its policy of taxation in a way that a good margin of produce is left to the producer to keep him in reasonable comfort It can also fix prices of farm and daity produce which may guarantee a good return to the labour and investments of the producer. He should also be given protection against any organized competition from outside if they’re being one such. Legislative enact. Ments giving protection to the farm tenant and the cultivator against the exploitation of the middle-man and the money-lender should be made and to that end, the state can change its policy of revenue realizations from cash to kind as of old. With this change of outlook will follow several other measures, which will effectively rehabilitate economic life in villages.
The maintaining of balance in the distribution of public money
and services between town and village and the provision of amenities of life to the two set of communities is just another aspect of the same attitude of social justice. Last but not the least, the scale of pay, pension and privileges of the public servants should be revised and brought down to the reasonable level which should be in consonance with the abject poverty-stricken condition of the masses, whom they are made to serve. The present anomalous position that the public servants of the poorest country are the most highly paid in the world exposes all pretensions about the solicitude of the masses. How on earth could such a thing be possible unless the attitude of the state is
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characterized by callousness and neglect towards one and that of special favoritism towards the other? In other words the welfare and happiness of tile producer is being sacrificed in maintaining the most highly paid class of public servants in the world. Unless the political values undergo a complete change and the various modes of their exploitation are stopped, the masses cannot be ensured of a ‘Living Wage’, which is not only just but their due.
It is a question of the change n the fundamental values and conceptions and no amount of patch-work as is sought to be done by sanctioning certain welfare schemes with dubious motives have any chance of remedying the wrong under which the masses suffer. Either a state with a vision and youthful vitality should on its own initiative bring about such a change or it is brought about by the natural world-forces that ultimately assert the moral right of the aggrieved. As psychology puts it, the non-changeability of the human pattern both in its individual or collective form, which is called system, contends against any great possibility of change in the present system of administration in vogue. Human beings as well as systems absorb impressions of the age and develop patterns, which grow rigid with times. By long association they get used to privileges and possessions that they acquire which warp their judgment to admit any change. For, change invariably militates against their acquired interests. And, so even when an injustice has been perceived and a wrong acknowledged, they lack vitality to remedy them. When such a stage has reached and it invariably reaches in the lives of men and nations, it can safely be predicted that they have outlived their utility and do not promise to endure for long. Then, it is the eternal law of change that starts working.
The fall of the Hindus was due to the selfishness and injustice which the higher classes in the society perpetrated towards those of their brethren lower in the social scale. The decline of the Muslim power on the same basis was due to the differential treatment between one religious group and the other and imposing of taxes like Jaziya on those, who did not belong to their religious group. The same principle of economic injustice is at the root of decline of British power and influence in this country, which is giving rise to widespread re-
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actions. If there is vitality enough left in the British system of administration it will adopt the change and save it from a fall or it will go the way the others have gone before it.
The choice of agency
A changed outlook or a new order requires a new urge and a new vitality, which is often the outcome of social and political factors affecting the life of a set of individual or group. For all practical purposes, it appears that the present system of administration lacks that vital urge of feeling for the poor and removing the causes of their misery at all possible cost. As is evident, the new message of hope to the masses could only be delivered by another set of people who have learnt to feel for them and start upon their career of being their future guardians with a promise of justice and fair-play meted out to them in full. They would have an initial advantage of being new trustees of their people for whom they are out to build a new future on a new foundation of social and economic justice and would be more favorably placed than the present system, which is encumbered with old traditions, red-tapism and worn-out commitments.
History is replete with instances of the mighty changes brought about in human affairs by the crusaders and bands of people in the past fired with the message of a new religion or inspired by a new philosophy of life or patriotic fervour. The missionary spirit, which is so vital a factor for propagating a truth or rousing people for a noble ambition, can only be created among workers as a result of sincerity and selflessness of motive at its origin. It is on this solid basis that any activity for public beneficence could rest.
Simple as it may appear, the task of solving the ‘Living Wage’ problem of 90% population of this country is a tremendous responsibility the future nation-builders have to discharge. It is as difficult a job as to establish complete Independence, if not more. If lack of military training and military leadership stands in our way to assert our claim for Independence, lack of constructive talent is no less a serious draw-back among our ranks, to prove our capacity to the
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suffering masses that we mean to establish an era of economic justice to them. To us, who claim to deserve Independence the fulfillment of the constructive programme of ‘ Living Wage’ for the villages, throws a challenge which we must accept.
The minimum ‘Living Wage’ standard
Competent authorities at an average monthly income of Rs. have computed the ‘Living Wage’ standard for the masses 5/- per capita or Rs. 25/- per month for an average family of 5 people. To ensure a subsistence economic level, an agriculturist family in a village should have an income of Rs. 300/- per year. The present average of a peasant family is hardly 1/4th of this minimum standard and it is no wonder if the people go starving and naked. A nation composed of such Ignorant and poverty-stricken mass can never claim a honourable place among the nations of the world. National honour demands that this helpless and sub-human existence of our masses is a blot on the fair name of our country and who, if not we, should feel a pinch to remove it.
That the average per capita income in the United Kingdom and America is over 20 times that of an average Indian. Is it then asking for the Moon, as some would say, to attempt to raise the income of the Indian peasantry by 4 times, of course, when there are vast resources in the country lying undeveloped and immense potential human energy going waste.
The way to solve the Living Wage’ Problem
If progress and the attainment of decent human standard is not the exclusive privilege of the few nations but if striven hard the same is attainable by others as well, there is no reason why Indian masses should lag behind. People suffer privations or enjoy the blessings of nature in proportion to their capacity to strive or not to strive for the attainment of an object. The cycle of events keeps revolving and everything on the horizon indicates that a better turn of things is in store for this country.
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‘Those who suffer most deserve best’ is a wise old maxim. The sufferings sharpen the edge of feelings and people regain their lost consciousness through them. A nation conscious of its power and potentiality develops qualities of courage, patriotism, service and sacrifice among its people, which enrich the flow of national life morally and material. A nation is rich or poor in proportion to the volume of stock of these qualities that go to the building up of human material its real and imperishable wealth.
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By G. K. Puranik
(Articles published in February’1943 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
NEXT in importance to the ideal of ‘Living Wage’ standard for the, villages discussed in the previous chapter is the consideration of the efficient agency of constructive workers. There is no dearth of scheming nor of financial and other resources in the country however poor it may be. But the greatest impediment in the way of village economic reconstruction is the absence of requisite type of workers in sufficient number. It is very much to be regretted that right type of workers are very rare and most of our failures in public undertakings are due to this poverty of human material at our disposal. The material is poor in spirit and capacity to turn out work of good quality, poorer in the breadth of outlook and conception, poorer still in creative and constructive faculty and greatly wanting in vision and idealism, without which no nation has ever risen to a higher standard of existence. The poor driving capacity of manpower is primarily responsible for poor results in our undertakings and consequent slow national growth. A good instrument in the hands of unskilled and inefficient workman will only produce poor specimen of workmanship where it is not an absolute waste of labour. This fundamental drawback of -inefficiency of manpower is greatly hindering the progress of national reconstruction and deserves very special consideration.
Family V/s National Outlook
Political subjection of about a thousand years resulting in social stagnation has narrowed down the outlook of the Indian society which rather than being national is now exclusively confined to a small unit of a family Long absence of political power in the country has killed
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THE ORDER OF CONSTRUCTIVE WORKERS
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the people’s sense of responsibility towards national or social group. The family being the nearest circle, it fills the entire picture of the individual’s mind and claims his absolute loyalties. This growth of narrow outlook of family has narrowed down the scope of people’s sympathies and therefore the sphere of their responsibilities. The narrower the outlook and vision, the smaller the scope of responsibilities, the poorer the capacity of the people for achievements.
This degenerating process coming down for centuries has developed habits of mind among the people, who refuse to entertain any claim higher than that of one’s family. The cultivation of national or social outlook is comparatively the talk of recent origin. The consciousness of feeling for the country is not yet an article of faith with us. Even among the educated classes, the number of such people who have outgrown the limitations of family loyalties to devote themselves to serve the country’s cause is very small indeed, whereas the number of those who day in and day out are engaged in exploiting their brethren and sacrificing national interests is by far the largest. It is this wall of narrow family outlook that is the bane of our society and not till it is dismantled will the national edifice be built. This in short is the background of the poor human material available at present for constructive national work. Those who have launched big schemes without properly assessing the historical and psychological factors governing the life of the people have found it to their cost that they have sadly miscalculated the situation. The future pioneers of constructive nation-building should take lessons from the failures and disillusionments of their predecessors. It will save a lot of human energy and unnecessary waste of finances.
The Scourge of Destructive Mentality
The background of political subjugation, social disintegration and narrow family outlook has produced a countrywide mentality, which is either that of destruction or of exploitation. The poor thinking has developed an intensely selfish outlook among the people who would not stop from doing injury to their neighbour or betraying the cause of the country. The foreign administrators and the vested
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commercial interests took advantage of this denationalising mentality of the people and encouraged them to take to ways and pursuits, which are detrimental to the interests of the country. The professions of law and public service and the ever-increasing imports from foreign countries, have all contributed to the growing impoverishment and the slackening of morals of the people.
Better paying capacity of these trades and professions have attracted an ever growing class of indigenous exploiters who joined hands with foreign exploiting agencies to drain off the economic resources of the country. The class of people who grew fat on the exploitation of the producing masses has increased enormously during recent times. The foreign government, which started this race of exploitation, not only protected but also definitely encouraged this class of people by all possible ways to the callous neglect of the masses. It is no wonder, under such auspices the mentality of exploitation and destruction may reign supreme and the country may be reduced to a position of bankruptcy in constructive talent.
Both historical and psychological factors governing the conduct of the people in general are primarily responsible for the production of a life pattern which is any thing but constructive. Human nature being selfish, why should people, bother about difficult constructive pursuits when it - pays them to take to ways of exploitation, no matter how adversely such a process affects the interests of the country.
Besides making them economically paying the foreign rulers took care to impart false social values to such trades and professions. A clerk, a constable or even a peon is attached more social value and carries more weight in the society than his brother who is a farmer or an artisan engaged in rendering useful creative service to the community. Foreign trade, government service, legal and other professions besides being economically paying also hold out prospects of pay, pensions, and privileges to those engaged in them. The factors responsible for developing wrong mentality should be removed and opportunities for providing practical training along constructive lines are provided before right type of psychology takes its birth in the country.
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Need for Creating Constructive Talent
Constructive ‘ Nation-Building’ is a new thought and a new slogan. To ‘change the psychology of the people from destructive to constructive channels is a long, tedious way. The line of demarkation that divides the constructive behaviour, action and occupation from that of destructive variety is not distinctly drawn and marked out in our country. Unless the outlook of the society and that of the government undergoes a complete change in this respect, higher talent and man of worth will not be attracted to ‘take up constructive national service. This could be one by bestowing public esteem and approbation to those engaged in this line of national work while social disapprobation should be the lot of those engaged in pursuits of exploitation, If wine merchants are conferred titles of ‘Rai Bahadurship’ and unpatriotic elements in the society are being ‘Knighted’ in the New Year’s list every year, it is evident that about him. They go on ploughing and digging, buying and selling, just as before. They suffer no perceptible economic loss by the departure of half a dozen men from the district.
A true community would be affected by the loss of its members. A cooperative society if it loses a dozen members, the milk of its cows, their orders for fertilisers, seeds and feeding-stuffs receives serious injury to its prosperity. There is a minimum of trade below which its trade cannot fall without bringing about a complete stoppage of its work and an inability to pay its employees. That is the difference between a community and an unorganised population. In the first the interests of the community make a conscious and direct appeal to the individual, and the community, in its turn, rapidly develops an interest in the prosperity of the member. In the second the interest of the individual in the community is only sentimental, and as there is no organisation the community lets the individual slip away or disappear without comment or action. We had true rural communities in ancient Ireland, though the organisation was military rather than economic Men were drawn by the needs of their social order out of
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merely personal interests into a larger life. in their organisations they were unconsciously groping, as all human organisations are, towards the final solidarity of humanity, the federation of the world.
Well, these old rural communities disappeared. The greater organisations of nation of empire regarded the smaller communities jealously in the past, and broke them and gathered all the strings of power into capital cities. The result was the growth of the State, with a local decay of civic, patriotic, or public feeling, ending in bureaucracies and State Departments, where paid officials devoid of intimacy with local needs replaced the services naturally and voluntarily rendered in an earlier period. The rural population, no longer existing as a rural community, sank into stagnation.
Now let us go to a country district where there is no organisation. For long years a few men have talked and talked about starting a co-operative society. At last it comes into existence.
I am sure the oldest inhabitant in that town will agree that more changes for the better for farmers have taken place in since the co-operative society was started there than he could remember in all his previous life. The reign of the gombeen man (grasping moneylender) is over. The farmers control their own buying and selling. Their organisation markets for them their own eggs and poultry. It procures seeds, fertilisers, and domestic requirements. They have a village hall and an allied women’s organisation. They sell the products of the women’s industry. They have a co-operative band of musical instruments, social gatherings and concerts. They have spread out their propaganda for miles around and in half a dozen years in all that district, previously without organisation there will be well-organised farmers, guilds, concentrating in themselves all the trade of their localities, having meeting-places where the opinion of the members can be taken; having a machinery committees and executive officers to carry out whatever may be decided on, and having funds or profits, the joint property of the community, You see what a tremendous advantage it is to farmers to have such organisations; what a lever they can pull and control !….. Political action is the least important thing for us.
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The great thing for our movement is-to have an ideal of its own to work towards, It is not what the State has done or can do which inspires, but the infinitely higher possibilities which arise through the voluntary co-operation of men to wring from Nature and life the utmost they can give. If farmers of are to retain a surplus of wealth beyond the bare necessaries of life, if they are ever to see in rural districts any 61 the comforts and luxuries of the city, they must make it their steady, persistent and fundamental policy to work towards complete control over the manufacture and sale of all the produce of the countryside, its livestock, its crops, its byproducts and the manufacturing businesses connected with these, so that they can act in their own interests through their own agents in distant markets, and push their produce with the energy of self-interest. I say that this policy is not against the interests of the towns, for anything, which increases the wealth of the farmers increases their power of Consumption and makes the countryside a better market for the articles, which the townsman produces.
To aim at the creation of a nobler social order in Ireland than we have had in the past might well give us all inspiration and energy, and make us feel that our movement occupies no mean place amongst those movements, which are trying to regenerate our land. I would say indeed that all other movements, however necessary, are external and hollow compared with any movement which deals with life itself and tries to create conditions in which a higher humanity will be possible, and sets that before it as its aim.”
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By G. K. Puranik
(Articles published in March’1943 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
IN the course of this discussion the word, Administrative Authority’ has been purposely used to explain appropriately the nature of mechanical system of rule’ obtaining in this country. In its content and texture it is wanting in that benevolence and patriarchal sentiment which characterise the oriental conception of a rule. It also fails to satisfy the tests of various forms of Governments functioning in the west. But whatever be the nature of the state or form of Government, it is under moral obligation to discharge certain elementary junctions to meet the basic needs of those for whom it is responsible to govern; and these primary demands of good government include loading, clothing, sanitary housing, elementary education, medical aid and facilities for communication. No modern state conscious of its obligations can afford to neglect these basic demands of the people without alienating their sympathies and losing its own prestige as a progressive state. Unfortunately conditions in this country do not conform to any of these accepted standards of government whether eastern or western and all that best describes the British rule in India is that it is an irresponsible government. It simply governs the people and that too not in the interests of the people of this country but to serve the alien interests abroad.
The very nature of political relations man should not lose sight of human and that govern the conduct of the ruling authority towards the development of the people of this country do not warrant their being interested in the prosperity of the people here. Blood being always thicker than water, it is but natural that a dependency that
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THE TEST OF INTEREST OF ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITY
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India is, should serve the interests of Britain. And if at all the foreign rulers can be interested in this country, it is only to the extent that it serves their home interests. This natural clash of interests is unavoidable and it does not warrant any real interest of a foreign government in the economic development of the people here, now or hereafter.
At a stage when the question of economic reconstruction of the people is being considered in all seriousness the political relations between the two countries are on the verge of breaking and the one is on the point of abdicating its authority in favour of the other. How natural it is that this want of interest, which was there in the very nature of a foreign rule, should become all the more insipid knowing that their days are only numbered. A foreign government which is on the verge of abdicating itself should not be much blamed if it is not showing deep interest in the advancement of the people whom it is about to bid farewell. Let not the people delude themselves into the belief that one who is vacating a house would be interested in furnishing and decorating it. His interest rather lies in removing as many articles of use as he can possibly manage to shift to his next permanent lodging. However unpleasant it may look, a practical man should not lose sight of human and psychological factors.
It is idle to expect an administrative power to be in a mood to interest itself in the growth and development of the people who are revolting against its very authority and demand of it to vacate this country for good. Constructive, ameliorative and reformative items of programme could only appeal and suit the psychology of a government which has to establish a new rule and is in need of winning the sympathy of the people. All investments in men and money which constructive policies demand and which are an asset to a stable government are a waste and a l iabil i ty to a government which has practically finished its career. That being the case, it is no use accusing the present government of its lack of interest in the economic regeneration of the people in the face of obvious facts on the contrary.
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The Indian States
There is another class of ruling authority of indigenous variety known as Indian States, some 600 and odd in number who rule practically one-third part of the country and who are -bound with their people by ties of common nationality and interest. Normally they should have identical interests with their people and were it not due to British political domination, which has turned them into a race of parasites and do-nothings the policies of these native governments, would have been directed towards progressive development of their people. It is due to long protection of a foreign power and the fear of losing their safe existence that these states too have more or less become imitators of British policies and has lost their independent capacity to take initiative, which may remotely cause displeasure to the paramount authority. Most of these state rulers are there in name but their administration is being controlled, influenced and directed by the political department of Government of India sitting over their head. Wrong inspiration from the central authority and the ever hanging sword of Damocles of offending the sovereign power have created a paralysis in their ranks and they have increasingly become impervious to their duties and obligations towards their people. But with the lessening of British influence from above and the pressure of growing public opinion from within, there is bound to come a healthy change in these units of native administrations, and many of them may play an important part in national reconstruction.
With all the limitations of the present situation an Indian state is the best place for launching a full-fledged programme of national reconstruction provided the personal interest of the ruler is there. An Indian state is the worst place for any sort of political work in the sense in which it is understood at present for the fact of states being subordinates to the British. But they provide a fertile ground for constructive nation-building work provided the ruler is patriotically inclined and is genuinely interested for in an Indian state the likings and the wishes of the ruler directly influence the policies of state administration. Of course, such patriotic rulers with independent spirit are very few indeed. But given ‘will’ there is nothing to prevent them to give a lead to British Indian provinces in national and economic
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reconstruction as some of them have already set good examples in educational and social advancement of the people for British India to follow- It is high time that our Indian State rulers wake up to their responsibilities in these critical times and conform their administrations to answer the needs of their people, particularly the needs of decent economic existence.
Methods and Policies
The question of methods and policies to bring about economic development of the people is only of secondary importance. The fundamental issue is whether a state or an administration attaches greater importance to the maintenance, preservation and advancement of its own interests as distinct and apart from the betterment of the people or vice versa. The moment the preservation of people’s interest becomes the first and the foremost charge of the state it is not difficult to preserve and advance them and means can easily be found out to that end. But what holds good here is also equally true of every other sphere of human activity that nothing worth while could be accomplished without paying adequate costs and making necessary sacrifices. Nothing determines an interest of an individual or of a state as their preparedness to pay for it.
Budgets and Administration Reports
This brings us to the consideration and examination of annual budgets and administration reports of states and British Indian provinces, which more than any other thing are indices of their administrative policy. The annual administration reports give one an insight into the policy and programme of the administrations concerning various spheres of development, while the allotment of funds for heads of expenditure may be taken to be a correct measure of the importance that an administration attaches to a subject.
Those of us who have been following the proceedings of the Central Legislative Assembly are aware of the fact that Central
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Government’s budget has been a subject of keen debate and severe criticism from the popular benches and particularly the Government’s insistent policy of spending practically half of the revenue of the country on the military head. While education and other nation- building subjects have been starved out for want of funds, the present government has always pursued a policy of spending the largest amount of revenue over military establishment and equipment. Is that not a proof, if proof were needed that the British Government all through their regime attached foremost importance to military strength in this country to consolidate their position at the cost of nation-building subjects? Law of self-preservation being supreme among human species no fair-minded critic should accuse the British Government for spending most of public revenue on maintaining huge military when military strength alone constitutes the real strength of an alien government in an occupied country. The best way to judge the conduct of the other party is to place oneself in the position of the other and find out how one will behave when similarly placed. No foreign government conscious of its weak and unnatural position in a conquered country can afford to behave in any other way than what the Britishers have been doing here To them maintenance of their power is of paramount importance rather than the development of the people who are alien.
Coming to the Indian states the general complaint against most of the rulers is that they appropriate a large fraction of state money for their palace and personal expenditure. There are some who spend a large percentage of their revenue on military and police, roads and buildings while just a few spend greater amount on education and irrigational works. One can easily judge the policy of each state and the interest of the ruler in a particular subject by the amount of money allotted to each department.
Neglect of people’s development
Go where one may like, the removal of poverty of ryots and the development of their economic condition have not been given due consideration by any government whether British or Indian. It is no wonder if one fails to find any substantial amounts being allotted to
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the head of economic development of the people in these budgets. There, these budgets are silent as if the governments are unaware of the crushing poverty of the masses and do not seem to feel their responsibility towards ensuring a reasonable economic level to the people. Of course, there are a number of departments maintained by every government known as public works or nation- building departments, but these in practice are mere state utility concerns and have much to do with people’s welfare or improvement.
Similarly most administration reports of Indian states or provinces are stereotyped publications and one hardly finds anything of public interest in them. While they workout elaborate details about various heads of state revenue and income realised, new taxes introduced and revenues increased year after year, reserve funds created etc. there is hardly any mention about improvement or impairment of the economic condition of the people who truly constitute the state and provide wherewithal to keep it going. The records maintained by all governments give one an idea as to how much land was under cultivation in each area and what revenues it brought to the treasury but they say nothing as to how much produce each cultivator realised in his fields and how he fared economically in a particular year. If the new taxes increase the finances of a state how they affect the economic condition of the ryot is never made mention of. And, if the state finances go on increasing and surpluses and reserve funds accumulating should one conclude thereby if these indicate the prosperity of the people or their penury? Let us be frank and say that in this country they indicate the latter.
There are geological surveys, geographical surveys and land settlement surveys periodically made by many governments who also maintain permanent departments and records, but they never seem to care to institute an inquiry into the economic condition of the ryots and prepare reliable data for public government is established in the country. But education and reference. Where is an administration report which gives one an idea of the economic condition of the masses, the volume of debt over their heads, and what efforts the governments have been making to increase their economic level and reduce their burden of debt? Where does one find mention of
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surpluses and savings effected by the people , and deposited them for the rainy day, and to what extent have these become free from the exploitations of the middleman as a result of state protection and their own efforts of thrift and economy? All this information concerning the improvement or otherwise about the condition of people is not to be found in a government administration report. Nay, most governments and their officials may ridicule the very idea of such an information about people finding publication in a government report. All this may appear strange and ridiculous to the present day administrative authorities, for they seem to consider state as something apart from the people for whose structure of the state as it stands and functions today is a hegemony of the official and paid servants minus the people for whose development and prosperity the intuitions was originally conceived and created.
Such being the state of affairs, the task of economic reconstruction of the masses appears to be like fighting to turn the tide as it is flowing at the moment in the country. The policy of the government is wholly unfavourable to promote the interests of the ryots and to advance their economic standards. It is true, there can be no successful planning for national development unless national government is established in the country. But who can predict or foresee such a consummation brought about and when? We have no doubt whenever it is to come it will not be dropped down to us as a favour from gods in heaven; but that it will emerge as a result of our growing strength from within. It is never a part of prudence or wisdom to wait for something to happen, for such a thing seldom happens. The hard fact is that nothing turns in this world till there is somebody to turn it up!
The development of the world is a record of struggle of men against adverse conditions of things. We are required to do what people in other parts of the world have been doing in similar circumstances. Those who feel for the misery and starvation of the people will have to start their struggle of improving conditions round about them with the help of the state if possible, without it if necessary. The future will have to be carved out in the midst of wreckage and destruction. A new birth of the country should take
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place in the midst of the crumbling old order. Big states of the future are originally conceived and worked up in the minds of the few gifted spirits and it is they who really constitute a state that is to come.
This country is passing through a process of resurrection and a future state is in the course of being evolved. A process of reconstruction along indigenous lines is already taking place in every sphere of people’s life mostly through unofficial and voluntary efforts. These efforts if do not succeed in showing demonstrative results it is mostly due to the absence of state drive from behind. But in their tiny beginnings, obscure existence and sometimes-premature endings; they carry the message of renovated state of things that is to appear. These reconstructional endeavours contribute to the strengthening of weak links in the national body even when they do not prove a complete success. And this evolution of strength from within is a most potent and hopeful sign of national regeneration, which will ultimately replace the old decaying order with a new and vigorous national state. He alone, who has such an abiding faith in the working of laws of evolution and applies himself to help the operation of these laws through his silent and obscure efforts, is a real constructive worker. For, it is through these efforts that a future national state is to emerge. It is this consideration, which has prompted us to give foremost place to the difficult task of creating the order of constructive workers in our scheme of solving the ‘Living Wage’ problem of the producing masses. It is along this line that a beginning in national reconstruction will have to be made. Individual efforts in small areas followed by bigger experiments at economic reconstruction in some of the progressive Indian states seem to be the normal process of national economic reconstruction in this country under the present conditions unless the conditions alter in a different way through the world forces or other unforeseen circumstances.
Taking into consideration the factors operating at the moment on the political horizon, India is likely to have Independent National State at the termination of var. And the foremost task that this new regime will have to take up is the programme of national reconstruction. Various other factors contributing to the successful working of such a programme may briefly be considered.
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Co-ordination of Government Departments
During the last few years the idea of coordination of nation-building departments of the government was given trial in the working of rural development schemes - in various states and provinces, but it was discovered that except the formality of registering attendance in the meetings by the officials this coordination has not been productive of much useful results. The red-tapism and departmental mind among the officials refused to work in co-operation and did not show much enthusiasm and interest in a programme of common endeavour. The official attitude of mind as it has developed in this country is anything but of a public servant. They seem to belong to a ruling class who would not stoop down to cooperate with the people on footings of equality. It is no fault of theirs if they have developed this wrong outlook, which has created an unbridgeable gull between the official world and the people at large, and has rendered the chances of cooperation between the two impossible. For, that is the atmosphere, they are trained in.
What is worse, being trained in a different atmosphere, they generally imbibe anti- national notions and refuse to look at things from people’s point of view. All through their lives they have been strangers to the idea of people’s development and do not attach any serious importance to matters of constructive nation building. Since there is no real inspiration from the centre, this class when driven to take interest in the improvement of people’s welfare generally takes to half-hearted measures knowing that, that is enough to win government’s approbation for them. So long as the state does not make the people’s development as its foremost concern, there is no possibility of change of attitude in this official class of people and nothing much is to be expected from this co-ordination of nation building departments.
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Co-operation of people
People in general have lost their faith in the good intentions of the government in this country. They just do not cooperate; Now and then the government feels concerned and invites people’s cooperation. Occasionally some show of cooperation is also put up, but there is not much reality about these shows. ft has become practically impossible to carry conviction to the masses that the government sincerely means to do anything for them and is solicitous of their betterment. One is not sure of the return of this faith so universally lost in this country and unless a miracle happens there is not much chance of the people and the government co-operating together in a common programme for any length of time. This return of faith of the people and their whole-hearted cooperation with the government is only possible when the people are convinced that it is their government and that their interests are safe in its hands.
Enactment of Laws Favourable to People’s Growth
The state laws and regulations in force at present have not been enacted with people’s interests in view. The safe-guarding of state interests has been the sole consideration of enacting laws and regulations and thereby strengthening its hold and position over the people. Any measure that contributed to enhance the interests of the government and increase its revenues was just good enough to be made into law. But how it affected those on whom the law is being administered has not been given much consideration. A few instances may illustrate the point:
1. Since it is an accepted tradition that land belongs to the King, he is entitled to get a share of the produce of land for running the administration but what justification is there for the government to tax the people if they create facilities of water to irrigate the land through their own labour and effort and thereby add little more to their scanty earnings- Government is perfectly justified to tax the
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people where irrigational facilities have been created to the people by government investment; but where they have been produced by people’s own effort as is being done all over the country by the cultivators who sink wells on their lands through their own labour, money and effort, or make use of river or lake water on the adjoining cultivable lands, the government is wholly unjustified for increasing irrigational taxes on such lands. For, that way, the government is unjust if ably exploiting the labour of the people. No government who has the interest of the people at heart is justified in imposing such kind of taxes on the people.
2. The land revenue system and taxation are defective and are not based on the just rights of the people working on land. The taxes are excessively heavy. No other trade or profession is so heavily taxed as the poor, hard-working cultivator on land, whose 25 to 50 per cent hard-earned income goes to fill the government treasury. And what is worse, he is being taxed without any consideration as to whether he has produced enough for himself out of the land or that sufficient food grain has been left out for the maintenance of his family for the rest of the year. Justice demands that one who labours to produce is entitled to enjoy the fruit of his labour and the government should tax him after making due allowance for his subsistence. There should be a standard of income fixed, enough to maintain a family which should be exempted from taxation and the government should tax income after making due allowance to that minimum standard.
3. The revenue assessment as is realised in cash exposes the cultivator to the exploitation of the middlemen and the moneylenders. While this system benefits the government and makes its task easy, it affects the poor cultivator adversely. As a rule the government is entitled to take a fixed share of commodity that is produced on the lands and not something in exchange, which has not been produced there and for which the poor cultivator has been made to suffer in getting its money value in the market.
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3.The law of inheritance has created uneconomic holdings by fragmentation and sub-division, which needs to be changed.
The Lead Should Start from the Centre or Head
Rural development, economic improvement or general betterment of the masses is a question, which vitally concerns the people themselves. Constructive programme, therefore, could only be a success when the people themselves have started taking interest in it. This improvement has no doubt many aspects, but it essentially rests on the change of psychology of the people. The best means to effect a change in the mass psychology of the people is that the leading personalities, heads of government and leaders of public should increase their personal association with the masses or villagers. Constructive programme and rural development work received great impetus mostly due to personal interest of Mahatmaji and that of the Head of the Government, Lord Linlithgow. Following the example of Mahatma Gandhi, many people of light and leading started their interest and association with the village masses and some of them went to the length of making villages their homes.
Similarly Lord Linlithgow’s personal interest in the village problems and his occasional visits to the humble huts of the villagers created quite a sensation in the circle of Government officials who following the lead of the Head of the Government started evincing more and more interest in the welfare of the villagers. The effect of this association of public leaders and the heads of Government effected a change in the psychology of the villagers who for the first time felt that they were being taken care o and would not remain neglected in future as they had been in the past, Such an association by distinguished personalities creates hope and cheer in the lives of the masses, while at the same time it creates more sympathy and consideration in the minds of the classes and the officials of the Government. The war has interrupted the reconstruction programme of the masses and has diverted the attention of the heads of the government and public leaders to more urgent problems for the time being. All the same previous experience brings out the fact ever so
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prominently before us that nothing provides such a great inspiration and stirs up the imagination of the masses for action and improvement as the growing association of the heads of governments, the rulers of Indian States and the leaders of public.
Financing the Scheme
Lastly, there remains the question of financing such a huge scheme of national economic development, which needs to be considered. We have in the beginning of this chapter stressed the necessity of giving first place to this programme of national economic reconstruction and it is obvious if the government makes this programme the first charge on public revenues the difficulty of finances should not arise- The money that goes to the maintenance of huge military expenditure and the construction of New Delhi could profitably be diverted to more fruitful channels of national reconstruction. Given ‘will ‘, it is not difficult to find ways.
It is not necessary here to give out a detailed catalogue of departments and activities which entail an unproductive expenditure on every administration and which could be reduced or curtailed and diverted to finance the schemes of national development. Part of the money can also be raised from the people themselves and if necessary, the Government can also raise loans for the purpose. It seems quite probable that following the example of Russia, which startled the world by successful completion of its “Five Year Plan”, the first task awaiting the national government of the future, is to undertake the mighty programme of national reconstruction. If Russia could do it, why not rejuvenated India?
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By G. K. Puranik
(Articles published in April’1943 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
A village for starting rural development work is one, which provides progressive- minded local leadership. Much waste of money and human energy could be saved if proper selection is made of the place to begin with. Whatever other natural or geographical facilities a village may have, it has not much chance of being developed into a model village, if the human element inhabiting it is unresponsive to the call of progressive forces and lacks public-spirited local leader of its own.
No amount of work has done by an outside agency could ensure continuity and permanency if the responsibility of the same is not shouldered by the stable local element. The process of improvement to be lasting should start from within and the emergence of a local leader is the sure indicator of the imminent growth of a community. It is a biological fact that times produce their own men and the appearance of men of capacity, light and leading to improve their surroundings unmistakably points out the turning of tide for the betterment of the people.
Christ had to come first before Christiandom rose to eminence. Mohammad was there before Islam propagated its mission of human brotherhood. Shivaji had to be there before the foundation of Maratha Empire could be laid. A Gandhi has to come on the scene, before India could learn to assert its right for Independence.
No human group, not even a single individual family rises to distinction and power in the social scales until a gifted individual is born in it. However unintelligible this phenomenon of appearance of a leader in a community or locality may appear to many as a prelude and the first symptom of advancement of a community, no student of
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LOCAL LEADERSHIP IN VILLAGES
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biology and history would fail to correlate its meaning. Where the elementary basis-the local leader does not exist, it would not be a mistake to conclude that the conditions for the development of the place are not yet ripe. Nature, when it favours a community or locality, sends its own advance agent to guide the people on an upward march. Where it has not done this elementary work, no human effort can avail much.
The desirable type of local leadership is an elementary necessity for the successful working of a village centre. This leader of people may be a local Zamindar, a Priest, a Vaidya, a Village teacher, or some other public-spirited intelligent man of the village who carries weight and influence with the village people. The institution of village democracy can never function successfully without some one to lead the people and this some one should be from the village itself, which the people can trust and follow.
Had not the system of village Panchayat been rendered ineffective and inoperative by the centralised system of British administration, there would not have been such a dearth of public-spirited’ people in our villages as we find it to day. The Powers which the Panchayats through their representative leaders exercised in managing the affairs of the village government having been taken away by the central administration, the natural leaders were deprived of the authority and faded away. Strange as it may appear the same authority was vested in an unnatural and irresponsible machinery of paid servants imported from outside, who could have no real interest in the village and who were not to suffer by what happened to the village. Conditions having been changed and the power being shifted from the village to the official head quarter of the government in a big town or city, the necessity of leadership in rural areas ceased to exist. Here and there, if some vestiges of this leadership survived for some time, these were considered as malcontents and agitators whom official hierarchy took care to remove from places of power and put such of those in their places as were willing to dance to the official tune.
The void of local leadership created on one side and the pressure of increasing exploitation and suppression on the other brought about
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the collapse of village life. The disastrous effects of this ruin are apparent in every sphere of village life but they are nowhere more pronounced than in the moral and material ruin of the people. Whether it is a village or a city the leader has his contribution to make not so much in advancing the material interests of the people as in elevating their moral tone and preserving their integrity. The moral stamina having been broken, the field was clear for unscrupulous adventurers and mischief mongers to exploit the masses right and left. The banishing of influence of fair-minded and justice-loving natural leaders of people and the ascendancy of sycophants and goondas was a part of political game.
And to-day the man who wields the greatest power in the village is not the one who is a people’s man who identifies with them, who shelters and protects them but the one who encourages factious spirit, instigates litigation and encourages bribery, oppresses the people and acts as a spy and agent of petty government officials. The headman of village is generally the personification of mischief and the cause of most of the evils found in the villages today.
A process of reversion of order is long overdue and the installation of right people in places of power and authority in villages is an essential part of village reconstruction programme. Desirable as such a consummation is, the limitations imposed by existing conditions could not altogether be ignored. In matters of national reconstruction, there is not such a thing as writing on a clean slate and things will have to be improved upon against the existing background. The only choice lies in making the best of a bad situation and making choice of the best man out of the stock available, ‘Whether a village has a desirable type of man for leadership to guide the people along right lines should not be difficult to find out if one rightly understands the psychology of the villagers. A village area blessed with such a natural guide promises to be a place for rural reconstructional activities.
Although study and proper survey of natural and geographical conditions is a primary consideration for making choice of a village to start rural uplift activities, yet the study of human element composing the population of the village deserves no less attention. A
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homogeneous and progressively inclined population blessed with a right type of leadership offers much better chances of improvement whereas indifferent and reactionary populace and a wrong leadership is an initial disadvantage and perpetual hindrance in the way. Apart from the question of success or failure of the project, it is difficult to continue to work at a place, where there is no willing and intelligent co-operation on the part of the people. The necessity of progressive environment and an able leadership in a village cannot, therefore, be overstressed.
The attitude of the state and the pressure of environment have completely changed the aspect of village life is too well known a fact. The rural areas have now become the worst places of human passions, mutual jealousies, animosities and what not. Simple, innocent and harmless community life pictured by the people in villages is now a myth and no more a reality. Villages of today present a spectacle of a warring camp, where each inhabitant is a potential enemy of his neighbour, Nowhere probably will the human selfishness be seen in its naked form as in a village today. And what is worse every individual has somehow wrongly come to believe that his personal interest can best he promoted or safeguarded by keeping himself away from the rest. The idea of cooperation and of being helpful to each other seems to be wholly foreign to such an environment. How to make the mass of people lost to the sense of humanity to this extent interested in a programme of general improvement is a difficult psychological question to deal. All this requires a determined national effort to change the perverted social values in villages through constant educative propaganda.
The problem of leadership in villages has certain other relevant considerations, which are by no means less important. So far as possible, it should be seen that there exist no clashing economic interests between the village people and their leaders. This economic clash is always there when absentee landlords, moneylenders and those belonging to high castes dominate over the toiling masses. Any improvement in the condition of the masses will naturally affect their social prestige and pockets; which these people would never relish idea, and it is quite human if they are not interested in such a movement. If a lion would befriend his prey what would he eat? And neither would these
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exploiting classes take kindly to any ameliorative programme of the masses, which directly or indirectly attacks their vested interests. Since majority of Zamindars and those belonging to priesthood come from privileged classes, they should not be expected to be disinterested leaders of the people. The background from which a village leader should emerge ought to be that of common identity of interests with the people and better if he belongs to the cultivating class itself.
As it has already been referred to earlier in this series of articles, the best way to know a man intimately is to know his antecedents. Nature has decreed a special pattern for each individual, which does not alter in essentials from birth to death. If a man is well-inclined his proclivities and natural inclinations find expression in all his activities and behaviour from childhood and boyhood upwards and it is not difficult to ascertain bonafides of a man by knowing antecedents of his past life.
Whether, it is an urban or rural life, there is not much essential difference in human character. Even in the uncultured environment of the villages, one comes across some good individuals here and there, who are willing to render free service to the people and take interest in the public good, just as we find some people doing the same in cities. Such people by instinct like starting some private school in their village or getting it opened by the government. They are found starting some Sabha, Keertan Mandali or a Library as the case may be. These are by nature very inquisitive and show their interest in developments going on outside. On the occasion of birth, death or marriage, these are first to render service to their fellow villagers. During famine, pestilence or some other natural calamities, they render voluntary service unsought In getting redress of grievance or in representing a case to the government, they are the first to take the lead. If there is a religious festival or celebration in the village, they will take their part in it even at the sacrifice of some domestic work. They organise and lead parties to defend the village if attacked by dacoits or outlaws. They are ever ready to protect the people against any encroachment on their rights, tyranny or injustice and would always throw in their balance on the side of justice and fair-play. These and similar character patterns have in them potentialities of
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being good village leaders. With them to guide the masses, success in village reconstruction work is greatly assured.
Power and Initiative
Responsibility is known to be an important factor in moulding and elevating human character. Invest a man with some responsibility and he starts thinking in a different way. It develops in him consciousness of his own place in the scheme of things, initiative, balance, forethought and sense of obligation to a much higher degree than without it. That this responsibility of managing the affairs of each village unit by its own council of elders was there before the advent of the British power and that these decentralised administrative units exercised all powers in Social, Political and Administrative affairs of the village cannot be gainsaid. The authority of the Panchayat was supreme and unchallengeable, and no Central government ever interfered with these powers. Rather than each separate individual as is the case today, the State or Central administration recognised the Panchayat as a representative unit of the village. Depriving the people of this power has cut at the roots of solidarity and integrity of village life and the people rather than looking up to their own men for help and guidance have now started depending on government machinery outside the village. Unless the same power is once again restored, there is no chance of creating unity, solidarity and corporate life in the village and the village people must remain deprived of opportunities of exercising their powers of discretion and initiative.
It is being apprehended that the village people in their present undeveloped stage are not capable of discharging these responsibilities even if given and may misuse them. The facts of the situation certainly demand a degree of precaution and this conferring of power should proceed through gradual stages. But there is such a thing as over-cautiousness, which is another name for status quo, and is a convenient excuse employed by the authorities to withhold giving any power. Whether now or at any probable date in future, whenever the people are to be entrusted with power the risk of its being misused would always be there. Humanity has evolved through the process of
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trial and error and it is absurd not to allow one to enter the water till he has learnt to swim. How on earth can one ever learn to swim, if he is kept away from entering into the water and forbidden to take any risk of taking a plunge into it?
They say,” Freedom is the only cure for freedom’s temporary inconveniences”. Likewise giving of authority is the best practical solution of increasing sense of responsibility among tile village masses. Not till the people have started to solve bigger problems will they develop powers of thought and initiative. Free initiative cannot grow in an atmosphere divested of responsibility. A state, which aims at national development and the development of sense of responsibility in each one of its individual members, should learn to put up with these risks and inconveniences. Keeping the people under tutelage and depriving them of power is not the way of improving them. The way of improvement lies through giving more and more responsibility to the people and making them learn to discharge it.
The Role of a village worker Rural Development Associations and newly formed Panchayats are expected to develop initiative among the villagers- it has often been observed, that the village workers and the rural development officers in their hurry to get things done assume the role of executive officers and deprive the people of taking initiative on so vital a matter as their own self-development. This is suicidal for the development of the movement. These workers should exercise restraint on them and let the people think for themselves and take the initiative. The workers’ role is to inspire the people to go ahead and guide them wherever necessary. Unless the thought itself originates with the man it will not call up the best in him to see it worked up.
This calls for qualities of restraint toleration and self-resignation on the part of the workers. Let the people feel the necessity of improving themselves and let them also learn to exert to that end. Development of a people is not a thing to be imposed upon from outside. It is the duty of the state or society to provide facilities for growth but it is for the people to avail them in a way they think best.
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By G. K. Puranik
(Articles published in May’1943 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
THE Science of figures has acquired great significance in recent times with the advancement of modern civilization and the increasing complexities of the material world. The life of our people being undeveloped and disorganised according to modern standards, it is no wonder, if the necessity of maintaining statistics and regular data about various aspects of life and conditions has not yet been widely appreciated in this country. If that is true of the life of the country as a whole, there is not much reason to complain of the absence of data about conditions in villages, where pathetic ignorance prevails.
Great as is the need for reliable data to ascertain facts about the economic and educational condition of the masses in order to formulate plans for future development, the workers should know the unpleasant fact that such a material essential though it is, is nonexistent at the moment. And in order to make a scientific and methodical approach to the problem of rural reconstruction the very essential task that devolves on the workers is that they should make a thorough study of the natural and geographical conditions of the rural areas assigned to them or to be selected by themselves for purposes of development. This comprehensive study more than anything else should include existing economic and educational level of the people, whose future development has to be planned and worked up. The statistical information, difficult as it is to be collected and made ready for use and guidance is the first charge on the workers and an essential part of their equipment and efficiency.
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ECONOMIC AND EDUCATIONAL SURVEY
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It should carefully be noted in this connection that a treatment to be efficacious presupposes thorough prognosis and diagnosis of the malady to be treated and the better the diagnosis the surer and quicker the remedy. An accurate survey as envisaged in the present article is a reliable diagnosis of the economic ills and general backwardness of the masses, which should be carried out before a worker prescribes remedies therefore.
There, of course, has been a lot of waste of effort in the country due to the neglect of this preliminary survey in order to ascertain the existing facts about the condition of the place and the people. The wrong procedure of starting rural development work indiscriminately in good, bad and indifferent areas has not yet been completely stopped. It has been our sad experience to visit a large number of rural reconstruction centres, which have been started without any study of the existing conditions and with no due regard to the suitability of the locality and the responsiveness of the people to be served. The result has either been a waste of effort or a false show maintained by a well-meaning government department or an interested individual without the work taking its roots into the soil even after the centre has been in existence for a dozen of years. It has also been observed in many cases that the working of 4hese centres has been a question of the likes and dislikes of certain well-meant individuals without any consideration to meet the real requirements of the people of the locality and sometimes even in opposition to their wishes. The spirit of humanitarianism and enthusiasm of these people are quite commendable by themselves, but they must also be disciplined and should find their expression through scientific and methodical ways. However benevolent may be the efforts of some governments or charitably inclined individuals, development is not a thing to be imposed from outside. It can only be achieved when the people themselves have learnt to feel the necessity of improving their condition and to pay the price that such an effort demands.
Failures and disappointments are quite inevitable and unavoidable too in the early stages of a movement like this. But it is time a strong warning should be sounded to those who are engaged in this humanitarian work to profit by the sad experiences and pitfalls of
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 190
the early promoters of the movement and avoid the repetition of the very same mistakes, which their predecessors have made. The neglect of making a scientific study of the place, the people and their environment has been an initial mistake in the past, which has entailed such an enormous waste and the same should he avoided by the workers in future. For, natural conditions and psychological attitude of the village people themselves are by far the most determining factors for the success of an undertaking rather than the whims and caprices of an individual. And then a great deal of experience and discrimination are necessary to devise suitable ways and means to meet the varying needs and requirements of a people or a locality.
It is greatly reassuring that during recent years several regional surveys have been carried out by many rural workers, and valuable statistical data has been collected and published. Of course, since rural reconstruction programme in the country breaks altogether new grounds there are no precedents to follow and no old standards to be adopted by the workers. Naturally, such a new venture in constructive Nation-building makes the greatest demand on the originality, initiative and the resourcefulness of the workers. Let it be known that for a long time to come there can be no such a thing as the overdoing of it.
Taking into consideration the variations of local conditions in rural areas, it is difficult to prescribe any uniform method for village surveys or to frame a set type of questionnaire to suit all conditions and localities. However, broad outlines of these surveys have been prepared by many official and non-official bodies, which with slight changes or additions may well be adaptable for all regions. While making an exhaustive survey of Pohri Jagir villages (Gwalior) numbering 232 in the year 1940-41 the Adarsh Seva Sangha prepared 8 charts to record various aspects of economic, educational and social life of the villagers and framed a questionnaire containing 30 questions to elicit detailed information which it is hoped will be found useful by workers in the country. The charts and the questionnaire have already been published in the April 1942 issue of the Rural India and also in a separate pamphlet known as “Living Wage Scheme Of Village Reconstruction and are available at the “ Rural India” Office.
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A rough idea about these charts and the questionnaire may be gathered from the following: —
Essentials of Economic and Educational Survey: - (i) Survey charts. (ii) Questionnaire. (iii) Trained field workers.
Survey charts:- In all there are 8 survey charts, which record:
(a) Census of men and animals. (b) Agricultural produce. (c) Annual income and expenditure of peasant families. (d) Kinds of soil and its distribution. (e) Imported articles. (e) Exported commodities. (f) Social expenditure. (h) General information.
Questionnaire: —
The questionnaire contains in all 30 questions broadly covering the administrative and welfare aspect of the village life not coming within the scope of the charts. This elaborate questionnaire elicits information about general development of the people, their attitude towards self-improvement and also the minimum demands or facilities that they need for self-development.
Trained field workers: —
The nature of information to be obtained for purposes of this survey is a bit elaborate business and the same when it has to be collected from an ignorant mass of people renders the task of the worker doubly difficult. The undeveloped village people live in abysmal ignorance and know practically nothing about themselves and are incapable of giving expression to their ideas even when they have something to say. It is difficult for them to dissect, discriminate
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 192
and understand the implications of the inquiries made. Not only the questions have to be explained to them in their own local dialect but that their implications will have to be brought home to them in such a way that the underlying idea may be acceptable to them according to their level of understanding. This is no easy job and demands a much higher standard of development on the part of the workers to be able to conduct such a survey accurately. The field workers should, therefore, be given a short course of training covering a period of 4 to 6 weeks under efficient management before they are engaged in the work of this survey.
Preparation of Data: —
This material containing little bits of information in a scattered form needs an expert handling to sift, scrutinise and arrange it in a systematic order to be ready to draw certain conclusions and to formulate future plans of development ort its basis. The development to be sure and lasting can only proceed along evolutionary process which iss1ow and needs methodical planning and working up. It may not be preposterous to suggest in this connection that an improvement from 5% to 10% over previous conditions may be a fair annual programme, which under normal conditions must register progress at a properly selected village centre under energetic and resourceful workers.
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By G. K. Puranik
(Articles published in June’1943 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
THE necessity for sustained and educative propaganda to rouse the interest of the rural masses in measures of their self-improvement is being slowly recognized. The unresponsive and cold attitude generally shown by the village people towards rural uplift activities in most places have chilled the spirits of many an ardent rural worker and this indifference on the part of the people has been one of the basic causes of the dullness and stagnation noticeable in the movement. In many a village centre it has been observed that the one man most concerned in running the whole show is the paid worker from outside and not the people of the area for whose betterment the uplift measures are devised. Go where one might, it is very rare to find village people taking any live interest in rural uplift programme. Like half a dozen sister movements started in the past for the betterment of the masses, this movement too appears to be a sort of imposition from without and not the result of the urge of the people from within. However well meant may be the efforts of the agencies whether government or private, if- the people have not realised the necessity of developing themselves, the whole thing must ultimately end in a fiasco. In order, therefore, to put the movement on a sure basis the mass mind should first be awakened to the necessity of self-development and to that end the importance of strenuous and educative propaganda all over the countryside cannot be overstressed.
Sufficient attention is not being paid to evolve and standardise the propaganda machinery which alone can clear the jungle of ignorance and apathy and exterminate the poisonous weeds and roots
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NEED FOR VIGOROUS AND EDUCATIVE PROPAGANDA
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 194
which hamper the preparation of soil and retard the growth of good seeds sown for people’s development. The present condition of rural masses may well be compared with a neglected landscape which in course of centuries has over-grown with wild trees and bushes and turned into a veritable jungle and the same if required to be reconverted into fertile fields needs all the process of cutting down the wild growth, clearing up the jungle and the breaking up of hard soil before it is ready to receive the blessings of timely rains and yield a good harvest That alone is the right view and a matter-of-fact approach to the problem of rural reconstruction. Unless the whole difficult process of the preparation of soil is gone through, there are no good prospects for the seeds of development taking roots in rural areas.
It will not do to be satisfied with any type of propaganda if it fails to rouse the masses for action. The cause of the villagers’ apathy and lack of interest lie deep down in the unjust social and political order in the country which has deprived them of their just rights and driven them to a hopeless existence. These causes will have to be scientifically investigated and knowledge of their effectual remedies should be imparted by means of such propaganda, as carries them a conviction of better state of things to come in future.
This indifferent attitude of the masses of which the workers all over the country have been found to be making a major grievance though very true, is the result of the operation of causes, which the rural development movement has taken upon itself to eradicate. Deep down in the heart of the masses is the distrust of the intentions of the agencies whether official or non-official, who profess to work for their deliverance and for which they have so far failed to carry conviction to the sceptic village people.
Having for centuries been oppressed and exploited by the intellectual classes of people whether belonging to the Government camp or to that of the people, it is no wonder if the villagers distrust the motives of this new agent of rural service who, all of a sudden shows all concern and solicitude for improving their lot. Not having once seen better days in their lives or heard of them from their elders, it is inconceivable for them to believe in the possibility of prosperous
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times when someone promises such for them. Where everyone with whom they have to deal all their lives has either been an exploiter or oppressor or both, it is beyond them to trust a new man who promises to serve their interests fearlessly and selflessly. The people, who have not been getting full meal a day after strenuous labour put in the fields all their lives cannot be expected to believe in the super- wisdom of a new comer, who while himself does not know A.B.C. of practical agriculture glibly talks of an age plenty coming to their village. As practical men of the world, they treat all this propagandist talk lightly and pay not much heed to it. With a background such as this, it will not do, if the workers get dejected without giving sufficient trial to their work. A long period of personal contact must elapse, before these people start believing in the man and his selfless mission.
Psychological preparation of a people’s mind is a difficult process by itself and they must see better models of things in order to be able to believe in them.
The village people must be provided with opportunities to know something about the high philosophy of their religion before they learn to appreciate good principles according to which life should be lived and discard wrong and evil practices to which they have fallen a victim. Healthy spirit of competition in matters of sanitation, games, etc., should be fostered between village and village in order to wean the people from wasteful litigation, factions and feuds, which are disrupting their community life. They should have opportunities of seeing good Drama and Cinema Shows as a means of healthful recreation and education, which time otherwise they would spend as they do now, in gossiping back-biting or wasteful Hukka-smoking. Village fairs and festivals which provide holiday time and an occasion for merry-making and entertainment can with proper organisation be made the centres of propaganda and community education and good market places for the encouragement of cottage and home-industries. Now and then these people must have opportunities of participating in large congregations of people in conferences and exhibitions, whereby they may have chances of comparing notes with their neighbours and benefiting by their experiences. They should also be provided with cheap and useful literature connected with their own
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 196
life and problems and such papers and periodicals as may provide useful information and guidance to them.
Occasionally and specially during summer there should be programmes for cooperative well-digging, banding of fields, making village approach roads, etc., which may provide training in collective effort for the betterment of the community, Village people must be shown models of better crops in demonstration plots at suitable centres, before they get interested in raising the same kind of crops in their own fields and they must also have opportunities of seeing better breed of cattle being reared somewhere before they start improvement of their own live-stock. With a view to stimulate their interest for adopting better methods of life and business and to leave off habits and practices that are bad and harmful, it is proper that they should have many occasions to see better models of things round about them.
Many of the propaganda institutions, now being suggested to be started afresh or revived are already there and have a distinct place in the life of the village community. The village priest, the Pandit, the Kathakars and Keertankars, the village bard, the fairs, and festivals are there from times immemorial round which the life of the community is woven. But the times for which these institutions were designed in the past have changed and together with them have also changed the needs and requirements of the community. With time every thing undergoes a change and a thing once useful sometimes becomes harmful. Under the inevitable working of the law of time, these village institutions too have now thoroughly degenerated and ceased to be useful to suit modern conditions. The necessity of evolving and perfecting a new machinery of propaganda in order to foster new spirit of rejuvenation in villages is therefore urgently called for.
The functions of propaganda machinery
The primary function of this institution is to awaken the masses to the realisation of their latent possibilities and to stimulate their interest to better their conditions and surroundings through their own efforts. Man essentially is a moral being and the awakening of spirit of man should take precedence over every other development. Man’s
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rise and fall depends on the rise and fall of his morals. Rural reconstruction propaganda, therefore should aim at reconstructing the moral life of the village community. However fallen a people may be, there is that something within men, which if aroused, is capable of fighting against all adversities and depressing conditions of life. Throughout the whole process of human evolution, at the formative stages of human society and at the birth of new religions and social orders, the pioneer-builders and reformers have always given place of preference to the institution of propaganda and sent their missionaries far and wide. The success of a movement more than anything else depends on the organised machinery of propaganda and also to a greater extent on the quality and earnestness of people who go about to propagate their mission.
Revival of Kathas, Keertans and
Prabhat Pheries
The creation of changed atmosphere or environment is a vital factor in bringing about psychological ,change in men, and the means tried and found effective to that end are the recital of Kathas with appropriate morals, sermons delivered by competent people and the feast of sweet and inspiring music provided through morning rounds of Prabhat Kirtans (morning songs). The village people beginning their days with inspiring music of Prabhat Kirtan and ending their toil in the evening with sermons from Ramayan, Mahabharat or any other religious book will definitely be better prepared to face the life and its worries with greater courage and good cheer than what they do now. One who has visited a good rural development centre, where the workers have taken care to provide this sort of inspiration to the villagers will testify the practical utility of this course, of moral instructions. But this, of course presupposes the necessity of religious zeal among the workers. There ought to be fire and zeal among the workers if it is to be kindled among the villagers. Such missionaries or workers should themselves be well-versed irreligious lore and be men of high moral principles.
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 198
Inter-Village Competitions in Sanitation, Games, etc
Things do not develop in isolation. The growth of people mainly depends- on the spirit o healthy competition fostered among them, The scattered nature of the villages is responsible for the absence of necessary stimulus and the growth of competitive spirit which defect should be removed. The Spirit of competition in as man aspects of villagers’ life as possible be introduced which in course of time will develop healthy rivalry and curb unhealthy tendencies.
There are special seasons suited for encouraging various programmes in rural areas Tradition and public sentiment is already there to make certain programmes easily acceptable to the people. After rains Diwali is being observed as a festival for cleaning and white-washing of houses all over the country and any sanitary programme organised in conjunction with this festival will make itself easily acceptable to the villagers. Local sentiment can easily be roused among the people to make their village more clean and presentable than another village in their neighbourhood. The same sentiment could be roused in the case of games and village sports and inter- village tournaments can be organize during Holi festival, which is just the season for song, music and merry-making all over the Indian countryside.
Drama, Cinemas, Radios and Lantern Slide Lectures
Immense though is the possibility of these educative agencies with which our urban population is familiar but they have, of course, not yet made their appearance in rural areas. Here and there, one learns of a Radio-set being installed at a rural development village, but this introduction for all practical purposes has been in the nature of a show rather than a means of regular service and mass education Villages lack technicians to do necessary repairs if something goes wrong with the set and once it is out of order, its utility is finished for all time. Conditions in villages being appallingly poor they do not
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offer any attraction to the Dramatic parties or Cinema Companies to come and provide entertainment and education to the masses. Till these conditions greatly change in future the masses in the countryside must remain deprived of the benefits of these educative agencies.
Much could be done with the change of attitude of the government in favour of the masses. But till such a desirable change takes place this necessary education could be provided -by public agencies and parties of students who during their spare time should visit the countryside and give the benefit of their stage performances to the villagers in the interest of popular education.
Village Fairs and Festivals
In the social life of the villages, fairs and festivals have an important place to relieve the monotony and drudgery of the day to-day life of the people. In between toilsome existence these are just the occasions for merry-making and for creating social contacts. In all parts of the country, seasonal fairs are held wherein crowds of people throng from far and near and participate in the rally of song, music and mirth. These are also the centres for marketing wherein village people do their year’s purchases and sales. As centres of business and holiday enjoyment they have their undoubted utility. But these require a lot of reorientation to convert them into instruments of popular education.
Of late, the village fairs have been mainly responsible for the introduction of wrong tastes among the villagers and for dumping cheap foreign goods into the village homes and draining the poor-villagers’ money into the bargain. That is a sort of wrong education, which should be checked, and in its place these should be used as a mean of rural propaganda and places of exhibition of home industries.
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 200
Rural Conferences and Exhibitions
Such conferences and exhibitions provide occasions to the villagers to visit other places and deriye inspiration by, actually seeing their neighbours working for their improvement. The war for the present has greatly hampered the progress of the rural development conferences and exhibitions. But the holding of these conferences and exhibitions is a great instrument of mass education -and these should be popularised in rural areas as and when suitable opportunities occur. Rural Literature, Papers and Periodicals There is an absolute dearth of literature suited to rural conditions and the number of papers and periodicals devoted to village life and problems is jus a drop in the ocean. Rural masses being illiterate in general have no literature of their own except the folk songs that they sing. Among the-intellectual classes and the writers sufficient interest has yet to be awakened to produce literature for mass reconstruction. However those interested in this mission should make up for this deficiency in their own way and if possible through their own personal efforts to provide facilities of cheap and useful literature by starting village libraries and reading rooms in village areas and widen the horizon of the rural masses.
Special Summer Programmes
Summer is cooperatively a slack season and is known to be an idle period in village areas. People finding nothing much to do, kill most of their time in gossipping, Hukka smoking, attending marriage parties and the like. With proper planning and organisation this time of the villagers could profitably be employed by undertaking certain projects, of common good as sinking of wells, bunding fields, making approach roads, digging tanks, making chowries or panchayat ghars. This is a form of demonstrational propaganda and much rural uplift work could be done through the co-operative endeavour of the people mad is likely to catch contagion from village to village.
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By G. K. Puranik
(Articles published in july’1943 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
SOME of the items forming the subject matter of this article have already been dealt with in one of the previous contributions of this series under the caption “Local leadership in villages”, published in the last April issue of ‘The Rural India.’ Workers specially seeking information and guidance on the subject of essential requirements of a village center would do well to read the two articles to-gether. It should be borne in mind that the right selection of a village unit for starting reconstruct ional activities is a question of primary importance and a worker should be well-posted about these initial pre-requisites. Lot of money and human energy has been wasted due to ignorance or wilful negligence of these essential conditions.
Discrimination is known to be better part of valour. It is as true on the field of battle as in deciding any other issue pertaining to human activity. Since, every available plot of land cannot be a fertile land for cultivation, nor does every cow a potential good mitch cow, every village in a like manner cannot be a suitable village centre, is obvious enough. Whether one may take Gurgaon of Mr. Brayne, Sevagram of Mahatma Gandhi, villages round about Shriniketan of Dr Tagore, Martandom of Dr. Spencer Hatch and numerous other less known centres in all parts of the country, one cannot fail to note the fact that each one of these centres seems to have been started by these pioneers without making any proper survey of the conditions obtaining in the localities. The result is that even after a dozen of years the work has not taken roots in the soil and it may be pardonable to say that none of these places can be taken to be ‘Models’ of rural development work today. The lesson is clear Enough that these activities had their birth in the humanitarian and altruistic intentions of the people from outside arid were not the remedies administered to cure the ills of a
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WHERE TO START A VILLAGE CENTRE?
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 202
patient after thorough and detailed diagnosis. It is no wonder that the treatment has failed to cure the malady and the agony of the suffering patient cnntinues.
But to he fair to these pioneers and early promoters of the movement, it must be admitted that mistakes like these are natural and excusable in the early stages of a new undertaking. Man starts with an idea under the impulse of inspired emotioi and the knowledge of difficulties, draw-backs and pitfalls dawns as a result of actual working. However wise, foresighted or prudent one may be, one cannot calculate all the details, intricacies and complications of an undertaking which future alone unfolds. Tn all what a man plans or undertakes to do, he is guided by precedent, record, experience, and the process of future evolution lies through mistakes and corrections. The evolutionary law governs all human conduct and even a pioneer is not an exception to it.
A living and progressive movement should have within it the means of timely correction, which unfortunately the rural reconstruction movement lacks. This is due to want of proper organisation and the absence of independent leadership to provide direction.
It is necessary in this connection to go back to the origin of village settlements in this country and to particularly note the feature that their growth and development has not followed any planned method under a central, local or State government. No government in the past have followed any policy regarding reshuffling or readjustment of This growing population into fresh selected areas providing more useful and economic activity. These units of population have sprung up and multiplied in all parts of the country on the basis of formation of community groups or in the interest of advancing communal or personal ambitions. Many of our village settlements have grown due to rivalry between parties or between the memhers of the family of headmen in the villages. Discontented party or individual deprived of share of power and privilege sought refuge by getting round a few families and setting up a new establishment at some suitable or unsuitable spot available in the neighbourhoo& Thus have come into existence our scattered village establishments in plains, hilly tracts,
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forest areas and in the midst of deserts, where practically nothing grows. The tiny village settlements all over the country mostly have there origin in individual interest or enterprise or vindication of personal honour, of course, the idea behind being the exclusive domination and exploitation of the new emigrants in the interest of a powerful individual or group. An individual or a small group living on the exploitation of the many round about can live in comfort at a place wanting in many natural facilities, the idea of ‘comfort and necessary amenities to the common man being just a later day development of thought. These small human habitations have more or less the same historical and psychological background as characterise the foundations of small principalities and kingdoms during mediaeva times and have in the same way imposed limitations on the higher development of common man. It is evident that with the increasing recognition of the rights and privileges of the common man there has ensued a conflict with the old values and a new adjustment is urgently called for. Hence, the necessity of reorganisation of villages as a part and parcel of entire fabric of national life.
The development of modern science annihilating time and distance and offering growing opportunities of human contact have necessitated change of old world values in most spheres of human life. The situation of a village on the top of a hill provided greater safety of life to the people in days of yore when there was so much danger to life round about but the same location has now turned into a disadvantage due to its being cut off from the facilities of communication, and therefore from cultural and progressive influences. There was a time that a place providing safety to life had a much greater value and people could afford to put up with certain other disadvantages. But with changed times those dangers being greatly minimised, if not altogether disappeared, the centre of gravity of community life has changed from self-preservation to expansion and development. This new change has necessitated the need of education, means of communication, economic development and the creation of business facilities with distant markets. Thus has broken the isolation of the village communities which they have been enjoying in their exclusion on the top of hills, in the forest areas, by the side of the river and the sea and in midst of deep deserts and
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brought them into the whirl-pool of competitive life represented by speed and wide combines.
That old time isolation of the villages has gone, probably never’ to return and with it have also gone old world values, The new conception of village reorganisation demands the basis of co-operation and consolidation of these scattered units in one comprehensive plan of national development. The new outlook demands that no human being, no matter where he lives, should remain without facilities of education and scope for the fuller development of life, Each unit of village community should be so well organised and administered through its own elected representatives, that it ensures progress and welfare of the community within its jurisdiction. Means of communication should reach the remotest village and the facilities of civilized life should be widely distributed.
It is to fulfill this new conception that the movement of Rural Reconstruction has been initiated of which the village centre is a primary working centre. It is greatly desirable that such a primary unit possesses certain favourable conditions regarding natural and otherwise facilities. Later on more and more villages may be grouped together.
As has already been emphasised in the course of this article, sufficient thought has not yet been given by the workers in the matter of proper selection of the centre, which neglect alone has been responsible for many of our failures in the programme of rural reconstruction. It should not be forgotten that most of our villages lack natural facilities for proper development of economic and educational life of the people. Disadvantages of bad location of the villages apart, there are communities whose occupational requirements have for generations past segregated them in areas away from human habitation and live their lives out of touch with the rest of the community. Certain wild tribes having their abodes in jungles, criminal tribes who lead a sort of nomadic existence and live on robbing and committing dacoities, Banjaras, Kheruas (Catechu makers) and many such other communities who mostly keep moving about from place to place are not the people to be made choice of to start the work of reconstruction. Villages composed of such communities have no chance of showing much improvement, which
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alone is possible in areas and among the communities where the process of development in one form or the other has already started as a result of working of natural factors.
To recapitulate what has been said in the foregoing, the worker should proceed on his work of selection of the centre on the basis of scientific survey of the natural situation and the conditions of the locality. It is only advisable to make choice of a centre at a place where progressive-minded local leadership is available. Good cultivable soil, pasture lands for cattle and facilities for irrigation are, of course, primary necessities of development for a village centre. Neighbourhood of a marketing town to sell agricultural commodities is certainly an advantage and is desirable. Proximity of a post office, a railway station and a mettled road should be there. The village area should also enjoy facilities of education as far as possible. And above all, it should be free from party factions and the dominating influence of the high caste people and the moneylender.
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By G. K. Puranik
(Articles published in August’1943 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
THE institution of Panchayat is as old as are village settlements of early Aryans in India. Social needs had driven the early settlers to create common bout) of interests and to safeguard them through common organization. The problems of welfare, social justice and administrative requirements of a growing community gradually evolved the institution of village government in the cour5e of centuries, the administration of which was entrusted to a council of elders of the village.
People gifted with feelings of common welfare, sagacity and balance of mind were looked up to as elders in the village and were approached by all classes and communities to take counsell and guidance. They were expected to run to the succor of the people in times of crisis and difficulty and to render impartial justice to the patties and individuals whenever such occasions arose. Of course, these decisions were final and were binding on the people concerned.
Following the division of the community into various small sections, each community followed the same tradition and formed a Panchayat of its own. Thus there were community Panchayats, village Panchayats and firka or Taluka Panchayats.to minister to the needs of the people and to promote their social advancement. It does not necessarily mean that a Panchayat should be composed of only five people as the word implies. The tradition has it that there is rio limitation imposed on numbers and a Panchayat may consist of any number of people, provided the members are wise and elderly people and are recognized -as leaders of the community. It is immaterial
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THE ORGANISATION AND FUNCTIONS OF “GRAM
PANCHAYAT,”
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whether these Panchas are elected or nominated according to modern conception and practice. These people merited recognition by virtue of their personal integrity, social position and mmanded implicit faith of and obedience from their fellow men.
The Panchayat model of village administration evolved and perfected in the course of ages ultimately became the form of government when big and small states came to be established in the country. With the growth of the institution of government, the Panchas were converted into public servants, and the positions that were honorary in the beginning turned into paid jobs. When, of course, the public duties became whole time engagements, the state or society made provision for the maintenance of the people either in cash or in kind. It is evident that the needs of public welfare and the growing demands of self-government or the community are the basis ci this institution of Panchayat and its original spirit could he maintained when those who are entrusted with the task of organizing it are solely actuated by motives of public service.
The Panchayat is a purely Indian institution and had its birth and growth in Indian soil. The development of Indian polity and sociology has been greatly influenced by the traditions founded by this institution; it has made its distinct contribution in the development of art and culture and in the growth of social and political traditions of the communists’. Having reached the zenith of its glory which registered the highest degree of social advancement of the people a period of decay set in and the drawbacks and imperfections not being rectified in time began to undermine the good work of the institution, long period of social security slackened the morals of the society and the positions which originally meant for social service were exploited by those occupying them as places of privilege to he made use for advancing personal interests in preference to the common good of the community.
The first drawback inherent in such an exclusive type of village institution was that it developed narrow outlook and local loyalties among the people to the extent of being Indifferent to the needs of the neighboring villages or the larger interests of the country. The villages enjoyed self-sufficiency and it was desirable, but at the same time the
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people grew indifferent to the demands of social obligations of the neighbourhood to share their surpluses with their neighbors in times of scarcity or famine. Some of the famines that devastated the country during the latter half of the last century which took such a heavy toll of human life stand no comparison with the extreme scarcity of food-stuffs the country is experiencing today. Had it not been for the transportation of food grains from surplus to deficit areas, which relieved the situation to an extent, the present times would have surpassed all previous records in their effect to make human life unbearable. But if the effect is not so severe, it is solely due to the exchangeability of food grains from one area to another.
This pattern of exclusiveness was reflected in other spheres of life as well and impeded the growth of larger community interests. If the people of a village were better equipped with arms, it is more probable than not, that they would not feel the responsibility of rendering help to the neighbouring areas in times of danger or when their neigh hour were attacked by dacoits. The same exclusive and narrow-minded mentality is responsible for the weakness of the states that they could not combine together to defend themselves against the hordes of enemies that invaded the country from time to time. The local outlook and narrow mentality bred in these village republics and small states made the people impervious to the larger needs of the nation, and what was an advantage to the unit, contributed to the weakness of national solidarity. While. Iherefore, these decentralized units of village republics prospered and grew in strength they rendered the position of the central government weak which could not for long defend itself against the might of the invading armies from outside the country.
It had its repercussions in undermining the growth of national life in its varied spheres. There could not develop any great system of co-ordination and combination between different states and peoples, which restricted the sphere of interchangeability and exchangeability of ideas and contacts. It affected the course of development of commerce and trade and narrowed down the sphere of sense of social responsibility among the people. This in its effect stunted the growth of men and killed their spirit for adventure and ambition. The times
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moved on, the pressure of advancing world conditions wanted necessary adjustment and improvement in the exclusive pattern of Panchayats to make them responsive to the new demands: This, of course not being done in time the old pattern grew rigid and failed to meet the needs of advancing times. With the decline of national solidarity and the loss of independ. Ence the system of Panchayat too suffered decay and the course of its future evolution came to a complete dead stop.
The Period of decay
In the course of centuries, these positions of leadership became hereditary and passed on from worthy fathers into the hands of unworthy sons. Eugenics does not warrant that wisdom and competency should pass on from generation to generation and a son of a capable father should necessarily inherit the virtues and qualities of his sire. The leadership that passed on into less capable or unworthy hands accelerated the process of degeneration of the institution and the Panchayats ceased to distribute even-handed justice and to ensure social advancement. Later on the people utilized these positions of leadership not for safeguarding the interest of the community but to sub serve their own per. sonal ambitions. Not till an institution is inherently corrupted that it collapses and loses its importance. The external causes are but retributory factors which crop up as Divine instrument to correct human errors. With foreign invasions and the establishment of big empires there grew closer contact between these isolated units of villages and the central government and the ideas and policies emanating from the top gradually permeated to these village administrative units.
As pointed out already with the establishment of big empires the natural evolution of Panchayats was stopped and the decay set in, which destructive process was ultimately completed with the establishment of centraused system of British administration and the development of means of communication, railways, telegraph, roads and the introduction of free foreign trade with India. There ensued a clash of interests between two unequals; the unorganized units of
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villages on one side and the organized might of foreign trade backed by imperial power on the other. The foundations of village administration were badly shaken. With the opening of foreign trade, there sprang up large towns and cities and the wealthy and the intellectual classes from the villages migrated to these neighbouring places in search of fresh field and adventure. As a consequence the villages were left out without leadership and the process of economic exploitation continued unchecked. The climax reached during the last economic depression when it was discovered that the Indian cultivator had completely lost his purchasing power and that something should immediately be done to save him from utter ruin. The whole of Indian economic structure seemed to be crumbling and the attention of the people and the government for the first time was drawn -to revive and improve the dying villages. There came into existence Rural Development Movement with village centers and village Panchayats as their nucleus.
Once again the pendulum of socio-political organization of the country has swung from centralization to decentralisation of which stablishment of village Pauchayat forms an important basis. Here again the programme of revival of Panchayats suffers from another serious defect in that these Panchayats are not the manifestations of sociological urge of the people from within, but which have come into existence as a result of external factors and in which nobody-not excluding the paid secretary-is genuinely interested. This sort of unnatural imposition does not promise to awaken responsive chord in the hearts of the people, whose improvement is sought to be achieved through the revival of this age-old institution. However the necessity of re- establishrhent of Panchayats is there without which revival of life in villages is not a practical possibility. This leads the worker to make a survey of the existing condition of village Panchayats in the country and see how improvement on the existing foundations, could be achieved. It is not writing on a clean slate as most people think, but will have to make a clean sweep of the destructive mentality of the people before anything new could be written on it.
Of course, there are Panchayats and Panchayats in every village but as such they are the positive instruments of evil and the cause of
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disintegration of society. Almost every community in villages has a Panchayat of its own and so is there a panchayat for every village and also for larger group of villages. Occasionally they are called to decide certain issues, or to give their decision on important problems concerning the village people. The very announcement of a Panchayat being called in a village is an ominous sign of some mischief being done or some innocent good fellow being victimized by the powerful gangsters of the society. Constituted, as the present village society is wealth and power have concentrated into the hands of destructive and mischief mongers whom day. in and day-out carry on their nefarious game of exploitation, persecution and the suppression of the weak in order to maintain their super. achy. With such social enemies as one finds the present leaders in villages nothing but destruction should result. They will only assemble when some one has to be ostracised and a big feast has to be extracted at his
Utter ruin. The onh’ function of the present day Panchayats is that they are the instruments in she hands of the evil-minded strong to torture, to brutalise and to scandalise the society and particularly its weak elements. The present day panchayats are doing immense harm to the society.
But there is nothing to be surprised at as to the unwanted outcorne of a once beneficent institution composed as it is of the wrong elements of the society. The spirit of service and the well-being of the people is entirely absent in these institutions, for it is absolutely wanting among those who constitute them. These Panchayats at their best only reflect the mentality of the people and until the mentality undergoes a change will different results be expected. Temperamentally constituted as these people are, it is beyond them to think along constructive lines and to devise ways and means to improve education, sanitation or to plan out the weifare of the village community.
And for attaining these destructive ends the powers thar these Panchayats enjoy are arbitrary to the extreme. The individual or the community whom they ostracise would not be allowed to eat, drink, or enjoy a Hukka-smoke with other village people. He will not he allowed to worship at the same temple and nor would his children be
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allowed to sit with other village children in the same school. He will be debarred from drawing water from the village well and from making purchases of his necessities of life from the village shopkeeper. No cowherd will tend his cattle and no barber in the village will shave his head. The washer-man will not take his clothes for laundry and he would be refused service even by the sweeper. Nobody from the village or from the neighbouring area would join in the marriage of an ostracised family and the tyranny is that the people would refuse attendance at the funeral of such people.
The lot of the people so ostracised is extremely hard and unbearable in a village. The persecuted people in majority of cases are ruined. There is no alternative for such people except that either they should submit to the unjust persecution of the Fanchas or quit the villages for good. It has been our personal experience that some of the people so persecuted have to lose their all. Sometime due to humiliation and the shock that they receive some people go mad and others in still extreme cases even commit suicide. The list of tyrannies being perpetrated by the present day Panchayats is inexhaustible and indescribable is the misery and suffering of the people who are being victimized in the villages of India.
The diseased mentality which is at work at these Panchayats is the result of the depressing political and social environment of the centuries and cannot be changed into a healthy one by the re-establishment of Panchayats at village centers under official orders as some may think. So long as the people composing Panchayat are saturated with evil intentions and lack feelings for social service, mere revival of Panchayats vill never bring about the reconstruction of village society.
The question is how such mental rnorphosis could be brought about among the village people. It is impossible to be achieved by legislation or through official orders. The people whose improvement is desired are the victims of diseased mentality and have to be cured. It will certainly be a long treatment, which constant educative propaganda alone is capable of doing and which the agency. Of constructive workers could only accomplish through long and
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sustained social service. Ft certainly depends on the type of social workers that we produce and supply for the reconstruction of the villages, which subject has already been dealt with in one of the previous issues of ‘The Rural India.’
The Functions of the Panchayat
As a representative institution of the village, the Panchayat comprises within it5 spheres of activities all functions connected with the moral and material advancement of the people. These have appeared as a part of ‘Living Wage Scheme’ of village reconstruction in April 1942 issue of this journal and will be found useful by practical workers,
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By G. K. Puranik
(Articles published in September’1943 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
THE entire life of the village community in all its various aspects has to be organised on co-operative basis if the resources of the countryside have to be developed to the maximum. The villages still maintain the same isolation of the old world and in matters professional, the agricultural masses carry on their exclusive type of existence unchanged for centuries. “Each one for himself” appears to be the general rule and the spirit of mutual helpfulness, co-operation or co-ordination is conspicuous by its absence.
Unlike business, government services and other learned professions in towns and cities, it is obvious, the agricultural industry and those who live on it in small villages have many disadvantages to suffer from. The scattered and isolated nature of the village population, absence of proper means of communication, want of planning, inspiration and expert guidance from the administrative authorities and last but not the least abysmal ignorance and depressed mental condition of the people themselves are mainly responsible for the disintegration of life in rural areas. Deplorable as the present condition of the village masses is, the causes that are responsible for it will have to be removed before the ground is prepared for co-operative and collective action.
The growth of modern Science and the advent of Industrial Revolution in the west which are primarily responsible for annihilating distance of time and place have also broken the isolation of men and forced on them the necessity of forming big combines of group organisations in order to safe-guard and advance their social, political and economic interests. To the village people who for ages
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VILLAGE COOPERATIVE ORGANISATIONS
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have been living a changeless life in this ever-changing world, the idea of effecting big combinations for purposes of self-advancement has but a very remote appeal and they are not quite up to it to grasp its underlying meaning. From the old world self-sufficiency, they were ushered in into modern competitive age of large scale production, economic exploitation, dumping of commodities at cheap prices and what not, which they found themselves quite unequal to face. Though greatly affected by the external forces created by modern conditions, they lack the broad perspective to combine together in order to meet the challenge of the age.
The introduction of co-operative method in village economy is a bit complicated affair to an educationally backward and undeveloped Indian villager who needs a good deal of education along the line to be able to understand its utility and significance. This pre-supposes, a fair standard of education and highly developed sense of enlightened self- interest in the community, which conditions are wholly absent in Indian Villages. On the contrary the actual life picture that one sees in rural areas is extremely hideous to look at and one should be prepared to get a shock to find just the reverse of co-operative spirit which is seen there in abundance. What one observes is the free play of wrong and despicable tendencies of mutual distrust, hatred and rivalry between individuals and groups of villagers, and the atmosphere is seething with enemity and discord The wrong psychology and antisocial behaviour of the villagers is the result of social, political and economic factors that have been in operation in this country for ages past and so far there .is. not much in evidence to show that concerted move on behalf of government or people has been set in motion to counteract these evil influences. The problem therefore is not of patchwork of small repairs here and there but that of creation of a new outlook and a new way of thinking and living. The people among whom this new outlook has to be created are all grown up ignorant villagers which renders the task of the workers all the more difficult.
It is no denying the fact that co-operation alone offers the best economic solution to the disorganised weak as our peasantry is to be able lo face the changed demands of a new economic age. Admittedly, the development of new outlook is a question of education, slow
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assimilation of ideas and the growth of moral character among the people, which programme in its early stages involves a good deal of waste and risk. For, the elimination of wrong habits of destructive nature and the formation of constructive habits of collective and cooperative working for the good of the community is yet a long and difficult part of the journey, the village masses are required to travel.
The bedrocks on which co-operative methods can rest and grow
into maturity are those of enlightened self-interest and the elevation of moral character among the people. The villagers who have been the victims of all sorts of exploitation and oppression for generations together cannot in their present stage of mental development look at things from broader standpoint. People, who have seen nothing but selfishness and deception in their every day life cannot easily be made to trust the same people to be doing justice and rendering selfless service to those whom they have so far been exploiting. Having seen human nature at its worst, where for all practical purposes society seem to have set a premium on selfishness, injustice and exploitation of the weak, it will be difficult to ask the people to believe in the sense of fairness, humanity, justice and fellow-feeling of their neighbours. And where in the face of such unfavourable conditions, some enthusiasts have tried co-operative experiments, the result has been either failure or frustration.
To be sure, the failure of co-operative movement in India is for the same reason mostly due to the absence of enlightened self-interest and want of moral character among the people. Apart from the question of uneducated villagers the vast majority of low grade officials of co-operative department have, I am afraid, no clear understanding of co-operative principles, what to say of their practical application in day-to-day dealings. If it comes to applying cooperative principles in their own every day life the number of officials and social workers who try to live up to these principles may be very small indeed. Students of human psychology know, “The letter killeth and the spirit giveth life.” The creation of spirit is not a question of propaganda and neither that of legislation but is the result of living inspiration provided by the personalities who foster it among those they come in contact with through their personal example and behaviour.
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As a consequence, in the absence of co-operative spirit, our co-operative credit societies have mostly degenerated into cheap credit supplying agencies which were taken advantage of by the needy people, but to which they never thought of returning their obligation by paying back the installments regularly and increasing the usefulness of the institution to those similarly placed. The lower grade officials of the department treated it to be one of the many departments of government, where they did not hesitate to introduce mal-practices to harass and to extract money from the people who ought to have been served better. If there were sense among the people that the money they borrow from the societies is a sacred public trust intended for the economic welfare of the society, “there would have been no heavy arrears accumulated and no frozen debts to be written off as is the case today. The same may be said of the officials, who if they were imbued with missionary zeal for alleviating the misery of the people the corruption and malpractices of which so much is heard in the department would not have been there. The deplorable state of affairs, as it exists in the working of department prove beyond doubt that cooperative spirit is not being grasped either by the junior officials or by the people connected with the societies and the most regrettable part of it is that rather than making it an instrument of economic betterment of the people each one is trying to use it as a convenient source of serving his own personal ends. This above all shows want of development of peoples’ mind, for it is difficult for poor and undeveloped people to look at things from impersonal and altruistic motives.
There have been numerous instances of well-meant enthusiasts both from official and non-official groups, who for a time success. fully conducted cooperative ventures in certain areas, which, with the removal of the guiding spirit from the scene of action went to rack and ruin leaving no trace of their good work behind. The societies were wound up and those who handled them in many instances, misappropriated the stocks of grain and seed-stores. These instances illustrate that sense of propriety of public funds or property and the understanding of the principle that an individual can better serve his interests by serving the interests of the community as a whole have not yet developed. On the other hand the mistakes notion is abroad
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that one’s interests are only safe so long as one is personally there to look after them but the moment they are entrusted to some one else other than himself, they are as good as gone.
It has already been pointed out earlier in this connection that the success of co-operative movement and the development of co-operative spirit mainly depends on the attainment of higher intellectual development by the masses and the elevation of national character as a whole. Nothing much is being done by the state or the society to adopt a vigorous policy to raise the intellectual level of the community by providing facilities of widespread education and by creating such opportunities to the people as may develop national character. Under the present circumstances, it seems, nothing much is possible till national government is established at the centre. But it does not necessarily follow that all efforts at self help and the creation of such institutions and organisation as may put a curb on the wrong tendencies of the masses and give them a chance to develop character and capacity be denied to them any longer.
Habits of collective and co-operative effort must in the very nature of things be necessarily slow and cooperative institutions provide the best training ground for the formation of such habits. A village Panchayat composed of all elements of society working together to administer the affairs of a village is itself a cooperative venture in administration. If worked in the right spirit, it offers the best chance for each individual member to rise above personal consideration and contribute his share for collect we advancement. Many of the welfare activities carried on by village Panchayats are collective efforts by their very nature wherein every member is expected to cooperate in improving village sanitations, village defence, construction of approach road, building village assembly hall, common school, a temple, a mosque and a public well etc, which all initiate people in co-operative working.
Even to-day when village Panchayats have mostly ceased to function as effective administrative units, many of these activities of public good are being carried on in the villages of India on the basis of voluntary services rendered by all classes of people at the instance
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of a Patel, a Zamindar or the Headman of the village. The only difference being that rather than a representative institution now guides them guided by the mandate of the Headman of the village. Some such activities of public utility are always there in villages during summer or at other periods of leisure when village people find themselves comparatively free from their agricultural operations. Many temples, chowpals, or chaories, small and big tanks, wells and a large number of fortifications all over the country are the results of voluntary labour rendered for common objects. Of course, this long established practice of voluntary service built up by centuries of traditions in villages is now mostly falling into disuse due to people’s increasing dependence on government for creating every possible facility for them and to the same extent increasing their own helplessness and losing their capacity for self-effort and self-dependence. The greatest tragedy of the present times is that the people are growing increasingly helpless and are losing faith in their own capacity while they have mistakenly developed exaggerated notions of Omnipotence in the capacity of the government to be able to do everything for them. The only possible antidote for this malady is to be found by investing people with more and still more responsibilities to manage the affairs of their village independently as of old without much interference from government. Undoubtedly, such a step is fraught with certain amount of risk, which should be taken by the government in order to provide opportunities to the people to come together and improve themselves by mutual cooperation and collective effort.
Such a training of voluntary service is an essential prelude to the development of moral character among the people, which should precede the investment of higher responsibilities demanding strict honesty, justice, fairness and above all balance of mind in public affairs. These responsibilities consist in successfully conducting cooperative credit societies, village banks, seed-stores, cooperative marketing, multi-purpose societies, livestock improvement on cooperative basis and cooperative farming. The institutions, which particularly aim at improving the economic side of people’s life, could only be utilised by the people when they have thoroughly grasped their underlying purpose and should only be introduced with proper
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discrimination and in such localities where conditions are ripe for such a start. The seed will only grow and bear fruit in a soil, which is properly cultivated and is ready to receive it.
The same way those, who are ready to take advantage of it, will alone derive the benefits of a good institution.
What particular economic activity could thrive in a locality will have to be decided by officials or social workers after detailed study of local conditions. The only consideration worth mentioning in this connection is that the process of introduction to be followed should be from simple to difficult and not vice versa. That which is easily understood and appreciated by villagers has much greater chance of success than any such project or institution the working of which they fail to understand.
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By G. K. Puranik
(Article published in October’1943 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
THE method of planned development of productive resources of the countryside has hardly been tried anywhere in this country. To the agriculturist masses of the country, it is altogether a novel idea, though it has successfully revolutionised the economic life of the people in some of the advanced countries of the west. The success of ‘Five Year Plan’ in Russia has attracted worldwide notice and since then, it has found universal acceptance as the best method for organised development of the people. It is the most scientific method ever discovered by the ingenuity of man to work up-systematic development of a people on a large scale. No wonder, both in war and peace ‘Planning’ has become the watch- word of the nations of the world. In modern age, there is hardly any other single word, which is so much in vogue as ‘Planning.’
But, there are certain essential requisites, which must precede before a plan of development can successfully operate in a country. A national state, an educated and enlightened people, and a highly capable and patriotic band of workers or officers should form the background of the success of a plan. It is no secret that the factors that constitute the background of the successful working of a plan are all practically absent in the case of our country and this makes one doubtful about the ultimate outcome of a plan.
The fundamental drawback this country suffers from is the absence of national state without whose drive and support the working of a plan is not a practical possibility. A foreign Government whose interests clash with those of the people here, in the very nature
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PLANNED DEVELOPMENT OF PRODUCTIVE RESOURCES
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of things, can never adopt a bold policy for the economic uplift of the people, which directly or indirectly may be prejudicial to its home interests. Our own people on the other hand are a wholly ignorant mass who seem to have lost self-confidence and faith in self-effort due to centuries of persecution and all-sided exploitation. Their illiteracy prevents them to maintain any record or statistics as to what they invest in and produce from the land, live-stock or other resources, and to keep themselves well-informed of the ever fluctuating prices in the market and also to organise themselves into guilds, societies or organisations for purposes of large scale production, sale or financial equipment.
These handicaps, though very real, would have been partly overcome and a way for improvement created, had it been possible to command the services of a large army of patriotic workers who would have taken up the constructive programme of the country with missionary zeal. The unfortunate fact is that the type of workers available, in large majority of cases, is an undeveloped set of people who are themselves struggling to solve their own problem of bread and have neither higher call or motive in taking up their job nor have any confidence in themselves to effect economic reconstruction of the masses entrusted to their charge. It is impossible to inspire confidence in the people when the same is wanting in the constructive workers themselves. Such is the dismal situation and a wholly unfavourable background when the country is shaken by an unparalleled food crisis causing destitution and death by starvation to thousands in Bengal and other parts and thereby throwing a challenge to the constructive genius of the country to adopt an intensive plan of food production and save its population from starvation and death.
Necessity of Food Planning
The only silver lining in the darkest horizon is that the people and the Indian Government have for the first time been shaken from their self-complacency and the shortage of quota of food to feed and
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keep the population alive has been admitted. The catastrophe of Bengal provides a living but a pathetic illustration of the extreme misery of the land under foreign rule and calls for emergence of higher specimen of constructive leadership to solve the difficult food problem. The ‘Grow More Food’ Campaign, and the programme of economic uplift of the people which were given cold shoulder and step motherly treatment by the Government till yesterday are the only programmes which can end the tragic drama of Bengal and must of necessity be taken up with all the intensity the Government and the people are capable of. The admitted shortage of 10 million tons of food in the country should be made good through regional planning of food production, if Bengal tragedy is to be averted in other deficit Provinces. This huge shortage of foodstuff which is practically 1/6th of the entire food production of the country is impossible to be made up by paper propaganda of ‘Grow More Food’ Campaign. It needs a comprehensive survey of the existing food resources and the detailed planning out of additional quota of food required, by increasing further sources through systematic exploitation of the existing and the fresh means of production. Bringing in more lands under the plough, intensifying production in those already under cultivation and giving proper facilities to the cultivators through timely supply of seed, manure, fertilisers and also guaranteeing remunerative prices for their produce are some of the measures found effective in increasing agricultural production in other countries. It is a pity that no such plan has either been prepared or put into operation by the Government and the uncertain furture has been left to take care of itself. Tragic as the Bengal calamity is, it was necessary too, to awaken the sense of realisation of the extreme miserable plight to which the masses in the country have been reduced. This by inference brings home to the people and the Government as well the limit to which the economic life of the people has been shattered and the absolute necessity of building it anew. Behind this fury of nature, the tempo of which has been greatly accentuated by the greed of man lies hidden the forces of construction which point out the urgent need of planning food production and imparting vigour and intensity to the programme of constructive nation-building.
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After all, India is just a part of this great universe and the natural forces that are bringing about the destruction of the old order of things in other lands through vast human carnage cannot leave Indian people unaffected. There, it is bloody war, which is destroying human life. Here it is war of hunger or to put it more explicitly ‘famine’ which is just another phase of the same instrument of destruction, the nature employs in taking its toll of human life. In essence, nature is working out its course of evolution through destruction to construction. And at such periods of change, this shaking up of humanity through bloody revolution, war or devastating famine is a prelude and a period of preparation to make human mind receptable to the new but revolutionary changes that are to follow in human affairs. This alone explains the catastrophe through which the world is passing today whether here or abroad. These are the pangs of birth of a New Order an order that promises highest social weal and welfare ever conceived by man.
The coming of New World Order which has stimulated International thought and given a new meaning to the political and social conceptions of the world promises much greater social security to all men in all lands. Distant though the ideal may be, the state and the society are increasingly feeling conscious of their sense of obligation to meet the basic needs of the common man. With all its limitations of applying fundamental principles in the case of India ‘ The Atlantic Charter’ and the Beveridge plan promise a much higher social weal to the people of the World. The heads of various nations both in the west and in the east are harping on the same tune and assuring the people of the world that the termination of the war will be a starting point to wage relentless war against human want, unemployment, illiteracy, injustice and exploitation.
The ‘International food Conference’ held at Verginia (U.S.A.) has placed definite plan before the Governments of the world to usher in the new world order on the basis of supplying nutritious food td the people of the world to implement their promise of making world free from want.
The vision of social security promised in the New Order as is being unfolded gradually has of course come to adopt fundamentally
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sound basis of supplying basic needs of human beings from the shortage of which the common man has been the sufferer from ages past. U.S. A. is the only country, which has taken a comprehensive survey of the basic requirements of its population according to health standard and has come to the conclusion that to meet such a demand, the food production on an average need be doubled. In order to meet this increased demand of food, it is estimated that the U. S. A. has decided to increase 40 millions more acre of food and feeding stuff crops. Similar increase in the production of food is planned for the United Kingdom and the projects are matured to double the produce. The New Order in short, envisages the absolute necessity of reorientation of agriculture and places the need of planning increased food production to meet the basic demands of common man, the world over. If so prosperous countries as U. S. A. and the United Kingdom suffer from shortage of food stuffs, what of we Indians ‘who know nothing but chronic starvation as our only fate We at least, need 4 to 5 times increase of foodstuffs to feed our population according to health standard prescribed.
Such a huge project of country-wide food production and bringing it to the level of the nutritional requirements of a population of 400 millions can neither be left to the individual option of farm cultivators, nor is hoped to be accomplished on the basis of vague propaganda of ‘Grow More Food’ Campaign started by the Government. The past attitude of the Government in matters of welfare of the people of this country does not inspire hope that it will impart vigour and earnestness to the programme of food production in future. This only adds to the immensity of task of constructive leaders of the country.
Independent of what the Government may do and without waiting for the establishment of the national state, preparation of an All India Plan of food production is the absolute need of the situation. Of course, such a plan could only be conceived in harmony with the International policy of food production. The peculiar situation of the country where there exists mutual distrust between the people and the Government has also to be taken into account, A national plan has the only chance of finding public support here and the Government
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support too will not for long be denied to such a measure of extreme public utility.
All India National Food Council
For a country-wide undertaking of this nature, there should come into being an All India body for food production, consisting of the constructive minded leaders and such other elements of the country as may subscribe to the idea of increasing food production to bring it to the level of satisfying the basic needs of the entire population on health basis. This ‘All India Food Council’ should exercise functions of advisory as well as executive body operating through a large number of separate commodity Boards, for example food- grains milk and milk produce, fruits, vegetables, meat etc. Producers, distributors, consumers must represent these Commodity Boards and such other classes of people as are associated with food production and sale business. Of course, this body must be supplied with necessary funds both by the public and the Government to carry on its multifarious activities. The ‘All India Council’ should have its branches in the provinces and states and also in the districts with similar functions. As at the centre so in Provinces, States, Districts and Talukas the local branches of the council should function through the Commodity Boards set up. The Council should have executive powers to appoint its own staff of officers and workers to carry on its numerous functions. At the farthest end of the chain there should function Councils and Boards in each village or group of villages under the supervision of the food production officer or agent. And these officers and workers should be thoroughly capable people selected after proper discrimination and equipped with necessary training to ensure satisfactory working of the plan.
The Functions of Food Councils and Commodity Boards
The ‘National Council of Food Production’ should have for its primary function the increase of supplies of food commodities sufficient to meet the needs of every body according to health
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standard and also that these essential commodities should be available within the purchasing power of every man, The ‘Commodity Boards’ should on the other hand ensure a steady market to the producer and should arrange to offer remunerative prices to him in order to stimulate increased production. They should also be responsible for sale transactions of the commodities and should regulate prices at such a level as the poorest in the land can afford to pay. Maintenance of proper balance of prices of commodities at both producing and consuming ends favourable both to the producer and consumer is the difficult task these bodies would be required to discharge. For, without guaranteeing favourable prices to both these classes of people, it is not possible to raise the national supply of food to the peak, as is conceived of these bodies. In a contributed article in the International Labour Review, Sir John Boyd Orr, an eminent British economist, has strongly pleaded the case of the peasant and land worker in the interest of social justice which in his opinion, is the real foundation of economic security in the world: —
“But the workers who produce the food deserve as high a standard of living as the workers in industry who consume it, and capital invested in agriculture deserves the same return as capital invested in urban industries. The poverty of the peasant and land worker has for long been a social injustice, and the cow purchasing power of the primary producer a weakness of the economic system. An agricultural nutrition policy must provide not only a guaranteed market it must also provide a guaranteed price at a level which will provide reasonable remuneration to the land worker. Indeed, that is the lowest price which will call forth the great volume of additional food needed.”
That is the crux of the problem.
Educating Public Opinion
The immensity of the task is staggering enough and is rendered more difficult in this country due to extremely small units of production and the appalling ignorance of the producing cultivator. In
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a country where no agricultural statistics are maintained, the planning of food production for a whole nation is bound to be the most laborious task ever undertaken by the best brains of a nation. A stage of chronic starvation and death as is revealed by the pathetic plight of Bengal is sufficiently indicative of the grim future with which Indian nation is faced. However difficult and elaborate this planning process may be, this alone is the sure method for the scientific approach of the food problem. Need it be emphasised that the success of such a gigantic plan mainly rests on the support of well-informed public. Widespread and educative propaganda to bring home to the classes as well as to the masses, the urgent need of national food policy is the ‘Sine qua non’ of the success of the ‘Food Plan’.
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By G. K, Puranik
(Articles published in November’1943 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
INDIAN village life has been a changeless existence for centuries together and the life habits of the people hardened by never- ending drudgery of lifeless routine admit of no easy change. The mode of living and working as it is coming down for generations past is their only unchangeable pattern and it is no easy job for a worker to introduce innovation. The absence of education, poor development of intellect, exclusive type of existence cut off from the rest of the world, want of contact with the wider world and its progressive influences have all tended to make Indian village life a frog-in-the-well existence. An environment surcharged with degeneration and depressing influences and remained untouched by upsurge of life is not the place easily susceptible for improvement. Placed in such surroundings a village worker finds himself generally lost and rather than being able to enlist people’s co-operation for improvement gets himself bored of his own existence.
The Indian villager and particularly the agriculturist is known to have long periods of idleness during working year when he finds nothing much useful to do and which without doubt is a huge waste of national energy to be mobilised for national development. This period of idle waste is roughly calculated to be between 3 to 6 months and varies from place to place according to facilities or disadvantages of climatic and other local conditions. Of late, there is a growing recognition of the fact that in order to increase national wealth and per capita income of the population supplementary avocations such as cloth production’ blanket, rope or mat-making, plying bullock. carts on hire or earning extra wages through manual labour should be
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INTENSIVE PROGRAMME OF WORK
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attempted in certain limited spheres. But that is just a drop in the ocean and the problem of utilising this idle waste of national energy in productive pursuits on a nation-wide scale, remains as untackled today as before.
Much improvement is possible in the methods of agriculture and other field operations as well which with proper adjustment and the introduction of co-operative and collective methods of work are bound to give better economic return to the people. There is nothing like intelligent and discriminate use of time and energy in what is known to be the period of employment of the cultivator which if working methods are improved would enormously add to national wealth. As compared with the average income of the cultivator or labourer in the U.K. and the United States, the income of our farmer or labourer is hardly 1/15th or 1/20th, which is proof positive of the amount of energy unintelligently and wastefully employed. Let there be no illusion that the people who enjoy better things of life in other parts of the world are the favoured ones of God and that w& people have been condemned to wretchedness and miserable existence for no fault of ours. Evidently, poverty and low income of our people is no curse of God but the result of poor and unintelligent application of energy in work. As a result of educative and progressive measures adopted by the people and the Governments of the present day advanced countries, they could, by stages improve the educational, economic and political condition of the people and same is possible in our case with similar efforts.
Mobilisation of national energy for economic development of the people on a large scale can only be done by a national state, but its back-ground in small and scattered units of villages has to be prepared by social and village workers. The tradition of co-operative and collective service for common good coming down from the early days of the growth of village republics in this country once again calls for revival. Numerous tanks, wells, dams, chowpals, punchayatghars, rest houses and temples all over the countryside have -been built by the common labour of the villagers themselves and they have unitedly contributed their share of labour and money for their creation. Village life in this country has developed on the basis of self-reliance and no
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outside agency has taken any special care for its growth. The element of co-operative and collective concern for common welfare and improvement was always there in villages from the earliest days which rather than being developed in recent times, has been greatly smothered due to the introduction of centralised system of administration from distance The renaissance of rural community life pre-supposes revival of such traditions, and practices as may encourage collective effort for self-development.
During the months of May and June in summer and at certain other idle periods, time mostly hangs heavy on the village people and they know not how best to make use of it. In the absence of more useful and productive employment, it is generally wasted in going about to attend certain fairs, community panchayats, marriages, or yatras (pilgrimages) or in fruitless gossiping and Hukka-smoking on chowpals. Lately, here and there efforts are started by some college and school students in different parts of the country to educate the villagers during this slack season. Social workers have also tried to provide employment to the people during this idle time through intensive programme of khadi production and that of other handicrafts. These subsidiary occupations, of course, do provide some employment, to a limited number of people, but the income derived from these is not much attractive to arouse sufficient enthusiasm.
To the mass of agricultural population in villages, nothing is likely to make so permanent a contribution for the development o their economic life as the creation and development of irrigational facilities. That is the one source which if sufficiently developed is capable of adding 100% more income from the land to the cultivator which no subsidiary occupation can possibly yield. For various reasons and mote particularly due to high water tax the Government charges on irrigated lands, the spirit of private enterprise for treating these facilities has practically died out and people have started depending on Government for their creation. A student of rural economy and a worker in a rural area should know that the basic factor for developing economic life of the agriculturist is to provide sufficient facilities for irrigation. In good old days of village community administration, people used to employ their idle time in
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digging wells and tanks and bunding small rivers nearby. This tradition should be revived and an intensive programme of cooperative and voluntary well or tank digging or bunding a river be organised through village panchayats making use of collective labours of the people for common good. With old relic of the tradition still lingering in villages, it will not be difficult to bring about its revival and give it a more vigorous and useful direction.
Facilities of easy means of communication and bringing in the villages within easy approach to the centres of trade, business education and culture is just another important demand of modern times which should be provided for every village. If Government is to lay out roads to 15/2 lakh scattered villages one does not know the masses may have to wait for ages and to that extent the pace of progress of the countryside will have to remain necessarily slow. In order to quicken this process and to raise the economic and cultural life of the countryside, each village with a Panchayat should organise road construction programme during such periods, on the basis of voluntary labour of the people and get itself connected with a metalled road nearby, That is another important programme of village improvement which should be taken up during the idle time of the villagers.
Special programmes for the development of cottage industries and the liquidation of illiteracy have already been referred to and be intensified during slack seasons. Each rural area has its own special problems, such as, bunding of fields in hilly tracts and that of afforestation or plantation of trees for fuel in the plains and similar other requirements be taken up. This sort of work, besides energising the life of the people and developing in them habits of collective and cooperative service for common weal would also be creative of permanent improvement in village life itself. That is a tonic to inject life among the villagers and should form a part of intensive programme of village improvement.
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By G. K. Puranik
(Articles published in December’1943 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
PROPER guidance and timely supervision are known to be the keynote of any good administration. They are all the more necessary in the case of working out a new scheme of mass development of which people in general have no clear conception. A programme of rural reconstruction with its multifarious phases of development can hardly be left out in immature or in the hands of routine workers, who could not be expected to visualise the possibilities of the movement and to work up solutions of the complex problems facing the producing masses. Left to himself, an average rural worker is sure to be confounded by the complexities of the problems and the cold response of the rural environment. The movement, therefore, needs an expert planning and executive machinery of workers or officers in every small or big unit of a province or state to plan out development of every item of programme in advance for a year, to evolve methods and systems to work out the programme, to lay down methods of checking, supervision and timely improvement and last but not the least to tally the progress achieved with the plans laid out and to suggest corrections and improvements in methods and procedure of work for future adoption. The success of rural development programme mainly depends on the guidance and the driving machinery at the centre, which should form the “Brain Trust” of the movement.
Then, as every administrator and leader of men knows that average mind of man is generally static and not dynamic and elastic, which puts limitations on the possibilities of man for progressive adaptation. ‘With exceptions here and there, which only prove the rule, human nature as such is conservative to the core. Rather than remaining wide awake and vigilant, discarding that which ha outlived its utility or proved harmful and injurious and substituting with or
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EXPERT GUIDANCE AND SUPERVISION
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adopting that which is good and useful, human nature in general is prone to persist in a formed rut, not even making a serious effort to get out of it. Ask a teacher of old school of thought if boys could be taught and disciplined without resorting to corporal punishment and you will not have to wait for long to get his emphatic reply in the negative. Put him in a school, where corporal punishment is stopped and the teacher is bound to be a failure. The real trouble is, that man starts in this life with certain limitations placed by heredity and environment, which shape his entire vision of life and give a pattern to him, which he hardly outgrows during his earthly existence. Added to it is another factor of inherent indolence of human nature, which inclines a man for easy life and taking things in a routine way.
A progressive movement of rural reconstruction should guard against these limitations in its early infancy and maintain its progressive and dynamic character. During the three definite stages of experiments at our rural reconstruction centres, we have found out that a set of workers habituated to a particular routine of work were found to be incapable of working out a new method when introduced. At every new turn, the old set of workers had to be dropped out and the new one had to be engaged. Recently, with the introduction of planning method for economic improvement of the villages, we were sadly disillusioned to find out that the old set of workers found themselves incapable to grasp and work out the scheme. For, they had their conception of welfare nature of village work and found it difficult to execute a dynamic plan of economic improvement when introduced. These experiences in the practical working of the scheme insist on forming strong ‘Brain Trust’ of the movement, which should see that the working conforms to the plans laid out.
To put it in a. concrete way, there should be a planning committee consisting of specialists at the centre of every unit of administration, which besides preparing plans should also evolve methods and practices to facilitate practical work. The working of these plans should be checked in the light of the results 0btained during a year, at, the end of which the methods of work may be revised, improved or altered as may be shown by the experience. This planning committee should be charged with the responsibility that the
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principles for which the movement stands are put into effect and judged by actual results.
Complementary to it should be an executive branch of the work. These workers should spend major portion of their time, say about 20 days in a month to check the progress of the work at the working centres. Unlike other inspecting staff, they should not remain content with the inspection of work done already but should teach by their own example a better way of doing every time they visit centres and thus raise the quality and standard of work. The rot and decay that creeps into the work could only be avoided by maintaining ever progressive standards through the example set by the supervising staff, The criterion of judging satisfactory work of this staff should be to show 75% successful work of the plans laid out during a year. And the two branches, the planning and the executive should work and supplement each other in perfect harmony and coordination.
The spirit of healthy competition between different centres of work as also between different groups of villagers and field workers should be fostered through proper appreciation and suitable encouragement by monetary awards and promotions in the event of showing really good work. In this world, things grow by competition and not in isolation. The greatest curse of our village life is that it is a stagnant pool without any incentive to create stir in its frozen waters In order to grow more, man is required to put in more energy, and healthy spirit of rivalry is a great incentive for the application of greater energy. The supervising staff while on a visit of inspection should foster this spirit of competition at the rural working centres.
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By G. K. Puranik
(Article Published in Janary&February’1944 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
WE, of the Adarsh Seva Sangha are under great obligation
to you for your coming down to grace this opening ceremony of the Rural Workers’ Training College in response to the invitation of the Sangha. May you in your magnanimity of heart bless this infant ‘Training College’ that it may develop into a full-fledged Rural University of the future and send forth generations of missionaries for constructive nation-building, who should work up the programme of national reconstruction in the real sense of the word and make a definite contribution in solving the most baffling problem of hunger and poverty of the producing masses of the country.
Demand of Time and Place
When venturing on an undertaking of this magnitude the basic consideration, which deserves foremost thought in this connection is to take into account the necessity of time and place.
The fact admits of no doubt that the end of the present war will leave its bad legacy of an almost devastated world and there will be desolation and ruin writ large in economic, political and social spheres of life the world over. Those of us who will survive this human carnage will have to reconstruct a new world over the ruins the present war. The post-war period will therefore, be a period of glorious reconstruction all over the world and so in India, There may or may not be any definite outcome of this war; but that it
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THE MISSION OF A RURAL UNIVERSITY
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has created a desire for change in the present order of things in the minds of the thinking section of humanity, can hardly be doubted. For the lasting peace of the world, the humanity seems to be awakened to the causes inherent in the present social order based on inequality, injustice and exploitation of man by man and which denies happy human existence to the common man. The ends of social justice demand that such an order should be changed giving place to one having for its basis justice and equality of opportunities to the lowliest in the land to grow to his fullest stature in social scales. The succession of wars at long and short intervals is itself a proof of the fact that foreign-matter has been allowed to accumulate in the body of humanity and the nature has been obliged to carry out a purging process through strong surgical operation. This inevitable change of the old social order, which has long outlived its utility, is the result of the working of natural forces of the world. Times such as these make a demand on the statesmanship of a nation to have a clear vision of the future and formulate plans for re-building a new social structure.
To day, the most pressing proposition before the world is the difficult task of postwar re-construction. Some of the advanced countries of the world are busy framing gigantic plans of post-war re-construction. With the advantage of independent action which free nations of the world command, they have not only matured post-war plans in advance and worked out their details but have also taken steps to put their schemes into operation. The well-known Atlantic Charter, the Beveridge social security plan for Britain, the four points of Mr. Churchill and the decisions and recommendations of the International Food Conference held at Virginia (U. S. A.) have all prepared a back-ground for a New Social Order which should do justice to the common man in the interest of future peace of the world. The new order as is being envisaged should make provision for nutritious food and adequate clothing to every human being in the world; there should be facilities provided for his educational and cultural development; he should have open opportunities for suitable employment; should enjoy freedom of opinion in matters political and religious and be free to choose and establish the form of Government which serves his and the interests of his people best. Such a social order is the enchanting dream of the future and people all over the
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world are devising ways and means to turn this sweet dream into a practical reality.
In one of his recent statements, Sir Sri Ram, the great industrialist of Delhi, has very correctly stated the truth when he said, “This country has never before seen construction and therefore the question of economic reconstruction has hardly any meaning to our people.” For centuries together. India has seen nothing but destruction and exploitation in every phase of social life. The process of destruction and exploitation going on unchecked generation after generation has, it is no wonder, sown the seeds of mutual jealousy, hatred, animosity, and a host of other harmful and destructive tendencies among the people. For doing injury to others, people will count no sacrifice in time, money and energy. But if there is an occasion of doing well to their fellow men, thee would shrink back as if ‘bolt from the blue’ has fallen. The people seem to have lost the sense of exercising and making use of their gifts and energies in beneficent and constructive ways. In matters of social welfare and national interests, the indifference shown by the people is proverbial and they seem to consider it an unnecessary waste of their time, money and energy if spent in doing a good turn to others. Wrong and perverted tendencies found among our people have already rendered the task of national reconstruction sufficiently complicated and difficult. The attitude of the sovereign power, which guides the destiny of the country rather than being helpful, is either that of indifference or of unfavourableness, which further complicates the process of national reconstruction.
All thoughtful sections of people hold the opinion that despite disappointing conditions all around and reactionary attitude of powers that be, things in this country will not remain uninfluenced with the progressive forces of the world. For, however mighty the opposing or reactionary forces may be, nothing in this world can possibly check the evolutionary process of the New Order.
That is the rock basis of the working of world forces on which the programme of national re-construction stands. The Central Government, the Provincial Governments, and some of the prominent
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Indian States have already set up post war re-construction departments and committees in their respective areas. Though in name’s sake, some sort of beginning in the direction of development is noticeable. It is, of course, too much to expect the Government to change its age- long tradition of indifference to nation building and adopt a vigorous drive instead. But all these factors point out the direction to which the wind is blowing. Those of us who believe in the coming of new social order owe a duty to this country to clear the fog of unreality surrounding the programme of national re-construction.
Some time ago, the National Planning Committee set up by the Congress bad very clearly set forth the objective of such planning and has made it the first charge on the National Government to raise the productive capacity of the country from three to four times in the course of 10 to 15 years and to see to it that the elementary demands of health-giving food and clothing are supplied to all people living in this country. The experts hold that if a National Government with its full force and driving capacity sets out to work up a ‘Five Year Plan’ on the lines of Russia and develops all possible resources of the country in land, livestock, forests and minerals to the maximum, it is quite possible to raise the economic level of the people to the standards set up. No matter, whether to day or tomorrow, the complicated economic situation of the country is not possible of solution unless some such vigorous steps are taken for national rehabilitation. ‘Pens of thousands of people ii not lakhs have perished for want of food in Bengal and certain other parts of the country which proves beyond doubt that the masses have completely lost their purchasing power and the programme of national development can brook of no more delay.
The greatest stumbling block in the way of constructive nation building is the non-availability of right type of constructive workers. The difficulty and novelty of this programme above everything else demands a completely reconstructed mental pattern of its workers. Here and there a few institutions of elementary nature impart training in cottage industries and rudimentary knowledge of the working of a Rural Reconstruction Centre The mental development of the class of
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people who are drawn to receive this training and the nature of training which they receive do not qualify them to be classed as efficient constructive workers.
Taking into consideration the uphill task of national reconstruction, Indian nation needs a much higher type of constructive workers. Besides natural aptitude and educational equipment, these people should necessarily have developed self-confidence through practical training at a rural development centre to be able to improve the economic resources of the countryside and thus be confident of redeeming poverty and misery of the villagers. Such workers should, of course, be of self-sacrificing and missionary spirit and command the respect of the people for high moral character and attainments. So long as people of high calibre are not coming forth to take up the task of constructive nation building, the great work of reconstruction is not going to be an unqualified success that it should be.
The Rural Workers’ Training College which is being opened to-day is in answer to the clear demand of the time and the country and it is hoped will supply the right type of constructive workers needed for national reconstruction.
Why at Pohri?
It remains to be seen whether Pohri of all places can be a suitable place for starting such an educational enterprise. Looking to the disadvantages of the place that are apparent enough and taking into consideration political and geographical conditions of the locality, it is difficult to say that Pohri alone has the claim for starting such an All-India institution.
The notion is abroad that an Indian State is not the best place for starting an All-India institution or the activities of this nature and there has hardly been any exception to this rule to remove this widely prevailing prejudice. If such is the attitude of the people in general about an Indian State, a Jagir of an Indian State can hardly find any support for pioneering such an enterprise. During my recent visit to
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Flyderabad, one sympathetic official friend pressed upon me the idea of starting such an institution somewhere near Bombay in British India. For, people of one Indian State will not as a rule is willing to accept the claim of or to take advantage of such an institution, if started in another Indian State. The prejudice is comparatively much deeper in British India, where people without giving any thought will easily dismiss the All-India claim of an institution if started in an Indian State. Then a place like Pohri, situated in the interior of Central India, 20 miles away from the nearest railway station and lacking in the modern means of communications cannot claim to be a suitable place for an Alt-India institution. A bus service, which used to ply between Pohri and Shivpuri, has been notified to be stopped with effect from the New Year’s Day-the 1st of January 1944. All these disadvantages do not justify Pohri’s claim for starting an institution of this nature.
However, the considerations that weigh in favour of this place are of deeper import and proceed from the inner regions of feelings of those who are pioneering this enterprise. Evidently, a big town or a city or a suburban village in the neighbourhood of these cannot be considered to be a suitable place for establishing a Rural College or a Rural University. To be in harmony with its name and the mission it stands to serve, an institution of this nature can only have an ideal setting in the midst of typical rural surroundings with all those attending disadvantages associated with village life in India. And of course, Pohri can claim to be such a village with all these disadvantages.
Then, Pohri is a place of inspiration, being the birth place of the Adarsh Seva Sangha where the Sangha has during the last 23 years of its existence tried to make numerous experiments in the sphere of constructive nation building, it has through Adarsh Vidyalaya done pioneer work in spreading literacy in rural areas, brought about revival of and given impetus to the cottage industries through Gram Kala Mandir (the Cottage Industries Institute), raised the economic level and effected all-round development of the rural masses by conducting a number of rural development centres, identified itself with the movement of Rural Reconstruction by publishing the journal ‘The Rural India’ from Bombay and made numerous other experiments to advance the cause of constructive nation-building. It is
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here that the Sangha has tasted both the sweet and the bitter fruits of success and failure in the course of its varied experiments during these many years.
It is again here that the Sangha had the most staggering experience of having seen human nature at its lowest, which refuses to look at the world from any other stand-point except that of its own narrow self, would have no interest in anything if it does not sub serve that selfish interest, and would feel perfectly unconcerned about social or national responsibilities. A humanity that does not feel called upon to stand up for national honour and would rather like to keep itself away from progressive and elevating influences of the world, and a place which has given these soul-stirring experiences of life and revealed the degradation of human nature to its lowest depth should not be deprived of the working of educative and cultural influences. That would be the admission of defeat and the recognition of victory of wrong over the right. As it so often happens in human affairs that the lock is sometimes opened by the last key in the bunch, who knows, if all our old difficulties and complexities of the situation may be resolved in the luminous light of this Rural University.
And a place where regular crusade against the forces of destruction has gone on for nearly 25 years is not a post, which should be abandoned without securing final victory in the contest.
The natural law is that a flowering tree should spread its sweet
fragrance in the neighbourhood before its flowers are picked up to adorn distant objects. When time comes it should again go back to the dust from which it once emerged to shed its sweetness around, The fact that the Sangha at the moment is not aware of any more suitable place to be made choice of for starting this institution further lends weight to the claim of Pohri, which provides such inspiring associations covering a long period of about 25 years
. Specialities of the institution
A perusal of the printed prospectus of the Training College will
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convey the idea that it is intended to be a unique institution of its kind in the country. It primarily aims to discover the latent constructive faculties among young men and women of the country and will adopt methods and systems for their proper development and useful employment along constructive nation-building channels. This institution does not believe in academic training. It on the other hand believes that every human being is born with certain faculties, inborn tendencies and peculiarities of temperament and these born-gifts alone could best be developed through a course of systematic training. No training college in the world would ever produce an efficient constructive worker out of one, who is not born with those faculties. An inspiring drama could hardly be staged without a good hero to act. This institution will therefore try to discover constructive talent wherever found and will try to develop those faculties through suitable training within its portals.
The very foundation of New World Order is based on the spirit of service as against that of personal profit. It is no secret that such people as are actuated by the purest motive of service to others are very few and far between in our country. This change or sublimation of human tendency from self-seeking to the service of humanity is the most difficult part of training, which this institution should impart. Such a sublime development is only possible in such of those as are born with that germ of unselfishness in them. People with such noble instincts will only be rare is obvious enough, It is no use getting together a large congregation of heterogeneous element and put up a big show of an institution, which would never satisfy the conscience of one who has a mission to fulfill. These being the limitations, it is only natural that this institution can only have a small beginning and it should be so.
Economic development of the masses through planned method is quite a novel experiment in this country. The experiment has yet to he tried to a success on a large scale. Such being the case, it is only natural that the masses as well as the constructive workers suffer for want of self-confidence, which can only be the growth of practical experience. The faculty, which has not found scope for exercise in a disciplined way in the very nature of things, will remain dwarfed and
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undeveloped. A people who have not learnt to employ their time and energy for the attainment of a definite objective within a specified period must of necessity pass through a process of self-discipline and training in order to be efficient, and such a process, of course, demands a good deal of time and labour.
This institution will have bias for the development of practical side of life over that of academic in its scheme of training. A student under training will be required to devote 4 out of S hours of daily routine in farm work, dairy farm or practical training in cottage industries. And it is aimed that he should try to make himself self -supporting on the basis of this practical work in one or the other of these productive industries.
Similarly, when working at a rural development centre, a student will be required to execute a planned programme of economic development of the area and make himself self-supporting on the basis of 1/10th share drawn from the additional income of the people increased through his efforts during the period of his work. To put it in nutshell, this institution does not believe in classroom teaching method and has designed a practical type of training in constructive nation building. It will carry researches into various productive resources of the country and will tackle the issues that will crop up from time to time in the development of this programme. It wills he a Central Training Institute, which should produce the best type of constructive workers for the country.
Need it be said that the present disturbed times are not quite propitious for an educational venture of this kind. All the same one’s duty to one’s mission enjoins that the fight once started should be carried on under all adverse circumstance and if need be, one should die fighting at one’s post of duty. In the great epic of Mahabharat, Arjun had two solemn vows taken, which read, ‘Neither to submit to the enemy and nor to run away from the battlefront’. Each one of us is under national obligation to keep aloft the torch of nation building. With these words, I request Raj Rajendra Shrimant Shitole Sahib,
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under whose benevolent patronage the Adarsh Seva Sangha has been able to carry on various experiments in the field of constructive nation-building during the last 23 years to declare the Rural Workers’ Training College open.
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By G. K. Puranik
(Article Published in March’1944 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
A vital question, often discussed in connection with the
working of rural development scheme and on which opinion among official and non-official workers seems to be sharply divided is the question of coordination of nation-building departments. In the official machinery constituted to work up the programme of rural reconstruction in British Indian provinces and States, the nation-building departments of agriculture, co-operation, public health, veterinary, forest, trade and industries are being represented by their heads to form executive bodies generally called Boards. These provincial or state Boards have their branches in districts and Talukas functioning on the same model. The Governor of a province, the Collector of a district, or the Minister of development in a state is the ex-officio Chairman of these boards. It is to be regretted that this official machinery designed for the development of the masses has failed to give a good account of itself and an arrangement which looked sound in theory turned out to be a failure in practical working.
The real cause for this want of interest in and sympathy for national development found among government officials is to be traced to the traditional wrong tone of the alien system of administration. The officials’ so long as they are a part of a system, which is averse to the ideas of national development, can only manifest the spirit, which they imbibe and show active sympathy in such public activities alone as do not involve any risk to their official position. The opinion of so eminent an authority as Sir Manual B. Nanavati, who has been an official all his life throws much light on this vexed question: —
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COORDINATION OF NATION-BUILDING DEPARTMENTS
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“The present system is not capable of hearing the burdens of the new constructive policy that must be taken in hand after the war. There is too much red tape, corruption and aloofness on the part of the present bureaucracy to enable them to put into effect the larger view of the State as a social service agency for an all-round economic development. The villager today is reluctant to receive advice or help from the officials and it has been found difficult to work the various rural reconstruction schemes of the provincial governments just because of this fact. The village officials such as the Patel have lost contact with the people. They are no real leaders in the villages and the so-called leaders are just money-lenders or others interested in catering for Government officials and creating on them a good impression for their own benefit, but taking no interest in the work of the village as a corporate body.”
Unless the form of government changes root and branch, it is futile to expect change in the spirit of administration from top to bottom for which appeals are being made time and again. Optimism demands that people should insist on hoping even in the face of no hope, but there is a limit when one should also face disagreeable realities. Pattern whether that of an individual or of a system once formed hardly changes. It can only be replaced by a different pattern, which may be in harmony with the spirit of new ideas and conceptions. A system, which taboos national outlook and the development of spirit of social service among its officials and trains them up in red-tapism, aloofness and departmental mentality obviously disqualifies them to discharge the duties of national reconstruction. Mr. Gopinath Shrivastav, the ex-secretary of Rural Development Department, U. P. has some time ago pointed out the drawbacks of this coordination of government departments, which opinion coming as it does from one having an intimate knowledge of the inner working of machinery is worthy of serious attention: —
“Then there was the absence of domestic adaptation as between one department and another. In the name of autonomy, departments do not and are not expected to see any thing beyond their nose. Such departmental myopia leads, and actually did lead, to collective
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blindness. The defects of each multiplied at the cost of the separate good. The agricultural department did not understand the need of co-operation of the entire village as a unit, and the co-operative department, quid pro quo only thought of providing credit to the villagers when they could not sell their products. Similarly Public Health, Veterinary, each department vent its way. The Government tried to blend these activities by the ideal of common endeavour and common good. Hut the red tape, the departmental mind and bureaucratic habits stood in the way. It seemed that intentions had no incidence upon the customary.”
The war and the developments that have followed in the international situation have in common with the rest of the world completely changed the outlook in this country and the programme of rural reconstruction has now become a part of the great scheme of post-war economic reconstruction. This changing concept has for the moment set all previous methods of work aside and compelled thinking from an entirely new angle of vision. The end of the war will, it is expected, bring about the establishment of national government in this country and with it is bound to he a definite change in the tone of entire administration and therefore in the mentality of the official class as well.
These impending changes increase the responsibility of the public agencies and social workers engaged in nation-building to prepare the ground for corporate working among village masses who constitute the stable element in this constructive programme. Cooperation of all classes of people, which rural community life so sadly lacks and without which no development whatsoever is possible, has to be developed by all possible means. This self-help programme need not wait the advent of national government. And if this is accomplished the masses will be able to improve themselves on the basis of self-help as they used to do in the past without waiting for the coordination of and help from the government departments.
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By G. K.Puranik
(Article Published in April’1944 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
THE basic conception of Rural Development Movement has for its origin the attainment of self-sufficiency in rural areas and the provision of subsistence economic level to the producing masses in the country. The factors, which have brought about the present disastrous economic situation and the ways and means to rehabilitate the same, have been considered in the foregoing chapters. An attempt will be made in the present discussion to suggest an outline of working, which may ensure economic self-supporting basis to the movement, which it aims to attain.
However difficult and seemingly utopian it may look to the present day official mind, it will be nothing short of defeating the very purpose of the movement to make Rural Development one more department of the state and let it function as so many others do on non-productive and uneconomic has is as seems to be the attitude at the moment The right attitude and a sound state policy would be to insist on running this movement on strict economically self-supporting basis from start to finish and not to look upon it as something of a charitable concern, expenditure on which should be regarded as so much wastage of state revenue. Popular apprehensions are that like so many other nation-building departments of the state, i.e. Agriculture, Cooperation and Industries which in order to justify their public utility ought to have been administered on self-supporting and economically profitable basis, this renaissant movement too may degenerate into one more department of unproductive expenditure. That will be disastrous.
In order to make the working of nation building departments to
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PRODUCTIVE AND SELF-SUPPORTING BASIS
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be in harmony with their ultimate objective and to serve as an incentive and spur to the raiyots to adopt these improved ways, the state should’ have adopted the policy to administer them on profitable basis. How else the poor masses, who have no means to waste money over these experiments are to copy the extravagant ways of these departments, when they know for certain that the so called improved methods advertised by the state are so much waste of public money and do not pay their own way. If a large number of Co-operative Societies are being brought under liquidation or wound up year after year and the movement as such is being looked upon as more or less a failure, if almost every agriculture or cattle breeding farm maintained by the state is being run at a heavy financial loss and the department of industries is known to be a dead-weight on the finances of the state, these wasteful examples rather than demonstrating their utility and providing attraction to the raiyot forbid them to copy such methods. The present lines on which rural development department is being conducted in provinces and states do justify popular fear that no better fate is in store for this new creation and it is likely to go the way the other nation building departments have gone before it. That such an ill- fate may not overtake this great movement, we feel like sounding a warning and strongly urge upon those who are responsible for guiding its policy at the centre as also pleading with the field workers at village centres to adopt economic self-supporting basis for its working, no matter how difficult it may seem.
For purposes of administrative efficiency the smallest unit of rural development work should be a village unit consisting of a village or a ‘group of villages with ‘a population of about two thousand souls. Taking the average population of an Indian village at 400, a rural centre should consist of about 4 to 5 villages to be served by one worker or an officer getting a monthly allowance of Rs. 25 or so. The items of expenditure being the salary of the worker amounting to Rs. 300 a year on an average plus half of this sum, say, Rs. 150 for the maintenance of office and establishment and another equal amount of Rs. 150 to be provided as a contribution for the expenses of the central administration, we have a rough idea of the annual expenditure at a village centre. Now in order to make this unit self- supporting a centre should create an additional income of Rs. 600 out
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of the increased productive capacity of the people. The proportion of expenditure being 50% in salary or allowance, 25% over office and establishment and the remaining 25% as a contribution for the maintenance of provincial or central administration.
To be economically self-supporting, a rural centre should be capable of meeting this additional expenditure of Rs. 600. This amount should in no case be a burden on the already very poor finances of raiyots but a share out of the additional income created as a result of increased productive capacity of the people. If 2,000 people of an area with an average income of Rs. 30 per head per annum are capable of adding 10% more to their earnings as a result of adopting better ways and methods of production with the help and creative guidance of the worker, they, thereby add a fresh aggregate sum of Rs. 6,000 to the total wealth of the area and 1/10th share of this additional income which is Rs. 600 may reasonably be apportioned as a remunerative share for the constructive nation-building services of the centre. With proper husbanding of economic resources lying unexploited in land, livestock and cottage industries, it is not impassible to effect this 10% increase in the low level of income o the masses. ‘Wherever systematic and sustained efforts have been made, the results have been satisfactory. At our own reconstruction centres the income of the people of the area has increased by about 150% over the original level and 40% of the aggregate debts have been paid up in the course of 5 years. Experts are ‘of opinion that with scientist development of potential resources, the economic life of our people is capable of being developed 3 to 4 times over the present level. If there be no such possibility the schemes of planned economic development which are seriously engaging the attention of the Government and the: people in this country have not’ much meaning. Taking into consideration the avert age per capita income in United Kingdom and U. S. A. the poor Indian hardly gets 1/15th and 1/20th part of what his brother worker earns in these countries.
All the same, even this modest’ increase of 10% in the level of income of the masses may not be possible of being attained if those
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who are responsible to work up this programme are not charged with a clear mandate of showing a good economic return over the investments made in nation-building departments. Such a definite state policy and clear mandate alone will awaken the workers and officers to the necessity of looking at this constructive programme from a self-supporting point-of-view. Constituted as human nature is, it will always prefer an easy and safety-first passage and would avoid paying difficult price which constructive enterprise of this nature demands. Not till the workers are forced to work up this programme on productive and self-supporting basis will they bring into play their reserve energies. How else are they to feel the necessity of placing themselves in a position of equality with the producing masses and strive to develop the productive resources of the area? Here, as everywhere else, an ounce of example is better than a ton of precept.
Another important feature, which is not to be lost sight of in this connection, is the decentralised nature of rural development work. With all conceivable plans of cooperative and collective farming, 4airying and co-operative methods: advised for the promotion and development of cottage industries with which one finds the air thick these-days, it is doubtful, f, these methods are likely to come in universal adoption in the near feature and it appears, for a longtime to come, agriculture and cottage industries in, this country will continue to have a scattered and, decentralised existence. Whatever may be the ultimate outcome of, large scale planning and one such plan of Rs. 10,000 crores is already there before the country, the progress of such a scheme is conditioned by a number of unforeseen developments such as the establishment of ‘National Government, facilities of large scale finances and the availability of trained personnel. These conditions are all problematic and again depend for their fulfillment on a number of unforeseeable factors. It still remains to be seen whether these centralized plans will, in their effect, leave sufficient scope for the development of local initiative in the village people, which is more important. Like a huge centralised machinery of administration functioning in a far off place these centralized schemes may improve the economic condition of the masses, hut whether they will develop self-help and self-initiative in them is more than what one can say just now one way or the other.
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By G. K. Puranik
(Article Published in May’1944 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
SOME 12 years ago, while trying to overcome a shock caused by certain unwanted happenings in public life, it came to me as a revelation that this country will have its days of national ascendancy with the beginning of the Third Millennium of the Vikrami Era, which happily begins today. Since then, the idea has given me cheer and inspiration and I have come to believe it as a ‘Gospel Truth’, though it may be nothing more than mere superstition. To day, I am glad to share that feeling of optimism with you and to ask you to join with me to have a peep into the future and to see what splendid opportunities it opens to the people of this country. The very thought that we have come out of the dark jungle into the open field of sun-shine and that our future will be as bright as dark had been our past is certainly a cheering prospect.
We, together with China, have been the early pioneers to give message of civilization to the world. Our present fallen condition stands in shocking contrast to the resplendent glory, which was ours at one time. No people are perhaps so fallen as we Indians and Chinese, who had at one time adorned the place of pride as leaders of civilization. It is to our utter shame and deep regret that almost the entire period of the last one thousand years, corresponding to the Second Millennium of the Vikrami Era has been a period of downfall and degeneration in all spheres of national life. To day there is not a place under the sun, where we Indians are respected and counted for anything much among the
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THE MESSAGE OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM OF THE VIKRAMI
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people of the world, A country like America, which unquestionably stands for moral leadership of the world to-day had no qualms of conscience to see this country vilified before the eyes of the world by the writings of one of its daughters, I mean Miss Mayo. But when it came to doing a good turn through the visit of Mr. Wendell Willkie, India was excluded from the recent round-the-world study-tour. That so sympathetic an ambassador of the cause of the Asiatic people should be officially prohibited to visit and report about the state of affairs of this ancient land of 400 millions shows the scant regard the world has for our people. That is the extreme limit to which we have fallen during the last one thousand years, which period closes with this Second Millennium. It is for us to reverse this process and start an upward climb once again. -As practical people we should know that the spirit of the time is in our favour and we should make the best use of it for our national advancement.
It will be of advantage at this stage to refresh our memories with a passing glance at the historical, social and political conditions as were prevailing in this country at the end of the first Millennium of this Era and as they stand to day and anticipate the shape of things to come in national and international spheres in the future. For, future can mostly be predicted on the right study and analysis of the present.
Historical Retrospect
Towards the close of the first Millennium of the Vikrami Era as is recorded by history, this country was rich and prosperous and was ruled by indigenous rulers. There were many principalities and kingdoms and it was a self- governed country. Each small or big kingdom or principality had supreme power within its territory and there was no Sovereign Power to exercise control over him or her. These small kingdoms were mostly on warring terms among themselves and there was no strong Central power to preserve national solidarity. Gupta and Mourya Empires had long ceased to exist. Delhi or Indraprastha as it was called then was the seat of Imperial power and was ruled by Chouhan Raiputs, but it was not a Sovereign State in the modern sense of the term. Or, the nearest kingdom of Kannoj could not have dared to challenge its might. In
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short, that was an age of feudalism and small warring principalities with no centralised supreme power c3pable of defending itself against a determined foreign invasion. Each kingdom stood for itself and there was absence of coordination or unity in the face of common danger for which probably a necessity may not have been realised then by those small independent rulers. The wealth of the country naturally attracted invasions from outside and as could be expected the disunited kingdoms could not put up strong resistance for long and succumbed one after the other.
In Social sphere it was a period of stagnation, rather the beginning of decay and degeneration. Power of Brahmanism was supreme and the ritualism had taken the place of religion. The community was divided into numerous castes and sub-castes and also among those called untouchables restricting thereby the sphere of social solidarity and intercourse. Both politically and socially it was a period of disintegration and division and the absence of strong cementing and uniting factor in the life of the community. Then, there was nothing in the country like the fire or the new message found among the New Crusaders of Islam or the deathless passion of adventure and expansion, which marked the rise of European nations during the fifteenth and the sixteenth century. The signs of decay had already appeared on the surface and the country was torn by mutual rivalries and internecine wars. And so, no sooner the invasions froth outside started, kingdom after kingdom succumbed and the disintegrated social and political structure fell to pieces. What followed is a dark chapter of Indian history and is well known to an average student.
Towards World Federation
The distinct political developments that are shaping the future of the world towards the close of the second Millennium are those of creating a ‘World-state’. National State is an anachronism in these times and a source of disturbance of world peace, which should only be allowed to function under international or world federation of people and within prescribed limits. Small principalities and kingdoms
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though exist even to day, they have ceased to have a future of their own and carry no weight in the counsels of war or peace. The world is not yet free from the curse of war and at the moment we are passing through the greatest war ever recorded in history. But this war too is not a war between small principalities or rulers but a Global war fought in all lands and by all nations of the earth. If there is to be peace after this, as it must, that too would be a peace on world basis and it will not be within the power of a single nation to disturb it.
Scientific developments and the speediest means of communications have made the world so small that once widely scattered countries are now our next-door neighbours. It is practically impossible for any people in the world to maintain an isolated national existence. As science progresses this interrelationship and inter-dependence of the people of the world will be all the more closer arid what effects one must also effect other peoples of the globe. No problem, not that of war or peace, but of food or of raw materials can be solved on a national basis except on the basis of international cooperation. The present war has broken the barriers of national state and made the world conscious of inter-national federation. There is a growing conviction that humanity as a whole is one and injustice or oppression inflicted in any part injures the moral basis of the whole. In much the same way improvements or developments started in any sector inevitably create their own repercussions in howsoever small a degree in other parts of the world.
Such being the conditions, man is driven by the growing world forces to start thinking on a world basis. And the isolated national states should merge into a world cooperative federation.
Awakening in Asia and India
With a historical background such as that, it should not be difficult to visualise the shape of things in a future world. There are widespread signs of awakening all over Asia as also in our own country. What is more reassuring for the future peace of the world is the growing sense of justice and fair-play noticed among western nations to do justice to the Asiatic people, who have been victims of
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their exploitation and oppression for centuries past. The difference between East and West shows signs of being resolved into one common humanity and all people no matter to which clime, country, colour or creed they belong to be being assured of elementary needs of human existence and equality of opportunities for development. Reading the future in the light of the present day world conditions and with my own faith in the future destiny of our country in the third Millennium of the Vikrami Era it will be nothing short of dereliction on our part of duty not to have the faith accompanied with appropriate action according to our lights. They say, ‘Live your life according to your light’, and so different people may act in different ways in the light of their own faith and professions of life and all may serve the same common end through their respective contributions. National construction and more particularly the economic development of the producing masses being an article of faith with we constructive workers, no other day would have been more auspicious to launch the long awaited ‘Living Wage Experiment’ than the first day of this third Millennium Saturday the 25th of March 1944-which heralds the beginning of a new and glorious age for our country. Has not Lord Krishna ordained one and all to worship the Creator through their own natural path of duty in the immortal words of Gita: — LodeZ.kk reH;P;Z flf)a founfr ekuo% AA
“From whom is the evolution of all beings, by whom all this is pervaded, worshipping Him with his own duty, a man attains perfection.”
The Claim of Common-man
Those who are here to-day, probably know that Pohri, this small area to which we belong, definitely stands for the cause of constructive nation-building, Some of you are also aware that the post-war period is bound to be a great age of world-wide reconstruction including our own country. The Five, Ten and Fifteen Year Plans involving huge expenditure are under preparation here as well as in other countries and the question of ‘Freedom from Want’ to
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the common-man is claiming the most serious attention of the best brains of the world as it probably never did before in the whole history of mankind. That is the future destiny of man to which the forces of the world are driving and our country too will have to play an important part in this grand scheme of world reconstruction. Our task is rendered comparatively more difficult due to absence of National Government, which alone is competent enough to execute big plans and to evoke enthusiasm and cooperation from the people. With part of the village masses, it is due to their not being able to realise the benefits that will accrue to them as a result of many plans and programmes initiated for their development. This educative background needs to be prepared and efficient propaganda machinery should find a prominent place in our programme of rural reconstruction. Thoughts and ideas must be developed before they start setting human machinery into action. It has been an obsession with me for quite a long time that those of us who profess to be constructive national workers should not live on public funds or charities. Those who are out to create new and additional stock of wealth in the country do not justify their profession when they live on public charities as most of us do. To he obliged to receive public donations for constructive work is something, which offends and humiliates me beyond measure. The sight of a big charity purse is a dread and a nightmare with me and I feel like acting against my basic conceptions and professions when accepting it. To live and feed us on the poor earning of the already impoverished producing class in the country without creating an additional wealth ought to be something against the grain of constructive national workers. Such workers could only justify their mission by creating fresh sources of wealth for their maintenance without in any way being a burden on the scanty resources of the poor villagers. Had not the war and the unstable economic conditions created as a result thereof restricted the scope of this seemingly revolutionary experiment it would not have been impossible to demonstrate its practicability at our village centres. However, this is an ideal to which all constructive workers should aspire for and make steady progress towards it.
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History provides instances of some of the Muslim Rulers of this country, who besides discharging their onerous duties as Sovereigns and Emperors, found time to earn their bread with the labours of their own hands. During such hours of labour set apart for earning their own living, they would not even use a state lamp but their own oil, which they would have purchased with their own privately earned money. They used to write books, did embroidery work, made caps, etc., and earned their extra money through personal labour. For their person, they would not touch the state money; and how this example of being self-supporting would have added to their moral stature could easily - be imagined. If emperors with the responsibilities of a whole empire could, apart from the state duties, find time to earn their independent living by working with their own hands, how much more incumbent it is on we, the professed creators of national wealth, to work and maintain ourselves on newly created wealth and what an excellent example of self-help it would be for the masses round about to draw their inspiration from us.
Dare to Live
The Global war and its ramifications have awakened the people of the world to a sense of injustice under which the mankind suffers and the necessity of establishing the future world order on principles of justice and fair- play. Speaking particularly for India, I believe, that the beginning of this third Millennium of Vikrami Era has a definite message of hope and good cheer to the common masses of this land that they have their days of plenty and prosperity before them. As descendants of the Great ‘Vikramaditya’ the memory of whose magnificent deeds we commemorate through countrywide celebrations at the close of second Millennium of his Era, it behaves us is to make our own small contributions of the deeds of courage and enterprise at this dawn of the New Age and add fresh glory to the name of the great departed and to the land to which he had left his undying memory. May the spirit of the great Vikram guide us to noble deeds of courage and sacrifice in the glorious age that is ahead!
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By G. K. Puranik
(Article Published in May’1944 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
IN the course of the ‘Living Wage Scheme we have proceeded on the assumption that it is based on the decentralised development of economic sources in individual or groups of villages where it is to operate, depending on the exploitation of undeveloped local resources and the mobilisation of local man-power. Self-help and corporate working of the villagers is conceived to be the basis of this scheme, which in the absence of National Government and adequate financial support from Government sources can alone be the surest method of people’s development. Finance has been known to be the camp follower of human endeavour in a creative and progressive cause. Commodities and services are the real economic capital of a nation and money is subservient to it. At the best it is a means of mobilising the internal resources of the country in material and manpower, which can operate without this measuring rod if people are sufficiently inspired by a vision or an ideal.
The scope of this scheme being decentralised working in groups or scattered villages with varying degrees of development, and resources in men and material, it is not possible to give out detailed figures of financial requirements. Responsible workers after making proper survey of local conditions and the availability of resources in men and material can best fix up their financial demands and also find out means of meeting them.
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FINANCE
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By G. K. Puranik
(Article Published in July’1944 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
The many items of development discussed in the course of The Living wage Scheme are the result of practical experiments made at improving conditions in rural areas, now for a quarter of a century. The measures suggested hire in has been tried in successfully tackling educational, economic, and social problems in villages. The final solution of the poverty, and the intolerable living conditions in the rural areas will only come with the advent of the National Government. Therefore, the efforts at reconstruction of the countryside as are being made by Government and public agencies at the present, are merely the perpetration of the ground with their obvious limitations and too inadequate resources at their disposal and should be treated as such.
The scheme offers practical guidance it such 50cm4 workers and Government officials as are engaged in constructive nation building work in the country. The urgency of economic reconstruction of the producing masses and increasing the productive capacity of the country has been admitted for more than one reason. There is already shortage of food for 5 crore population in the country and the vast majority is the victim of chronic starvation and mal-nutrition. Food tragedy in Bengal and the famine conditions prevailing in many other parts of the country have made the problem of increasing the food production absolutely imperative. it cannot wait the advent of the National Government and should be tackled by the existing administrations and such public agencies as feel themselves competent to do the job. And this is a job that will have to be done in
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CONCLUSIONS OF THE LIVING WAGE SCHEME
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the absence of State drive and initiative and also in the absence of facilities, financial and otherwise as the state alone can command.
The provision of elementary amenities of human life such as food, clothing, shelter, health and education are the inalienable rights of every citizen and should be provided by the State. These amenities, of course, are calculated to be supplied in rural areas with an average income of Rs. 5/— per capita per month or with an income of l’s 300/— per family of 5 people per year on pre-war level of prices. To calculate the present abnormal standard of prices, these averages should he multiplied by three, i. e., Rs. 15/—ought to be per capita monthly income, while the income for a family should stand at Rs. 900/- a year to ensure a fair economic standard. The All—India average income per head in rural areas being Rs. 22/- a year the productive capacity of the masses has to be increased by 3 times to ensure freedom from want. With an intensive programme of improving the productive resources of the country as laid down in the scheme, the Living Wage standard, could be ensured to the people in the course of the next IS or 20 years.
In the absence of the State drive, the pivot on which the scheme rests for its success is the creation of-an order of efficient constructive workers. Human effort based upon patriotism and enlightened self-interest is accepted to be the basis of this reconstructional programme. A great deal, therefore, depends on the missionary zeal and the organizing capacity of the workers that could be trained and dispatched for village service.
That these services may not become mercenary and that those who join them are actuated by higher motive of national uplift, it has been laid down, in the scheme that these workers should draw for their maintenance 1/10th share out of the additional income of the area under their charge. They are primarily charged with the responsibility of increasing national wealth and setting their own example of living themslve5 on the additional wealth produced a result of their efforts at improving economic resources of the area. This should serve as an incentive and a constant spur to develop their creative and ‘constructive faculties. The Scheme above all places man
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first and money afterwards. ‘ In the peculiar situation, in which our country is placed, the dependable basis for development can only be the self— effort of the people and the patriotic zeal of the workers.
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By G. K. Puranik
(Article Published in October’1944 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
ONE of the serious drawbacks from which all our plans suffer, and which fact, it seems, has not received sufficient attention at the hands of the majority of the planners, is to frame their plans without taking into account the available sources of national wealth as a basis of future development. The eminent authors seem to raise grand super-structure of post-war development in India in disregard of the present economic sources of the country, the very foundation on which they are required to build. The basic data of national wealth on the basis of which alone the possibilities of future development can safely be forecasted is not being accepted as a starting point, which reduces these plans more or less into works of speculation. Unlike metaphysics, planning is a twin sister of mathematical science and rests on the accuracy of data and unassailability of facts for calculation.
The time-honored excuse of the absence of reliable data being offered by the authors does not make their position any the less untenable, when plans of far-reaching character, revolutionising the life of the entire people are in the course of making. A skilled architect cannot afford to neglect the material required to lay the foundation of the building he is out to construct. The absolute necessity of the basic data cannot be ignored at a time when gigantic plans for post-war development are in the course of being framed. The absence of a basic requirement cannot be an excuse to overlook or ignore it. The only logical course is to create it. Slight variation from actual facts, wrong calculation or misconception is likely to produce tremendous difference in the results expected and the targets fixed. It is, therefore, in the best interest of the future economic development of the country itself that our plans are based on accurate statistics of available resources.
42
STATISTICAL BASIS OF ECONOMIC PLANNING
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In the absence of convincing basic data for calculation, it is no wonder if there exists wide divergence of opinion between the framers of different plans regarding the scope and development of an industry and one knows not whom to believe. Taking agriculture, the main industry of the country for our illustration, the People’s Plan aims to increase the agricultural production by 400% in the course of the next 10 years, the Industrialists’ Plan by 130% in 15 years and the Government Plan or to put it more correctly the plan prepared by the Imperial Council of Agricultural research by only 50% in 15 years at a capital outlay of about the same amount of money. The Government agricultural experts hold the view that soil conditions in India do not warrant putting higher target than 50% increase over the present agricultural production and there exist no possibilities beyond that. The difference between the target figures of agricultural production put by the Government experts and those by the framers of the people’s plan is of 800% and is easily perplexing to an average man. Obviously, the two target figures put by the eminent authors cannot be accepted as correct and this bewildering difference of opinion on a single issue rather than being helpful confuses an average reader.
No doubt, preliminary geological survey of the country is a laborious and expensive job and can successfully be undertaken only by the Government. Whatever the nature of the agency the State or public the fact stands that no agency is competent enough to frame a sound plan of national development without properly assessing the existing resources within the country.
Regional Survey
Ours is a vast country with a wide variety of natural, climatic, and soil conditions to admit fixing any uniform standard of production Natural factors being wide apart from region to region effecting productive capacity of land and animal, regional survey alone can help in arriving at more or less correct estimates. Besides natural factors, differences in potentiality and capacity between man and animal sources of different regions have also to be taken into
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account. Obviously, a sturdy Punjabi peasant is capable of putting in more energy for productive purposes than his brother from the South or the East. And a Delhi buffalo or a Hariana Cow is capable of yielding many times more supply of milk than her sister from any other part of the country. To arrive at conclusions by merely counting heads, figures of acreage, or heads of cattle and to draw out averages without properly assessing the native potentiality of human, animal and soil conditions of different regions is absolutely unreliable and misleading. Variations, natural and climatic, and the potentialities pregnant in each area have to be properly assessed before arriving at correct estimates. Thorough and accurate regional survey can furnish accurate idea of production on the basis of which alone target figures of production should be fixed.
Accurate Data
This accurate statistical information is an essential preliminary in the preparation of plan of development. Survey and Statistics should form an important branch of National Planning and this section should be well-staffed and equipped. The present government too has in its possession quite a lot of information collected in its various offices but this data cannot be relied upon for obvious reasons. The objectives with which the government collected the statistics were different from what a fresh survey is intended to produce; In doing so the officials were mostly guided by the Governments’ point of view and the consideration as to what brings more revenue to the coffers of the government. Naturally, it suited the interests of the government servants to assign higher productive capacity to the poor yielding soil and effect classification of land on such considerations. What holds true in the case of land is equally true about irrigational facilities, the charging of higher rate of assessment being the sole desideratum. The official hierarchy in Survey and Settlement Departments manipulated things in their own way, which is a recurring cause of so much oppression and exploitation of the poor.
Numerous tanks and wells found in many places are no more than dry pools or dug-outs and contain practically no water for irrigating the lands, yet the poor cultivators are made to pay extra
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irrigational cess. Similar reasons debar the use of information obtainable from Government sources and a fresh survey is called for. This survey should be undertaken from a peasant and labourer’s point of view and the statistics so collected in each area should contain reliable data for reference.
The Drawbacks of the Present Plans
Of course, no standard All-India plan has yet emerged and those that have come to light are either sectional or merely outlines of a plan. From a careful perusal of these, it appears, the authors seem to have concerned mostly with the fixing of the target figures of production and the capital investments required to that end. Even for purposes of capital investment no plan has yet been able to indicate probable sources from where requisite finances will be forthcoming. The whole thing favours of speculative business if not also of unreality. With a foreign Government sitting at the helm of affairs and with no previous record of national development to its credit, one cannot feel optimistic about the success of these otherwise well-intentioned plans.
Apart from major drawbacks of the absence of National Government and the paucity of funs in this poor country, there are a number of minor defects that need be removed in formulating plans in future. They are:
1. Lack of basic data of our existing national resources; 2. Provision of and emphasis on the selection and training of efficient personnel and
3. The Problem of equitable distribution of increased wealth.
This short article is intended to draw out the attention of those engaged in planning in our country not to overlook the basic data from their calculations in future. The two other omissions, viz., the problem of personnel and the distribution of national wealth will, it is hoped, be dealt with in some succeeding issues. All we mean to correct is the wrong impression that these plans inadvertently carry
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about them is that ‘Mammon’ holds the place of pride and the authors seem to believe that given necessary funds the plans are as good as completed. This is a wholly erroneous impression if it is and must no longer be entertained by the people. There are other more important factors than money in the successful completion of great projects. It is man. And most things in this world depend or man’s capacity to accomplish them.
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!
By G. K. Puranik
(Article published in February 1945 in The Rural India Bombay)
The need hardly say, how greatly I value the I opportunity of meeting this noble fraternity of rural and constructive workers from Maharashtra and to be able to preside over the deliberations of your ‘Gram Seva Sammelan’. Being born and bred in a village and shared the privations and sufferings of an average villager’s life not excluding stark hunger and starvation and also having taken up the mission of servingthevillagesin life, it was spontaneous on my part to have come down from far away Gwalior in response to your kind invitation to participate in this gathering of fellow rural workers for exchange of views and experiences, Let it be our endeavour in these deliberations to take stock of our past experiences and to shape and mould future plans and policies regarding our work in villages in the light of changing world conditions and the preparation of gigantic post-war development plans in the country.
Ever since the Adarsh Seva Sangha has started its branch office in Bombay and commenced the publication of ‘ THE RURAL INDIA’ in 1938, now seven years, I was keenly feeling the necessity of an institution or organisation which may bring together such elements in the city as are interested in improving life and conditions in the countryside and carry educative propaganda on rural and allied problems through regular meetings, talks and lectures. Rural Life Movement is comparatively an infant movement the world over and so in our own country. The people who once migrate to the cities in search of adventure and riches soon forget their original Being the Presidential address delivered by the editor while presiding over the gram Seva Sammelan held in Bombay on the 2nd January, 1945
The Role of Constructive Worker in Post-War National Construction
43
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homes and parental stock in villages creating thereby an unbridgeable gulf between toiling rural masses and affluent urban classes. National interest demands that the entire chain of country’s man and material power be strengthened and to that end there should exist feelings of closer contact and mutual reciprocity between rural and urban population. Therefore, the need of educative propaganda among the city people to constantly remind them that they owe a duty to their less fortunate brothers and sisters left behind in villages is both imperative and urgent.
Sometime back, I came to know of this Association through its moving spirit and Secretary Mr. Parvate and started building my hopes that this Association of yours may some day be a nucleus for creating rural-mindedness among the citizens of Bombay. In a cosmopolitan and enlightened city like Bombay, where countless institutions, associations and bodies exist and work for disseminating knowledge of various subjects and problems under the Sun, I know of no institution which stands to educate the Bombay Citizens on the needs and requirements of 90 % population living a sub human life in the villages, which needs to be helped and helped immediately.
This want of interest of the city people in the problems that concern the country—side was particularly brought home to me by an incidence of my attending the third of the series of lectures on ‘Bombay Plan’, delivered by the Editor of the Hindu of Madras, sometime back in the Sunderabai Hall, under the Presidentship of Sir Manual B. Namarari, our honoured guest this afternoon. There were hardly 25 to 30 people attending the learned lecture on problems of agricultural recoristruc Bein the Presidential address delivered by the editor while presiding over the Gram Seva Sammelan held it Bombay on the 20th January, 1945 of the country and it was nothing short of a shock to me to have discovered a couple of the people in the audience giving rest to their tired nerves in the course of the lecture, proving thereby their indifference to the subject of food production in the country, the dearth of which has caused Bengal tragedy and grave famine con— ditions in Bijapur and certain other districts of this Province. It made me scratch my head and I realised more than ever the utter necessity of constant rural propaganda in this city. I thought
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it a good opportunity to have received your invitation to preside over this function and to place before the members of your association the utter necessity of rural propaganda among the citizens of Bombay in order to divert the stream of their sympathy and riches to water the arid tracts of life lying waste and devastated in the country-side.
From the reports that have just been read out by the Secretary and other field workers in the mofussil areas, it is clear that the Society and its workers at the village centres in the districts of Poona, Thana, Colaba, Kolhapur and Sangli States have done useful social service to the people of those areas, in a variety of ways by alleviating the distress of famine stricken people through arranging food—supplies, opening facilities for education in villages by starting primary and adult classes and also by improving village cooperative societies and establishing village Panchayats. Reviewing the last five years of the present - war and the abnormal conditions created by it the difficulties of the constructive workers have been immensely increased. That they could carry on their work and kept the torch of constructive nation-building alighted during these difficult times deserves our best appreciations. I take this opportunity of publicly congratulating the rural workers on behalf of this Saminelan for their sense of missionary zeal and patriotic work in the year 1944 that has just passed - With better and more favour-able times kr cdnstructive w6rk that are ahead and of which there are unmistakable siges on the horizon, the Sammelan hopes the workers will have splendid opportunities of serving the village masses with greater success and appreciation attending to their efforts.
After this brief survey of our constructive activities in a local perspective, it is as well; they should be seen as a part of world movement of post-war economic reconstruction. in a constantly revolving cycle of age, the world has at different times seen feudalism, imperialism and capitalism, having their sway in various countries of the world. Having passed through this varied experience of socioeconomic structure held for centuries, human society at long last tends towards an age that definitely belongs to the common-man, The world-conscience now seems to be awakened to the claims of the common-man and means and measures are being devised the world
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over that all men in all lands be assured of minimum essential needs of civilized life in adequate and nutritious food, clothing, sanitary housing, health and education. The very conception of this ideal in a post-war age is a landmark in the history of evolution of human thought and it now mostly rests with the human material available in each country, to bring this grand concept of humanity into reality. Gigantic post-war reconstructional plans are in the process-of being formulated and put into execution in many countries of the world and India seems to have its full share in this New Age of social and economic reconstruction. Social and constructive workers, who have with their limited powers and resources tried to uplifttheneglected common-man these many years can legitimately take pride in having prepared the background for the coming of this Age in which his interests will be the uppermost in the society of man
Welcome as is the challenge of the New Age, which marks the stage of flowering and fruition of the drop in the sea efforts of social and constructive workers, it needs to be clearly realised that it has brought immense responsibilities on our shoulders. It is up to us to visualize our great responsibilities in clear perspective and evolve, expand and improve our plans and programmes in harmony with national reconstructional plans now in the process of being framed and launched. Gone are the days of mere starting of literacy classes, occasional sanitary rounds and medical aid during malarial season and such like social services in villages. The Age that is now on us demands all—round development of every man, woman and child in rural as well as in urban areas and complete transformation of depressing conditions according to fixed targets and a given time schedule. Such a vastly expanded responsibility needs greatly increased resources in man and money and also great powers of organisation and administration among our workers. Rural Reconstruction from a welfare and humanitarian activity now stands transformed as a dynamic plan of all- round national development, which change needs to be recognised by our workers.
A change of such a magnitude in national objective calls for re-orientation in the aims and methods of our constructive activities goes without saying. Such a task as this calls for vision, breadth of outlook,
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greatly expanded resources in men and money, highly developed capacity for elaborate planning and the execution of those plans with consummate skill and administrative efficiency. That is the future setting in which a constructive worker has to create and find a place for himself.
Government and People’s Plans
The foregoing analysis leads us to correctly appreciate the implications of the working of constructive nation—building programme in the country in its new setting in future. The government plans for post—war development costing thousands of crores are being prepared ‘and it is expected the Master—plan for the whole of India may be ready before the present year 1945 is out. Some of the Provinces and a few of the major Indian States have also formulated their plans waiting to be launched.
In people’s sector the Congress scheme of training one lakh village workers is being given final shape at Wardha under Gandhiji’s guidance and a syllabus board has been set up to draw curriculum of studies for the training of these workers. This in itself is a stupendous scheme involving an expenditure of crores of rupees. It is hoped, in course of time, a network of rural development centres will be manned by these trained personnel in all parts of the country.
Besides the Government and the Congress Agency, there will be other public bodies and philanthropically minded private individuals who will take their own share in this great nation-building programme. To be sure, there is room for all these various bodies and individuals to play their part in national development. The only condition for harmonious and if I may say cooperative working of these various agencies being that they should all be actuated by patriotic motive of serving the country and should be guided by a healthy spirit of competition to produce best models of develop. ed areas in their sphere of work and within the shortest period of time. If post—war plans should be worked out with success, the people’s feelings and sentiments should be roused to a delirious pitch of
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enthusiasm by patriotic bodies and individuals in the country working in a spirit of perfect cooperation and coordination.
A constructive worker is not true to his mission, if he is not
saturated with the ideas of helpful cooperation among all sections of people including the government in this most sacred sphere of constructive nation building. Where uplift and betterment of the toiling masses is the objective to be achieved, what room is there for mutual jealousies and unhealthy competitions, which are antithetic tendencies to creation and construction? The only competition that is warranted in this sphere is that of one beating the other in a spirit of self-sacrifice and cooperation. For, cooperation alone is the basis on which the whole structure of nation building rests.
Even at the risk of repetition, I would like to say that the right code of conduct for a constructive worker is never to harbor feelings of ill—will and animosity against sister bodies and individuals working separately. On the contrary, one should always be sportsman like to appreciate well in others and ready to give his cooperation whenever demanded or needed. What right have we to demand from ignorant village masses to shed off their petty rivalries and jealousies and rise above indicia dualistic tendencies to join in a corporate endeavour for the betterment of the whole village if we are not willing to do the same in a higher sphere above them ? Here it is that an ouiice of personal example is many times more efficacious than a pound of mere precept not supported by the conduct of the worker himself. A constructive worker to be true to his salt should above all be a constructor and not a destructor, a cooperator, a coordinator, a builder, a healer and a conciliator, in thought, iord and deed. His mission is and should be to bring together scattered human and material resources going to waste and ruin in the ‘bounty and harness them in a purposeful constructive endeavour. He is there to create beauty harmony and prosperity out of ugly-ness, disharmony and poverty having their sway in our villages.
Looking into the immediate political future, cit does not seem probable, though it is absolute essential, that a full fledged Material government with complete control over political and economic
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destinies of the people is like4’ to be established in the country The ‘feaucratic administration with only small ‘consigns to popular elements or institutions is thceiy to continue and will frame and cane out “oèwar plans in the only bureaucratic way without taking popular elements into cotifidence rid sharing responsibility with them. The Post- war reconstructional measures will be worked out in the old traditional way of the bureaucracy, creating popular dissatisfaction as they progress. The people’s agencies ONthe other hand with their limitations of resources in men and money will also continue to function making their own contribution in national up building in the only small way they can.
The Drawbacks of the two Agencies
With power and financial resources at their command and an elaborate administrative machinery functioning in the country, the government though largely lacking in vision and missionary zeal will be able to carry out their lans and let us hope, some small good may accrue to the masses in the consequence The public agencies including the Congress lack in financial resources and administrative machinery and will not be able to produce startling results either. As in political, so in this constructive nation-building sphere, this trial of strength and mutual distrust between the government and the people seem to be the permanent feature of our political existence and would continue, though ultimately the zeal and genuineness of motive of the people will have their day. All said, constructive workers would be well advised to take a long view of the peculiar political and economic circumstances of their country into account before anivin at hasty conclusions. India is not Soviet Russia and political and economic conditions prevailing in the two countries at the time of launching the plans are wide apart, which will necessarily affect the ultimate results. Impatietit for quick and speedy results we may all be but we should also know that raising the general economic level of the disorganized and ignorant masses without the drive of state power to back us; is an uphill task and a long-term job. But I have no illusions about it that that is the only job on the successful consummation of which rests not - only the economic freedom of the
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masses, but also the political freedom and the independence of the country’s well.
Tusk before the Central Rural Uplift
Association
Taking into account the immensity and the complexity of the task that faces a constructive nation-building organisation in the post-war age, an association like this would do well to chalk out its future course of activities in the light of the changed conditions. With its head office in the city of Bombay, it should irndertake to do educative propaganda on rural topics among the citizens, and draw out their sympathy and power of purse to ameliorate the lot of the needy villagers. Kasturha National Memorial fund has already shown the way, how cities’ wealth and sympathy should run to the succour of the suffering village masses.
Dearth of literature on rural topics is another great handicap in the growth of rural reconstruction movement, which must be removed. Too numerous are the enquiries, we have been receiving in the office of “ The Rural India” from all parts of the country demanding educative literature on rural subjects. To our great shame and regret, there is very little that we could suggest or recommend. If life in villages has to be enriched and developed to its full stature, creation of rural literature is an urgent necessity. Not to say of higher type of literature on political, social and economic institutions in the villages, there are not even suitable textbooks to be found for village children and adults. This association or some similar institution would be rendering a real service to the growth of rural movement if it undertakes to start Rural Publishing House or Gram Sahitya Prakashan Mandir. And Bombay is eminently suited to make such a publishing enterprise.
It is already an item of programme of this association to train
rural workers and start training camps to that end. New circumstances and the immensity of the task that now faces a rural worker, needs an infinitely higher type of human material in him and more varied and profound the training. The number of trained personnel that is
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required in the country is not to be counted in lakhs but in millions. The dearth of requisite type of human material is admittedly the greatest limiting factor in the execution of our various plans and programmes. Now is the time that the programme of training personnel for rural service be vigorously taken up by public bodies without loss of time.
The consideration of this item of training of personnel raises
another important issue of finding a large number of persons to be trained. War against ignorance and poverty in the country can only be successfully fought and won when millions of ow- young men and women from high schools and colleges are drawn and conscripted for social and constructive service of the nation. The National Planning Committee under the chairmanship of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, has specifically stressed the necessity of compulsory conscription of our young men and women for national service. There, of course, can be no two opinions on the point. The time has come that the government and academic bodies like Universities should be pressed to pass legislative measures making it compulsory for every young man and worpan within its portals to put in at least otie year’s social and constructive service of the iatión, before degrees and diplomas are .ra ted to them by these bodies In this connection this Sammelan should better appreciate, the efforts of Mrs. Lilavati Munshi for tabling a resolution for compulsory conscription of young, boys and girls for national service to be moved, in the next meeting of the Senate of Bombay University. This move needs vigorous, propaganda on behalf of public bodies to bring. About the stage of legislation, making national service compulsory for the youth of the country.
“The test of Pudding lies in is eating”, goes the saying. All our tall talks about revolutionary plans and policies are not of much avail, if they fail to recreate new villages and renovate village life in its entirety. The masses in villages will not have their trust reposed in us, if we fail to succeed in actually improving the conditions in rural areas through sustained and systematic work. As a practical measure, a rural service association should according to its means conduct a few Rural Development Centres and give proof of its practical usefulness through actual development achieved in village areas.
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Maximum development of human and material resources on a planned basis is a new method of social and economic advancement which has yet to be experimented upon in this country. These rural centres provide the best field for experimentation and practical ground for the training of workers and future admin istrator of the nation. It is any day easier to shout slogans of doubling, trebling and quadruplin the average income of the masses in 10, 15 and 20 years but it should not be forgotten in our enthusiasm that these utopian dreams could only be realised after revolutionary changes have been brought about in the political, social and economic structure of the country and the foundations of these changes will be patiently laid by our Gram Sevak in the neglected homesteads and villages.
Lastly, the key to the problem of national construction lies in creating large armies of leaders of men among our village workers, who are able to inspire the masses for self-development and also able to fathom the hiddeA and scattered resources of the countryside and harness them for national advancement.
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!
By: G.k. Puranik
(Article published in May ‘1945’ in’ The Rural India’ Bombay)
(From who precedes the urge to action of all beings—who all permeates this:
having propitiated HIM by his own (respective) activity, a man wins Perfection,)
GITA-the song celestial in a nutshell propounds the theory of Divine purpose in this cosmic order and ordains all human beings, big and small, aspiring for individual and national salvation to come forward and lay the offerings of their in-born and natural Karmas (actions) at the altar of the Great Divine Creator. This significant sermon in short provides an answer to the querty, why we have all gathered here from distant corners of the land. Moved and guided by the power that shapes and moulds the destinies of things in this universe, we, its insignificant instruments, fulfill our allotted task in life. Success in our endeavors, which we all desire, is conditioned in proportion to our making ourselves willing instruments to fulfill the Divine purpose, we are created for. Surely, we are here to fulfill His purpose on this planet and not our own personal desires and whims as many seem to believe.
This eternal wisdom of the ages is the law of we human beings and tic only way to individual and national salvation. It demands from us the difficult price of self-discovery and to know our purpose in life before we make our choice of a career or calling. Those of us, who enlist ourselves for the service of the villages and take upon ourselves the responsibility to ensure to the villagers the essential needs of decent human existence in providing to Them adequate and nourishing food, sufficient clothing, sanitary housing, health and education and also means of communication have certainly made a difficult choice. That is apparently fulfilling God’s great purpose in
Why the Training Camp
44
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life which could best be fulfilled by attuning ourselves both through mind and action to this conscious purpose. Man Address delivered by Shri.G.K. puranik at the opening function of the Rural workers Training camp Adarsh Seva sangh Pohri gwalior on the 24th April 1945 outgrows his limitations and commands limitless resources by ordering his life to this supreme purpose and restricts his usefulness in proportion he drifts away from the main current of life. Lasting and permanent rural prosperity which we aspire to build up, can only he created by our acting on this eternal truth and would never be the result of a short training at this camp or for the matter of that at any other training camp. However long or short the training may be, the creation of seemingly utopian conditions in the 7 lakhs of villages of India can be the result of something more real and vital. After all training is a help, a stimulating and guiding factor, but it can never be a substitute to the ‘Will’ to act. Given the Will ‘, training and technique automatically follow either as a natural process of self-development or through the good offices of some human agency. But, if this essential basis is absent, no amount of training in a camp or in an institution will qualify a man to be a successful constructive worker and transform hopelessly depressing conditions in villages. ‘Letter killeth and the spirit giveth life’, is as true in this case as in any other. We, the constructive workers, are called upon to undertake the responsibility of universal social security, a task never attempted in the long history of our country. Great achievements demand great vision, deathless purpose and determination and training has only a small part to play.
Gandhiji, when asked by one of young men for inspiration, was said to have replied in purport:—
“I am a burning lamp. If the lamp of your life has sufficient oil and wick, you will somehow or other catch light from me, But, if they are absent in you, no matter for how long a time you continue to be with me, light cannot be communicated to you.
That in substance is the part a training or association with eminent people can play in the life of man. Favorable conditions to catch fire should already be in the man or it cannot be created.
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Creation of instincts and tendencies is of the task a training or education is expected to accomplish however perfect. That is something in-born. People are born and not made, is a theory largely accepted by the educationists, the world over. If poets and artists are born, so do politicians and creative and constructive-minded workers. Therefore, the necessity of right type of people taking up right type of jobs suited to their in-born tendencies and self-expression through natural Karma, cannot be too strongly emphasized.
Need it be said that the transformation of rural life in our country from its most depressing conditions to that of a normal civilized existence is merely a vision that exists in the fertile imagination of idealists and visionaries and is not to be seen anywhere in actuality. In almost every sphere and walk of life, one can call to his aid some model to lay one’s own pattern, hut the model of a model village where every body is provided with adequate and nutritious food, clothing, good housing, health and education is not to be seen anywhere in this vast continent, no matter where you go. As said earlier, it only exists in the imagination of a few; and how difficult it is to realise this vision in actual practice can better be imagined.
How a training camp as the one we start can help people in creating these utopian conditions in the village life of the country is a pertinent query that still remains to be answered. What can be taught in the course of a camp like this to be of permanent value and guidance to the students and help in realizing these seemingly impossible dreams? It is sufficiently made clear in the foregoing that the realisation of these visions cannot be attributed to a training of a month or two or that of a year or two, but cpn only be the result of the intuitive germ in the man. Growth of faculties of constructive and creative mind and an innate urge to dedicate these precious gifts for the advancement of the larger interests of the community or country can be the result of natural factors both of psychological and biological variety. The intensity of such a feeling in a large section of people is again attributable to the accumulated action of the race or community and marks the advanced stage of development of the social man. That such a group of people from different parts of the country have come to attend the ‘Rural Workers’ Training Camp’ in
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an out-of-the-way place like Pohri is a proof positive that that innate urge to dedicate one’s talents and energies for strengthening the weakest links in the national chain and bettering the Jot of the exploited and suppressed humanity in villages has come to the surface and is struggling to find a way for expression. That indication itself is greatly reassuring for the success of this camp and the future of village uplift in our country.
After all, this training does not offer monetary prospects to the trainees. Those coming to join the camp have come, I believe, in a spirit of missionary zeal to dedicate their lives for the service and sacrifice of the downtrodden humanity in the larger interest of building up national prosperity and solidarity. Subordination of individual self-interest to the development of the larger interest of the community is, I believe, one of the most potent signs of a civilized man. That marks a great step forward in the development of thought in our country, a thing that was unthinkable only 25 years before. Inter-dependence of peoples, and emergence of cooperative world-community order are auspicious signs of the coming of healthy, sbcial order in our times. In the cooperative world order of the future the interests and the amenities of the common man have received foremost consideration and it will not be wrong to say that the future age belongs to the common-man. Such is the back-ground and the working of natural factors which should be a source of real inspiration to the constructive workers gatherS ed here and they should know that by taking up this programme of nation-building in remote villages of their country they are merelj swimming with the current of the world forces and helping the process of national evolution.
The only justification that such a camp has is to help the process of the working of natural laws in order to ensure social security in the post-war period of the country. In this grand vision of justice and social securely to detailed a process of recording and attending the village community of our country, the Adarsh Seva Sangha and those who are joining this camp have agreed to be willing co-sharers. It is as well, that the two associating parties should better make a searching scrutiny of their actuating motives and intentions to be able to predict however imperfectly what the outcome of conducting such
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a camp would be. For, iii the last analysis, motivating power of original intentions of the workers is a great determining factor in the achievement of results of one kind or the other.
In the case of the Adarsh Seva Sangha, need it be said that it has its deep roots in the soil of Rural India. Laving had its birth in the village itself, it has ever since tried to serve the village community in these parts during the last quarter of a century. There is not an aspect of village life, which the Sangha has not tried to uplift and improve; and in most spheres concrete and tangible results have been achieved. During these 25 years many experiments have been tried with varying degrees of successes and failures. The publication of ‘The Rural India’ from Bombay, now over 7 years, was a pioneering enterprise in the field of constructive journalism and has paved the way for the Sangha to give practical demonstration of its constructive nation-build - in theories it has been propagating through its organ. Professions to be true and commanding respect from others, should of necessity, be worked out in practice. In the face of unfavorable conditions, the Sangha has at its rural development centers tried many experiments at village development as you will shortly see at one of our centers in the course of practical training of the camp. Where we found ourselves against a dead wall and which still blocks our way to take an onward step is in respect of our latest experiment in planned development of rural areas. Necessary charts and programmers were drawn up, and workers were properly instructed to execute them, bit it was discovered in the end that this complicated process of planning various developments in advance, creating or causing to create adequate resources both in men and materials for implementing them and mathematical precision by which to regulate and work up these programmers involved too to the multiplicity of administrative details which work was found to be beyond the capacity of an average village worker available for rural service in our country. The worker is simply puzzled at this bewildering variety of details and is incapable of attending to their execution all by himself. Planned development of rural areas, therefore, could not make much head-way due to dearth of requisite type of workers and a search for such workers continues.
Planning needs a much higher type of man to grasp the idea, to
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work out the mimeos details, to influence the village people, as also to win their confidence and above all, confident nough himself to put his plans and policies to execotion. 1-le must be gifted with a fertile imagination of a visionary, drive, skill and tact of an accomplished administrator and burning patriotism and zeal of a crusader. Such men are hard to find in any country and more particularly in our own. It is to create high cadre of workers, that an attempt to start an All-India seat of Rural ‘Workers’ Training was made by the Sangha last year which undertaking has had to be deferred for want of proper response
. The post-war planning idea started by the Government quarters and the focusing of attention of the country on the working of constructive programme by the Congress have once again revived people’s interest in the development of the countryside. This is just the time when a terrible cataclysm, which convulsed the world during the last 6 years, is within sight of an inglorious end, giving birth to ideas of freedom from fear and wants in the post-war age the world over. The time appears to be ripe now to initiate measures of constructive nation building and harness the energies of people for constructive and creative ends in order to prepare them to successfully meet the post war slump and depression, which is ahead and build up a higher type of social security for every citizen in future.
This is not the time to go back to the history of rural development movement in the country and to explain to you how from a vague humanitarian service to the villages the idea has developed into a dynamic programme of econop-lic development and social justice to the masses in very decent -timer the crystallization of the idea of social justice definite lead has come from the World Conference on ‘ Food’ held at Virginia (U. S. A.) last year which for the first time focussed the attention of the world to the needs of common man which should be met by the state or society. The claim of the common man has at last found recognition for civilized existence and we may congratulate ourselves that an age of greater humanity and social justice has dawned in our times.
In common with the rest of the world, we, in India, stand committed to do this essential justice to our masses. That is a spiritual
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obligation on us and those of us who are provided with better facilities of mind and material resources should unreservedly place them for the betterment of the toiling man. It ought to be a moral pledge of a constructive worker that every Indian citizen is fully provided with the essential amenities of life in food, dress, housing, health and education the same way that his brother citizen gets in any part of the globe. ‘Oh! Son of Kuntz. Thou dost feed the poor,’ is the command of Lord Krishna and may this eternal appeal find full measure of response from constructive workers of our times it is with a view to share this great responsibility with the youth of the country that the Adarsh Seva Sangha has conceived the idea of this camp and invited you all to be co-sharers in it.
Constructive workers should know that in this country they have inherited a bad legacy from the past. Nation-building, activities namely improvement of agriculture, live-stock, working of cooperative societies, marketing, veterinary and the like and those concerning improvement of health, education and means of communication in rural areas, have always received step-motherly treatment of the ruling authorities. Rather than these activities should claim first and foremost concern of the Government, they are being looked upon as charitable concerns, not deserving much attention. And the workers who take to them are either being suspected or neglected as harmless entlemen not worth being taken much notice of. Rural Reconstruction was just another fad added to these which, for reasons known to many of you, could not be given a fair trial and all that was expected of this movement for the rehabilitation of life in villages was nipped in the bud. As one reviews constructive nation building or rural reconstruction activities in this country, the associations that come crowding in one’s imagination are those of neglect, sham and hypocracy. ‘Ihese are quite unlike those that rise up in one’s mind at the mention of ‘Five year Plan ‘in Russia or ‘New al’in America. Constructive workers in this country are in a way supposed to be twentieth century editions of the priest class, pandas, temple pujaries and Sadhus of old who though considered a burden on public finances are being maintained solely for charitable considerations. That is a legacy of the past, a constructive worker can never be proud of. Neither can these associations be entirely erased
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from public mind till a generation or two of constructive workers pass through the double test of self-sacrifice and public in appreciation and build an honorable place for themselves in public estimation through tangible achievements in nation-building. That is the fire of baptism the rural and constructive workers should necessarily pass through.
The picture of post-war reconstruction and economic development as being drawn by Own Government agency in this country when placed side by side, with plans of social security formulated in other advanced countries of the world smacks of something unreal about it and falls to appeal to popular imagination. The unanimous demand of National Government with unfettered control over political and economic destiny of the country is not finding acceptance with the powers that be and one fails to understand how these gigantic plans will be worked out with success in the absence of this most essential pre-requisite. Granting National Government which is yet a distant dream,. it will be deluding ourselves to believe that that alone will enable us to work out our development plans with that astonishing success which attended the ‘Five Year Plan’ in Russia or - The New Deal’ in America. There are still numerous hurdles to be overcome, especially those created by vested interests; lack of development of the people and absence of cooperative and corporate sense among the general population of the country. It is not correct to say that given National Government, all our difficulties will come to an end- No, rather that, being
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By: G. K. PURANIK
(Article published in June’1945 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
XTO word in the present age has attained such a worldwide significance as ‘Plan- fling’. Whether all those, who make use of the word know the implications of the word is open to doubt. The hypnotic influence exercised by the word and the context of happy and prosperous economic age, in which it is used has led many a people into believing that this twentieth century ‘Talisman’ by a mere mention of it, is capable of working up miracles and hinging in an age of power and plenty on earth.
The dictionary meaning of the word ‘Plan’ is to make a sketch or scheme. But when used in the wider sense in relation to the development of a country or nation, it means exploiting and maximizing the human and material resources of the area for purposes of economic and general advancement of the society by a planned method. The successful execution of the plan rests on (1) Clearly defined objective, (2) Determination of the planning authority and (3) Adequate investment of Men and Material resources. Unless, we have a definite aim, a clear idea as to what exactly we desire to attain and a set purpose to fight our way to the goal inspite of all odds and set backs and pay the price in full in men and material resources, we cannot hope to work up a plan successfully.
It should be noted in this connection that planning takes a collective view of things. Tithe there was when man lived almost in isolation with a few simple wants of life and there was, therefore, no necessity to think of a plan. As social life of man developed and life became more and more complicated greatly influenced by modern
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Post-War Construction and Economic Planning
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scientific inventions and discoveries and speedy means of communications placed at his disposal, the need of giving new orientation to human behaviour and adjusting conflicting human relations on just and equitable basis was felt. Consequently individualistic way of looking at things gave way to collective thinking in terms of larger group, community, nation or humanity. With this essential change in the outlook of life of society came the change in its motive as well. Profit motive, which provided incentive to human effort from primitive ages down to our own times, is being gradually discarded as something low and inimical to human brotherhood and its place is being taken over by a worthier motive of ‘Service’ to the community. A Plan has for its basis collective advancement of the society with service of the community as its motivating power.
It was Schlephen, an officer in the German al-my, who is known to be the father’ of the idea of Planning. The famous Schlephen plan named after him, showed to the world wonderful potentialities of achieving- tangible results in effecting improvements through the method of planning. German army as a result of planned organisation reached the highest watermark in efficiency and thoroughness, which made it the envy of the world. German ‘thoroughness’ has a significance all its own. Though ‘Planning’ had its birth in the German army, the credit of demonstrating the wonderful potentialities of planning in organizing and developing a whole country goes to Russia. The world was astounded by the phenomenal success attending the first Five year-Plan’ -in Russia. Since then, Palming has become the watchword of the nations of the earth for effecting national development. Being the address delivered by him to the trainees of ‘The Rural workers’ Training Camp ‘at fabric (GWALIOR), en the 20 th April 1945 and improving the life of the society in all sectors. Planning therefore takes into consideration all aspects of a problem and its objectives to draw up a practical programme and a graduated method of implementing it in order to achieve definite results in a scheduled period.
“Post war Reconstruction’ is a world-wide movement aiming primarily at the economic rehabilitation of the society to effect the
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recovery of the world from the ruinous effects of the present war. The present world war has bled both the victors and the vanquished white and disintegrated the economic life of the world to such an extent that a determined effort at rehabilitation is urgently called for, in order to overcome the effects of depression that will follow the cessation of hostilities. This anxiety of the future, more than ‘any thing else, has given birth to the post-war reconstruction movement and every country is anxiously planning for its future existence in its own interest.
War is not an end of things, as it seems to be, but is always the beginning of a new social order. War has a great sociological function to perform. It destroys an unjust decaying order of the society and introduces a new one in its place with new out-look, new social philosophy and all-round changes in the political, social and economic order of the community. What is line of all wars is also true of the present war.
There ‘is not a country in the world which is not directly or indirectly affected by the present war. Rehabilitation and Reconstruction must follow the present destruction bringing in their wake revolutionary changes in the future order of the society. Wherein the present war differs from the previous ones is that while those in the past had for their emphasis political fights and privileges, the ‘present one lays stress on social and economic needs of man kind. Rather than political democracy, people now clamour for economic democracy in the world.
This is as it should be. Racial pride and national aggrandisement among the people of the world have in them roots of constant warfare and disturbance of the peace of the world. The consciousness is abroad that internationalism and world state alone offers solution of the never- ending internecine wars. New Humanism is dawning over the world and the people seem to be inclined to do economic justice to the common--man, which was denied to him hitherto. The future social order aims at providing essential minimum needs of all human beings and improving their living conditions. The essential five requirements of life are wholesome and nutritious food, sufficient clothing, housing, health and education. The post-war planning should
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aim at providing these amenities of life to the common man and here is the place for planning on a nation-wide scale.
How to meet the minimum demands of human beings in Five essentials of food, clothing, housing, health and education is a problem the planning is required to solve. To Take food problem first, it has been found on authoritative investigation that if all people are to be provided with equal amount of wholesome and nourishing food, the world only produces 2/3 of the food-stuff to feed its people. There is deficit of 1/3 of food requirement in the world for the consumption of its population. -It need not be inferred thereby that the food-production resources of the world are exhausted and more food, cannot be produced. If earnest attempts are made with the help of modem and scientific methods of cultivation, surely, the food requirement can be adequately met with. ‘The present deficit to next the demand of balanced diet of the world population is mostly due to the absence of social consciousness on the part of the society and the administrative authorities to hold themselves responsible to feed the population adequately and to increase food-production to that end. Ways and means can only be discovered arid put into operation, when social purpose for which they are to be adopted has been conceived.
Coming to the food problem of India, if nourishing food is to be provided to the entire population of 389 million people at the calculated rate of Rs. 65/- per head per year, the annual aggregate expenditure on food- account alone comes to Rs. 2100 crores. These calculations being based on per-war level of prices, the national expenditure on food at the present rate of price level should go as high as Rs. 6300/- crores. Our national income in pre-war days was calculated at Rs. 2200 crores. And it is open to reason that a country with its national income at Rs. 2200 crores can ever afford to spend Rs. 2100 crores on food budget alone.
The actual production of food quantity falls short of foodstuff required for the consumption of the population. If food—stuff is adequately distributed to feed the people, it is estimated, five cores of people should go without food. Ours is a country where no statistics
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are available regarding actual production of food in the country and our weakness on this score was only brought home to us when imports of food-grains were abruptly stomped from Burma, Malaya and Australia, due to special exigencies or unfavourable turn taken by the war. The gravity of the situation was only reveal by the recent food famine in Bengaly shocked the conscience of the world and took a heavy toll of 40 lakhs of souls If nothing else, the Bengal tragedy has stirred the Government and the public conscience at large to realise the gravity of this weak spot in a national economy and devise ways and means to increase food production in the country.
Next to food is cloth requirement. Here again our standard in cloth requirement at 30 yards per head per annum fixed by the National Planning Committee is very poor, when compared with per capita consumption in more advanced countries of the world - As against 30 yards of cloth fixed for our people, consumption per head in America stands at 64 yards. India is not self-supporting in its cloth requirement and large stocks are imported from foreign countries. At the cheapest prewar rate of cloth the nation is required to spend another sum of Rs- 255 crores to meet its cloth requirement.
With regard to housing, 100 square feet of housing accommodation per head is the minimum fixed for comfortable dwelling of an individual. At this rate an average family of 5 persons needs 500 square feet for its dwelling purposes. An annual national expenditure on housing is estimated at Rs. 260 crores in order to provide modern and sanitary housing facility to the nation in the course of next 15 years.
Health conditions in India are deplorable to the extreme. The health standard of a nation is determined by the average expectation of life of its people and the rate of infantile mortality. Whereas an average expectation of life in U. S. A. and the United Kingdom ranges from 60 to 64 years, the average longevity in India is only 26 years and it leads the world in infantile mortality.
Then, normally every village should be provided with a dispensary and a nursing staff, which taking into consideration the present low level of medical facilities obtaining in our country
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appears to be a fantastic dream. There ought to be a doctor after every 2,000 population and a nurse or a midwife after every one thousand persons. If this minimum medical facility is to he provided for’ all the people in the country a yearly sum of Rs. 190 crores will be needed.
If we take up statistics on education things are appalling. The latest figure for literacy in India is 12% as against 100 0/0 literacy attained by some of the advanced countries of the world. Per capita expenditure on education in our country is as low as annas 17/— as compared to Rs 32/— per head being spent on education in England. According to Sargent Scheme of Education now in the field, India should be prepared to spend Rs. 300/— crores to reach the stage of compulsory primary and adult education. The poverty and non-taxable capacity of the general population as also dearth of qualified teaching staff for this huge undertaking are mentioned to be the two causes of slow progress in education. If education is to proceed along the pace marked—out by Mr. Sargent in his scheme, India should wait for another 40 to 50 years to reach the stage of compulsory education to all its children.
General economic index or per capita income of our people shows extreme poverty that is stalking in the land. Our annual per capita income stands as low as Rs. 65/— as compared with Rs. 960/— in the case of England and Rs. 1406 in the case of the United States of America. An average man in America earns 20 to 25 times more than what an Indian gets. How to increase the national and per capita income is what is engaging the best -brains of the country. The National Planning Committee having investigated the problem has come to the conclusion that the National income of the country should be trebled within 10 to 15 years and it is only possible through planned development of country’s resources.
The economic planning deals with production, consumption and distribution of national resources. Taking first the question of production the national income, which stood at Rs. 2200 cores, has to be trebled to reach Rs. 6600/— crores. In other words making allowance for the increase of population in the course of the next 10 to 15 years, the operational period of the plan, the per capita income
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should be raised from Rs. 65/- to Rs. 135/— We, in India have to learn a great deal from Russia’s splendid example in this respect. That is the only country, which has demonstrated to the world the marvels of planning. By means of successive Five year Plans, Russia in the course of twelve years was able to increase her national wealth from 25 million Roubles to 125 Roubles i. e. five times. As against this, the standard of increase in national wealth fixed by us i. e. only three times appears to be comparatively a modest ambition.
Exploiting the productive resources of the country to the full could increase national income. And they are Agriculture, Industries and Services.
Recently, there have been many booklets published on the subject of Planning, known as Bombay Plan, Peoples’ Plan, Gandhian Plan, Government Plan and each party has tried to put forth its own point of view through these different plans. According to Bombay Plan, the target for the increase of national income from agriculture has been put at is while it is 5000/0 through industries and 2000/0 through services. The peoples’ plan fixes the target for agricultural production at 40 00/0 and the Government of India Plan at 1000/0 only. There eidsts a great diversity of views among the framers of different plans. However, the realisation that the country is extreme l% or and means and methods should be devised to increase its national wealth is there.
In the direction of increasing agricultural production, the first step is to relieve the pressure on land. A large population, - now engaged in agriculture resulting in uneconomic and scattered holdings should necessarily be transferred to industries. This will not only relieve the pressure on land and make agriculture a self sufficient industry to the reduced number that will remain so employed, but will also immensely increase the agricultural output. A hundred years ago 800/o of the population was engaged in agriculture in America, which is now reduced to 25°/o, 55°/o having been transferred from agriculture to industries. The result has been that his 25°/o now
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produces 5 times more from agriculture than what was done by 8000 a hundred years before.
In order to increase agricultural production certain fundamental reforms are essential: — (1) Increasing the size of agricultural holdings; (2) Introducing cooperative and compulsory farming; (3) Extension of area under cultivation; (4) Improving yield per acre by introducing fertilisers and creating widespread facilities for irrigation; (5) Use of improved implements for cultivation; (6) Use of better varieties of seeds (7) Better rotation of crop etc.
In order to induce ryots to take to improved methods of cultivation, it is necessary to set up model agricultural farms within a of 10 agricultural villages for purposes of demonstration and practical guidance.
For industrial development certain basic and key industries have to be developed. The scope for the development of industrial output is the times the present production. The basic industries being— 1. Electricity, 2. Mining and metallurgy, 3. Engineering (machinery of all kinds), 4. Chemicals (medicines, etc.), 5 Transport, 6. Cement, 7. Armament.
Great potentialities for the development of key industries lie unexploited in our country. In the case of Electricity India hardly uses 2 0/0 of its power generating potentialities. The question of services, transport and a communication is an important one and these have to be increased by 200 0/0. Vastly increased agricultural and industrial production will, of course, necessitate large movement of goods from place to place in the interest of trade. Railways, Roads, Shipping and Airways have to play a great part in providing transport facilities contributing to the increase of National income by 200.
Then the question of able personnel or managing staff for the development of national resources under planned economy is a stupendous one. Russia with a population of 17 crores had to employ 96 lakhs of its people to work up the first ‘Five year Plan’. Making our calculations on this basis, India with its 40 crores of population would need a managing staff of workers to the extent of 2 crores of people. This is no small job that can be accomplished overnight. It
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will take many years of labour to train up vast armies of technicians to man this complicated machinery of planning.
Successful execution of the plan pre-supposes complete state control over entire human and material resources of the country. There is little scope for private intense in planned economy and the state monopolises all means of production. Private enterprise, which concerns itself with private profit, has been found by experience to come in clash with the development of national industries. Planned economy does not rest with the increase of national income alone. It also concerns itself with the equitable distribution of national income so increased. To check inequality of distribution of national wealth the state or society should minimum and maximum income of every citizen. With this sort of State--control over minimum and maximum income of the people the evils of fabulous wealth and stark poverty going side by side will greatly be checked. Imposition of death duties on property is another means of bringing down glaring inequalities of wealth between man and man. Only an Independent National Government exercising unfettered control over political and economic destiny of the country is capable of implementing the plan.
A competent body of Scientists, Economists, Technicians and Engineers will have to be appointed by the National Government to frame a detailed plan for the country.
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By: G. K. Puranik
(Article published in august ‘1945 in ‘The Rural India’ Bombay)
During the session of the last Summer Camp for Rural Workers, conducted by the Adarsh Seva Sangha, a number of applications and enquiries were received from various parties, who failed to join the last Camp due to short notice and were eager to attend the next Training Course when started. To put off provision of such a facility for the next summer in the face of demand for training in the country looked like shirking a duty at a time when the national needs demand a large number of trained personnel for immediate needs of postwar reconstruction. The recent political development gave further impetus to the idea and the chances of launching large-scale schemes for Postwar development by the new Popular Government to be established as a result of the successful outcome of the Wavell Plan seemed to be immediate and bright indeed. With these developments in view and the possibility of demand of lakhs of trained work for various nation-building activities to be started in the near future, the idea of starting a regular Training Institute for rural and constructive workers, seems to be only timely and propitious. Hence the necessity of starting this Rural Workers’ Training Institute by the Sangha.
Looking to the comprehensive and practical nature of this training the time of six months is too short a period to complete the Inaugural Address delivered by the President of the Adarsh Seva Sangha at the opening of ‘The Rural Workers’ Training Institute’, on the 21st of July, 1945.
Full course of training in its theoretical and practical aspects. The minimum period required should be of Tokyo years as laid down
Training for PostWar DeveIopment
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by the Sangha in its already published prospectus of the College. in the absence of getting encouraging response for the training of such a College just yet, the length of the training period has been ‘cut down to the bare minimum of six months in order to adjust the scale and volume of supply to the slowly growing demands of the country. But this does not in any way mean impairing the efficiency or quality of training.
That in short is the background of the starting of this Institute in its present form and I take particular delight to welcome you all from different parts of the country for your initiation in this training for nation- building. That most of you have come from distant parts of the country at such personal inconvenience and sacrifice establishes beyond doubt that you have already developed an enlightened interest in the programme of constructive nation building. It is just as well, you may learn to look at your problem in a larger perspective of world-setting, know the implications of the missing you are undertaking and also the demand it makes on the - cultivation of your personal qualities for the successful performance of such a task. The programme of constructive nation building or Postwar reconstruction has for its basis higher development of humanity and therefore ensuring of social security to
All-individuals composing the society. Freedom from want to all men in all lands is the slogan of the post-war age, and the State or society is charged with the responsibility to provide minimum demands of all human beings, no matter where they are and what their status in life is. These essential amenitid, as they are called, are adequate and nutritious food, clothing, sanitary housing, health and education and no member of society should suffer for the absence of these. It is a revolutionary conception of reconstruction of society on just social and economic basis in the interest of doing justice to the common man and establishing peace in the world.
Service Motive
Such a reconstruction of society on the basis of economic justice can only be conceived on the basis of elimination of profit motive in the
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society. That being the fundamental basis of the social security in future, profit-motive bas to be replaced by service-motive in all future dealings of men. Elimination of selfish-motive or personal gain is the sheet anchor of the future reconstruction programme. The future individual rather than limitiffg his interests to his petty self, should merge himself in social weal and make his investments in the social pool, knowing thereby that it is a better, surer and solid base for ensuring social security of the individual himself. Doing service to others by all means at one’s disposal without seeking personal advantage or gain to himself is the elementary social virtue on which the future order of the society is going to be built. If this change of outlook is expected in every individual composing the society of the future, the responsibility of the workers who are to be the pioneers for Establishing such an order is easily a thousand-fold.
You, who are to be the pioneers of the establishment of economic democracy and just social order of the future cannot and dare not look at your training from any profit or personal motive. Quite unlike professional training people receive in training institutes for bettering their own prospects in life, you are here to equip yourselves for the life of dedication and uplift of your fellow countrymen. With such a sacred mission as that before you, you have to be the embodiment of the life of service and sacrifice. For, it is through your example of service and dedication, that the society, which you are out to construct, will derive its first inspiration and will mould its life on the pattern that you present. The process of this reconstruction of society may appear to be economic in its outward manifestation, but it is essentially moral at its foundations. For, higher development and prosperity of a social group is only possible on the basis of service and mutual helpfulness to one another.
Essential Equipment of a Worker
Constructive nation-building implies that the worker should be a votary of construction and creation in thought, word and deed. He is expected to be one saturated with the ideas of building and creating something new and useful for the well being of his fellowman where there is real dearth of it and this without any idea of personal gain to
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himself. This creative and constructive faculty is something in-born, with which some are born and others are not. In the biblical language, “Those who have more shall be given.” And this training will immensely be beneficial to those who are blessed with this natural faculty. This in born urge constantly keeps them goading to create, construct, build, improve, repair, rescue and beautify things and they will not rest contented till they have made their own contribution to improve things in their surroundings to meet the demand of the situation. Such people in the past have been known by the appellation as builders, reformers, doctriners and it is they who have built big cities, laid out gardens, constructed tanks and rEservoirs, introduced systems and reforms for the improvement of the society and led out crusades for the moral and cultural development of mankind. In every age and clime and with the development of contemporary thought new situations and problems present themselves for solution and those who are blessed with creative faculty accept this challenge of the age. Such people are known to think only such thoughts as create harmony and good will between man and man, speak only such words as may encourage unity and cooperation between different classes of people and they will do only such deeds as may be conducive to harmony and development of the society. This is and ought to be the code of conduct of rural and constructive worker and he is under moral obligation to follow the natural law of his being. For, a 8onstructive worker is as much born as a poet or a warrior. And just as in order to be a good poet, one should see beauty and grace in everything he sees round about him, so should a constructive worker be under ‘Divine’ intoxication to create, improve and beautify God’s good creation and continue to carry on holy crusade against everything that is ugly, inhuman, debasing and depressing in this world with every fiber of his being;
Five—fold Bass of Post-war
Reconstruction
As referred to earlier, provision of adequate and nutritious food, clothing. housing, health and education for all men in essence constitute the Post--war reconstruction programme. A stage has
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reached in the evolution of the world and the development of social consciousness when the claim of the common-man for the provision of these essential amenities of life has been universally recognised. The State as a corporate body is slowly recognizing its social obligation towards those whom it governs to ensure them freedom from want. Though this country does not enjoy the advantage of political and economic freedom to plan its own development, it cannot remain unaffected by the reactions of world opinion.
The basis of this reconstruction though simple and humanitarian is at the same time fraught with many complications and major hurdles to be overcome. It spells revolution in established social and economic organization. While it aims at doing justice to the common, oppressed and exploited humanity, it naturally militates against old social, economic and political order and vested interests. Those whose self-interests are affected by this new dispensation of social justice will, so long as they can help it, put hundred and one obstacles to defeat the ends of these social security schemes. Working of Post-war schemes of development in the face of powerful opposition of vested interests is a task with which you are faced and which will test your mettle.
You may be prone to quote Russia I analogy, which I am afraid may delude you for the time being, but would not help you to the solution of your problem. For, conditions obtaining in our country and those that existed in Russia after revolution are vastly different. If ‘Five Year Plan’ worked with astonishing success in Russia, it was due to the tremendous drive of the Soviet Government and the ruthless policy of extermination it adopted towards the higher and upper classes which tried to create obstacles in its way. In fact bourgeois class was completely exterminated before new social order could be established there. And where is the Socialist Government in India and the maddening enthusiasm created by successful Proletariat revolution in Russia?
Hurdles in the Way
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Absence of independent Government having control over political and economic affairs of the country are a major hurdle which blocks our way for development. Whatever political prophets and Pundits may dream of early establishment of independence in the country the factors as they stand before us do not warrant any such assumption. After all, political independence of a nation is an aggregate expression of independent development of human personality and enlightened self-interest and social obligation in the individual. Elevation of human character and development of high sense of duty, responsibility, loyalty, justice, fairness and propriety are essential pre-requisites to be developed in a large majority of individuals, before national ‘Will’ gathers necessary strength and asserts its claim for independence. National servitude or slavery is the aggregate result of social and economic slavery perpetrated by individuals composing social structure. National freedom or independence would likewise be the outcome of the elevation of individual character in all these aspects. Oppression of higher castes over those below them and particularly the untouchables, victimisation and exploitation of productive and laboring classes by the rich and the moneyed people and the suppression of individual freedom by the state in the name of law and order, all these constitute accumulated weight of evil Karmas, which effectively bar our way for national independence. Social and economic injustice in any sector has its repercussion in the other sector as well. If poetical independence of the country is delayed, it is due to prevalence of social and economic evils amongst us and lack of development of human character. A constructive worker has to root out these evils from the society and build up moral stamina among individuals both in rural and urban areas before India asserts its claim for National Independence.
Lack of Psychological Development
Revolutionary changes in social structure from one of victimisation and exploitation to that of social security and justice to all classes of people and particularly to the common-man cannot be brought about overnight. International developments and pressure of
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world- opinion do influence certain tendencies and help the growth of public consciousness, but revolutionary changes in human affairs can- not be brought about merely by external pressure. A strong urge for change from within the people themselves must precede the change of Social order as is being contemplated. Though some sort of social and political awakening is there, it is far from having attained that degree of intensity of feeling, which leads to revolutionary changes. The socially oppressed class of untouchables though victimized for centuries, does not seem to be sufficiently aroused to the sense of injustice meted out to it and assert its claim for social justice. Those, who are economically by the vested interests and the moneyed classes are not conscious enough to demand what is due to them. Politically awakened section seem to be comparatively little more vocal, but their demands are not backed by irresistible purpose and large-scale sanction of public opinion to produce desired effect. No matter what the phase of life is, whether political, social or economic, the present stage of society in our country does not reflect strong urge for a great change. The irony is that most of the reforms in our country do not proceed from within as a result of awakening of public consciousness, but seem to be imposed from without.
Looked at the problem of freedom from want or the provision of five-fold amenities of life to the common-man in the light of the foregoing, the class which should be provided with these amenities does not seem to be conscious enough to make a demand of them or to whole-heartedly cooperate with the State to have these facilities provided. However favorable the external conditions may be, a real urge and demand for these amenities of better life has yet to be created in the mass of people.
Lack of Adequate Funds
It is obvious that our people are very poor and their taxable capacity is extremely limitedly The Post-war development projects demand investment of thousands of cores and where to find this money is one of the most serious problems before the country. Nobody has been able to indicate with any amount of precision and accuracy the sources of financing these projects. The curtailment of
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state expenditure on unproductive items and diverting the money so saved to national development is one source. Increasing the earnings of the people and taxing them for purposes of development is another one. Establishing credit in foreign countries and raising money for national reconstruction is still another source. But all these sources can only be utilized to the full when national government starts functioning in the country. In the absence of political and social conscious- ness among large masses of people, establishment of truly National Government is only a distant probability.
Trained Personnel and Social Services
A large recruitment of trained personnel to manage various measures of development is an equally urgent and pressing problem. On the Russian model this number is computed to be about two crores of people. It is a question of decades to have this number trained and would necessitate setting up of hundreds of institutions all over the country to provide various types of training. Getting requisite type of workers for these various services is an altogether different and difficult question. Dearth of right type of workers has been most pronounced in the field of constructive nation-building and most of our schemes of national development have come to bought for this one serious drawback. It is not lack of money but absence of requisite type of men that is arresting our national development.
Missionary Zeal
These are some of the disadvantages under which schemes of Post-war reconstruction are being prepared in this country. Obviously there are grave doubts of their successful implementation. The basic factor that is arresting national development is the absence of mass awakening or mass consciousness. And mass consciousness is undeveloped because sufficient educative and constructive work has not been done among them. Looked at against Indian back-ground, the establishment of new social order and provision of social security seem to be a Utopian dream. To me the only guarantee of such an order is the creation of a generation or two of constructive—minded
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workers who should feel the instinctive call that they are born with a mission to provide facilities of proper food, dress, dwelling, health and education to their less fortunate brethren in the country. With this instinct of social obligation, India can approach the task of Post-war reconstruction with confidence. Without that I know of no equipment which will help in making Post-war development programme a success in this country.
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!
By: G. K. Puranik
(Article published in September ‘1945 in ‘The Rural India’ Bombay)
TOT a brick in the city of London has - been made till it has not been made in the mind of man’, says an authority on psychology. The statement puts in nut-shell the great creative power of human mind. Before things take material form, they are conceived in man’s mind. It is the mind that feels the necessity or the absence of objects before they are created. The process from thought to action or from the conception of objects to their ultimate creation may be long, complicated, painful and tardy, but that is the natural process which inevitably finds its way to action. Nothing can be created or improved unless it is first designed by human mind.
It does not mean that every passing thought or fleeting idea is capable of producing physical results. A thought to be able to produce definite and concrete material results must undergo five-fold psychological processes, before it develops into a strong and determined ‘Will’ which acts. The processes are :—(1) One should know what he wants; (2) He should want it hard enough, i. e., with all human intensity; (8) He should maintain an attitude of confident expectation; (4) He should also have persist- exit determination and (5) Should finally pay full price or compensation for what he really wants. Thought conception before it takes physical form must pass through this psychological process. That is the process by which nature tests the validity and the genuineness of thought and if it is a live—idea it must find its way to action. Needless to say that many of our thoughts fail to stand this severe test and die a premature death.
Constructive nation-building pre-supposes cultivation and development of constructive mentality in a vast majority of people. Cultivation of mind to receive a particular set of ideas and to produce desirable results may well be compared with the proper preparation of
Constructive Mind
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the soil to reap a rich harvest. Evidently a strong urge for creation and construction is the ‘Sine qua none’ of this mentality. Nature blesses some people with greater amount of potentiality and an urge to do things than their other fellow men. These instinctively feel something lacking in their surroundings and would not rest content till they bring about necessary improvements. It is in the very nature of things that a strong man will instinctively feel like protecting his fellow man if some miscreants assail him. A swimmer would likewise never let his fellowman sink in water if he could help it. It is obvious that the action of weak man and also of one ignorant of the art of swimming would be different in these situations. By the same hypothesis people gifted with greater potentiality of mind and large fund of human sympathy feel like eradicating evils, they see round about them.
These individual gifts for creativeness or destruction in their aggregate form find expression in national and international spheres for constructive or destructive ends. Large-scale construction is followed by destruction and vice versa. Destruction by war in Europe is being followed by large-scale reconstruction programme in the postwar period. And so will extreme poverty and misery in India and China be followed by a period of prosperity and regeneration, Of course, certain constitutions are prone to early recovery while others take longer time for improvement. Similarly certain nations gifted with greater fund of energy and facility for material resources start on the road of progress and recovery earlier.
The psychology of an individual as that of a nation is governed by factors of periodic growth or decay through which an individual or a nation has to pass. A long period of continued growth and advancement develops vigour, adventure and enterprise in a people the same way as a long process of decay, degeneration and depression stamps its particular characteristics. Periodic change being the law of nature, human psychology is governed by its immutable working. Just as coming of a new season is heralded by change in nature, so does coming of a New Era or Age produces change in human mind. An age of constructive nation-building must of necessity produce psychology of
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creative human effort and we who foresee the coming of this age, should help fostering constructive and creative urge in our people.
That leads us to the consideration of the idea as to what constitutes constructive mentality. In popular language the expression stands for creating, building, or producing something, which is wanted by the exigencies of social needs but which is not there and needs to be supplied. As referred to earlier, certain people gifted with vision, such as, prophets, pioneers, leaders of men, look in advance to the needs of their fellow-beings and rouse consciousness among the people to meet them. They lay down certain fundamental principles, give out a code of conduct and chalk out a programme for people to follow. The Atlantic Charter, Four Freedoms advocated by the President Roosevelt and Fourteen Points of Constructive Programme Laid down by Mahatma Gandhi are pointers in the direction. In course of time, large masses of people in any country, who follow a given programme develop a particular mentality.
Line of demarcation
But the broad division or line of demarcation that divides constructive mind from a destructive one needs to be properly understood. Constructive mind is collective; co-operative and social while destructive one is individualistic, separatist and selfish. The former always aims and works for creative, reformative and ameliorative purposes and is opposed to tendencies and activities that create friction, disharmony, bitterness and injury to man or God’s good creation by thought, word or deed. People who take up constructive nation-building work should necessarily adopt and live a constructive code of life and discipline their thoughts, words and deeds in conformity with it. They should think, speak, or do nothing which may even distantly be injurious to the interests of some one else or to the society. An instinctive urge for improving and bettering one’s own condition and that of the society and natural dislike for thoughts and actions that tend to harmful and injurious results are the born characteristics of a constructive mind. Wherever he may be and whatever may be the nature of his work, his nature will lead him to
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create, beautify and improve things round about him. With favourable conditions, these characteristics of course, find scope for development, and expression.
Divine Discontent
The early symptoms of this faculty are to be traced to the restless spirit of man. These people belong to the discontented species and feel dissatisfied with what they see round about them. The drawbacks and absence of wants of man make them ill tease and they somehow try to remove those wants. Such people may well be called the conscience of social organism. They are distinguishable from the rest because they possess acute sense of feeling, powerful imagination and tireless energy for exertion.
As in human so in social organism head alone cannot accomplish things unless properly assis ted by other functioning organs. The mass of people have their place as operating organs and their function is as important in the society as that of the head. But these lack fire or what may be called acute sense of feeling or understanding and cannot therefore act independently. Left to themselves they will let things remain where they are. But to all those who take up constructive work either as leaders and organisers or as assistants and field workers, it is essential; they should follow the code of conduct in conformity with their work and mission in life. Since like attracts like, this cultivation of constructive mentality is an invaluable equipment for success in constructive undertaking goes without saying. If the mentality of the worker runs counter to the inherent nature of work undertaken by him, he should not expect success however well intentioned his efforts may be.
The Problem of Social Security
The whole scheme of post-war reconstruction centres round the idea of provision of social security. The Post-war world stands committed to the idea of providing social security to all men in all
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lands based on the principles of human justice and economic freedom. Various countries of the world are maturing plans of development in accordance with the needs of their people and the demands of social development. The difference in the degree of social security between one country and the other will by the large be determined by the political and economic back-ground of the people concerned and the enlightened co-operation that they receive from their nationals for the execution of these schemes. Obviously, the measure and degree of social security that may be possible in the United States of America and the United Kingdom may not be a practical proposition in politically and economically backward countries like India and China. The scheme of compulsory social insurance for the old and the disabled people as laid down by the Beveridge Plan for the people of England may not be found workable at the present stage of development in India. But whether we take the East or the West, the idea of social security is abroad and the State seems to have for the first time realised its duty towards every member composing it. The provision of essential requirements of life in food, dress, housing, health and education to every man is recognised as the primary function of the State. Large-scale planning and organisation of human and material resources of the countries attaining to the highest pitch of efficiency are the basis on which future happiness and prosperity of man kind is conceived. It is a social enterprise of large-scale cooperation and coordination of human and material resources on the basis of enlightened self-interest of people.
In its practical aspect, it is a question of public education on a large scale. The problem of social security in the post-war age has to be understood by the vast majority of people before they may be prepared to lend their active cooperation to make these schemes a success. The conviction that these seemingly utopian conditions can be created, should precede large-scale effort on the part of the people and they should know that it is in their interest to lend their whole hearted support to it. This knowledge is a decisive factor in awakening proper interest in the people and that is a task, which awaits the constructive worker. This being the magnitude of the job, the workers in the interest of their mission should approach their task with the equipment of a highly cultivated constructive mind.
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! By: G. K. Puranik
(Article published in September 1945 in The Rural India Bombay)
I N the beginning of the world when man came to exist on this planet, he was completely in association with mother nature and lived a most simple and natural life. Human mind had not then developed and the way man lived his life was not very much different from that of animal. He lived naked like a beast, knew not how to produce food— grains or to cook food, lived on the flesh of animals, fruits and raw—vegetables, moved from place to place without any permanent abode for himself; in short, he just lived the life of a primitive man. As days rolled on, he started learning things by experience, learnt to live in groups, producing food and also the method of cooking it, production of cloth and also the wearing of it and so on.
As he started living in groups and became a social being, he started cultivating social virtues as well. This, in course of time, led to the formation of village communities and small village settlements, creating with them the problem of protection, administration and social welfare of the community. A council of elders or formation of Panchayat was the natural consequence of this necessity of looking after the weif are problems of these settlements. These bodies grew in strength and efficiency and carried on the administration of the village communities for a long course of centuries of which we find authentic record. Under the administration of these Panchayats, the village life in India attained a high degree of self-sufficiency and self-government. Rise and fall of Empires and Kingdoms taking place at the top left the village community life unaffected and undisturbed.
History of Rural Development Movement
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Being the address delivered at ‘The Rural Workers’ Training Institute,’ Pohri, (Gwalior).
But with the establishment of British power in India and the introduction of centrab ised system of administration, the village autonomy of old was gradually broken. The historical fact is that the Britishers came here as traders and settled down as rulers. The centralized system of administration, which they introduced interfered with the powers and responsibilities of village administrative units. The method of collection of land revenue in kind which was in vogue in this country from times immemorial was supersede— ed by payment in cash which worked to the disadvantage of the village producer and exposed him to the exploitation of the middleman in the town. The courts of law which were established in towns and cities, took away the judicial powers vested in the Panchayats. The British system of administration in India thus assailed the economic and administrative self-sufficiency of the village units and the power of village Panchayats declined. Towns and Cities became the centers of power and wealth and a period of decay and down-fall set in the villages. Having lost their autonomy and self-sufficiency of old, the villagers became parasites and hangers- on to the town’s man. The village economy was completely collapsed and the social life in villages decayed.
The economic depression in the years 1929-30 and thereafter hit the producing masses the hardest and worked at complete ruin of the village communities. All this greatly affected the purchasing power of the masses, producing as a consequence all-round affect on the economic life of the country.
Villages for quite a long time suffered complete neglect at the hands of administrators, and general intelligentsia of the country.
They remained as places of economic hunt and exploitation and the problem of their welfare was not the concern of anybody. With the advent of Gandhiji in Indian politics, the spread of gospel of the spinning wheel and personal contact of workers with the villagers in
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connection with the Congress propaganda, the miserable condition of the village masses started attracting public notice. By completely identifying himself with the villagers and becoming the representative of ‘Daridra Narayan ‘, Gandhiji has, more than anybody else, made the villager and his problems the nerve centre of Indian political thought. The Congress under Gandhiji’s leadership started taking more and more interest in the problems of bettering the life in villages and in order to establish its identity with the villagers, the annual sessions of the Congress, which were being held in big cities, now, started being held in the villages. That is an earnest of the proof that the Congress places the interests of the village masses over and above those of any other class of people. This chain of political development, of course, inspired by the humanitarian concept of Mahatma Gandhi and the great contribution of his personality representing all that “Daridra Narayan” stands for, is a turning point in the history of the Rural Development Movement in the country.
The Congress and Khadi workers and also certain other patriotically inspired sections of people turned their thoughts for doing some little service to the villages and improving their condition if they can. The contact of the workers with the actual life of the villagers led to the study, understanding and interest in the long neglected problems of the masses and village conditions began to attract some public attention. Some public bodies and institutions and also some individuals interested themselves in the welfare and betterment of the villages and among these the work of Gandhi Seva Sangha, All India Spinners’ Association, All India Village Industries’ Association, Servants of India Society, Tagore’s work in Shriniketan, Adarsh Seva Sangha’s at Pohri (Gwalior), Mr. F. L. Brayne’s in Gurgaon District, Dr. Spencer Hatch’s in Martandam, and Sir Danial Hamilton’s in Gosava (Bengal) bear particular mention. These are just a few independent, scattered but pioneer attempts made by various institutions and individuals to bring about improvement in village life and conditions. Some of these early attempts may at this length of time look crude, superficial and wanting in method, but they have their place as pioneer nation-building efforts, which if nothing else served the purpose of focusing public attention towards improving the lot of the villagers. Rural Development being a new movement, it is
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only natural that it should grow by the only natural process of trial and error.
Rural Life Movement in Europe
Ideas do not move within limits of national boundaries. They leap across borders and find their way to the four corners of the world. All movements for the betterment of mankind spread from country to country, and from one Hemisphere to the other, till they embrace the whole or large part of the world. Rural Development Movement too is not entirely confined to India, but it is just a part of the World Movement for Rural Rehabilitation. It had its origin in Europe after t first European war of 1914-18 and to recreate what has been destroyed by it, The causes which gave birth to the movement of Rural Rehabilitation in Europe were, of course, different from those that were responsible for its origin in India. Here, it was the crushing poverty of the people and absence of purchasing power among the masses which placed the problem of raising the economic standard of the villager to the forefront and demanded a solutioit There, it was due to the necessity of reorganising the national economy of the various countries, svhich had suffered or collapsed as a result of devastation wrought by the war and also to revive home and cottage industries that have suffered due to the impact of industrial civilization.
The idea of national self-sufficiency which guided the policies of western countries after the first European war was primarily responsible for developing industrial, mineral and agricultural production of these countries to the maximum in order to be completely self-supporting. This led to the rehabilitation of agricultural economy in Europe and the development of rural life as a whole.
Interest in Rural Life Movement was greatly intensified in Europe for biological reasons as well. The flower of Europe’s manhood was killed in the first European war and signs of racial decay and degeneration were discernible in the national life of many countries. Supply of fresh blood and energy from rural to urban areas was a biological necessity and the need of rehabilitating life at it origin was greatly felt. The biological principle is that the races and communities living in close proximity of mother nature gather fresh vitality and
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energy and this abundance of energy spur them to adventure and to find fresh fields for the outlet of their energy and ambition. Hence this chain of migration from countryside to urban areas, and if it is strengthened at its base, national life as a whole will be revitalised.
The biological necessity of revitalizing and making national life of European countries fresh and vigorous and also the urgency of national economic self-sufficiency led to the birth of Rural Life Movement in Western Hemisphere. Under the auspices of the League of Nations a large number of countries prepared exhaustive monograms giving detailed description of development of various aspects 9f rural in their countries. Quite a large number of committees and commissions were appointed to investigate problems of labour, health and the like in various countries of the world and to suggest remedies for improving those conditions. These bodies did good deal of propaganda and large amount of educative literature was produced. The first conference on Rural Life was announced to be held in Geneva on the 16th of October’ 1939, which had to be abandoned for the outbreak of hostilities in Europe.
Nearer home, ‘Young China’ movement with aims at constructive nation-building is transforming the entire life of the Chinese people, which has few parallels and has an abiding lesson for India to learn.
A Chain of Developments
As a result of collapse of agrarian economy in our country, the British Government felt compelled to institute Royal Commission on Agriculture in 1927 of which the Err-Viceroy of India, Lord Linlithgow, was the President. The Commission toured and studied the agricultural condition of the country in all its many aspects and produced an authoritative report, which contains substantial recommendations for agricultural development. Somehow, these recommendations could not be implemented due to a series of political developments and particularly the framing of Federal Scheme for India which was being formulated by holding a number of
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‘Round Table’ conferences in Britain. Again, this Federal Constitution of 1935 could not be worked out for just another series of political developments and especially for want of sincere intentions on the part of the British ruling race to grant substantial power to Indians. To this day the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Agriculture have remained a dead letter and the only off-shoot of it is to be seen in the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research which is carrying on a number of experiments in the field of Agricultural research, publishing reports on the marketing of various agricultural products and also publishes a monthly magazine, ‘Indian Farming’.
The Congress under the guidance of Gandhiji, having realised the limitations of khadi for tackling all-round economic development of village life started in 1934 another body for the promotion and encouragement of cottage industries known as the All-India Village Industries Association. The Central Government apprehending that the Congress people may penetrate the Villages and catch the ears of the masses gave proof of its generosity towards the rural population and sanctioned a grant of one crore of rupees in the year 1935, which is now being utilized by Provinces for purposes of rural water. Supply, health and sanitation. Taking into consideration over seven lakhs of villages in India, the insufficiency of the Government of India’s grant and therefore the measure of its solicitude for the rural population needs no further comment.
The Congress Ministries took a big step in the direction of improving rural conditions in 1937-1938 and large amounts of expenditure were sanctioned for rural development. The life of these Ministries was a short one and only small beginnings could be made here and there before they had to resign for political reasons. Later on, the Governments thought fit to close down Rural Development Department in certain Provinces and where it continued to exist for name’s sake, the services of rural secretaries were being made use of to further war propaganda and military recruitment.
One of the major events, which helped in the creation of necessary psychology for village service, was Mahatma Gandhi’s decision to make his home in Sevagram. This has obviously
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impressed on men of wealth, inteffigence and influence to - take interest in the betterment of the villages and in a few cases men of light and leading have gone and settled down in the villages to be able to guide and improve the villagers through their personal example.
Kasturba National Memorial Fund amounting to rupees one crore and a quarter subscribed so liberally by all classes of people in this country and set apart for the uplift of village women and children is a demonstrable proof of the country’s awakened interest in the betterment of life and conditions in villages. The activities now in the process of being started in all parts of the country under the auspices of this fund will in a large measure go to relieve distress and suffering of village women and provide better facilities of life, education and up-bringing to small village children, who have no means to these amenities of civilized life.
In recent years, there has been quite a good deal of publication of literature on rural problems and this has besides placing rural problems for public attention stimulated thinking and reading along these lines. Widespread knowledge about the existence of a problem and its implications should precede large-scale efforts at its eradication. Popular literature is a potent means for the dissemination of knowledge. I have no doubt, the publication of ‘The Rural India, ‘ has been a great contribution for the growth of the movement of Rural Reconstruction. The work of the National Planning Committee under the Chairmanship of Pandit Jawahar IAI Nehru has placed the ideal of trebling the average national income of the country in the course of 10 to 15 years, which has further stimulated public interest for the development of the countryside.
The Second World War in Europe and the problem of Post-war reconstruction as it has finally emerged has completely revolutionized human concept with regard to the problem of social security. The state in future is held responsible to provide minimum needs of its entire population and human being wherever he may be and whatever status he may have in the society would be deprived of the enjoyment of essential needs of human life. And these requirements are, adequate and nutritious food, clothing, sanitary housing, health and education.
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The state or society is responsible to make every single member composing it free from essential requirements of life. This great humanitarian concept of
Social security for all has obliterated the distinction between rural and urban reconstruction and the problem of reconstruction with specific humanitarian objects is a world-wide problem, which of course, includes India as well. And large-scale State Planning is the only method through which this problem of social security can be solved.
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G. K. Puranik (Article Published in November’1944 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
RURAL Workers would do well not to lose sight of the distant pole star of their journey’s end, which is provision of Social Security and minimum economic standard to the producing masses in the countryside. Post-war reconstruction is but another name for ‘Economic front’, which is yet to be fought by the nations, to banish poverty, ignorance, disease and insecurity and to establish instead an era of economic democracy the world over. If every one should enjoy freedom from want everywhere, which is the slogan of the Postwar age, it naturally follows, minimum standard of human needs in food, dress, shelter, health and education should be provided to all men. Raising the standard of human life the world over, naturally, embraces this country and its toiling masses in villages as well; Constructive workers, therefore, stand morally charged to ensure minimum needs of civilized existence to the village masses and they should bend all their energies for this happy consummation.
It is a question of national honour that the section of humanity inhabiting this land should in no way be deprived of the enjoyment of minimum physical comforts and opportunities for growth, which are being provided to other peoples in more advanced countries of the world. Nothing better can demonstrate our capacity for world-recognition and honourable existence than to create and ensure better and more civilized conditions of life and opportunities to the common-man that is being provided to him in other lands. Utopian as the idea of Social Security may appear at first sight, it will be found on dose analysis, that there is no element of impracticability about it, once this long denied claim of the common-man receives moral recognition of the society. The springs of Social Security are
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Social Security and National Minimum in Rural Areas
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inherent in human nature and these may be traced to the earliest period of human civilisation when man started to live in social groups and community, settlements. With the growth of civilization and evolution of mankind, the idea has gradually expanded till our own times, when human relations, whether social, political or economic, have to be governed and controlled by international factors. We have left behind the age of national isolation and inter-dependence of the peoples of the world is no longer a matter of academic discussion. The whole world today is one inter-related field for co-operative enterprise and the prosperity of one nation depends upon the prosperity of other parts of the globe as well.
The world war second has beyond doubt established the inter-dependence of nations and introduced elements of establishing Sovereignty of the International State for the future peace of the world. It has created numerous problems, political and economic, for fresh adjustment and for establishing just and equitable basis for political and economic standards the world over. If world organisation for international security is imperative, establishment of economic democracy, on just and fair basis for all, is its necessary counter-part. This new international adjustment has introduced principles of Social Security and National Minimum for recognition and planned methods are being devised to give practical shape to this idea in all parts of the world.
As mentioned earlier, the idea of Social Security is as old as civilization. It has grown and expanded with the march of civilization and has adjusted itself to ever-increasing complexities of human life. The old conception of Social Security to which the state held itself responsible was to protect the life and property of the people against any danger or possible encroachment from others. Luckily for us, this conception of Security, which was only passive in nature, is superceded by a more dynamic one, which aims at ensuring just and equitable economic standard and facilities of civilized life to every man everywhere. That is one of the 20th Century phenomenons and the greatest creative thought contribution of the World-war Second. Re-organisation and fresh adjustment of social, economic and political structure has, therefore, become imperative to suit changed world conditions.
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Modern conception of Social Security has three objectives in view: — (1) Full and compulsory employment of all able-bodied
persons of both the sexes.
(2) Compulsory saving and insurance against unemployment, physical disability, old age and other emergencies and contingencies of life.
(3) Ensuring minimum economic standard facilities of civilized life to every one everywhere.
Sir William Beveridge, who is the author of the Social Security Plan for Great Britain, has taken care to take into account all possible contingencies in the life of the individual and has made provision for every man, woman and child in that country a certain minimum standard of comfort under all circumstances. The United Nations’ Charter, recently formulated by the Allied Nations assembled at San Francisco (U. S. A.), draws attention of all nations to reorientate their policies and assume full responsibility to ensure to all people a common Civic Minimum’ in terms of sufficient and wholesome food, adequate clothing, decent housing and a reasonable standard of health and education. That is an irreducible civic minimum, which should be provided by a modern state to every one of its citizens.
Recognition of this fresh responsibility by the state or society towards every citizen both when he is able to work and when he is not, has brought to the forefront the problem of large-scale organisation of human labour and exploitation of material resources and placing human needs and resources in relation to each other through planned state action. National States all the world over are called upon to discharge this responsibility in the post-war age. No State including the most advanced ones are in a position to answer this description today. But there are clear signs that all nations the world over are inclined to accept this new responsibility and to discharge it to the best of their capacity.
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The fundamental basis of Social Security is to destroy the evil of ‘want’ and to ensure to every citizen sufficient income in return for service, which may provide decent maintenance to himself and his dependents under all conceivable circumstances. That means providing full and productive employment to all adult population and to completely destroy the evil of idleness or unemployment To ensure such a condition of existence to the society, the state or community will have not only to fight relentless war against the evil of unemployment and idleness, but will also have to attain the highest pitch of organisation of human and material resources at its disposal. The ‘Beveridge Plan’ lays the greatest emphasis on the destruction of the evil of idleness or unemployment; which is the fiercest of all the five giants, the other four being, want, disease, ignorance and squalor. Sir William observes, if this giant of idleness or unemployment is destroyed, the problem of Social Security comes within reach. He further enunciates the theory and says- “Destruction of idleness means ensuring for every citizen a reasonable opportunity of productive service and of earning according to his service. It means maintenance of employment of labour and other resources. Idleness is the largest and fiercest of the five giants and the most important to attack. If the giant of idleness can be destroyed all the other aims of reconstruction come within reach. If not, they are out of reach in any serious sense and their formal achievement is futile,”
“There are two important conditions to launch a successful attack upon the giant idleness or unemployment”, says Sir William, namely, “(a) Continuance of fluidity of labour and resources and (b) Continuance of National planning.
“National Planning”, according to Beveridge, “means that some one on behalf of the State shall prepare a Schedule of the things that are required including purchasing power abroad, and, on the other side a schedule of resources that are available for production. In the aftermath of war resources and needs must be brought into relation to one another by deliberate State action.”
However complex and difficult the problem of vast organisation of human energy and material resources is, the results aimed at, viz.,
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economic prosperity and civilized amenities of life to all citizens are quite possible of achievement, provided determined state action is there. Russia with no better human and maternal resources could achieve conditions of Social Security in an astonishingly short period of 12 years through State planned action. In 1935, i. e., 12 years after the launching of the first Five Year Plan in that country, the national income in Russia, which was 25 billion roubles in the beginning rose to 125 billions, that is, five times the original national wealth. Collective farming and introduction of tractor completely revolutionised the economic life, increased national dividend by 500% and ushered in conditions of national prosperity to Russian people in an incredibly short period; but this could be made possible through State planning alone.
Sir William has made pointed reference to the periods of the two world wars in his report when he says unemployment was completely banished from most of the countries and people enjoyed conditions of general economic prosperity denied to them in normal peace times. He infers there from and emphasises the fact that if State cares as much for ‘winning the peace’ as it does for ‘winning the war’ and adopts all possible measures and expedients in a deliberate and planned effort, unemployment and resultant misery will be a thing of the past. But somehow the state mechanism gets into rut during peace time and indulges in Laissez faire attitude, till it is rudely shaken by some violent out-burst aggravated by neglect or deferred adjustment of just claims of humanity or a section thereof. Post-war age demands that the State policy should undergo re-orientation in this respect and it should adopt dynamic and determined attitude for complete social and economic reconstruction of the people through national planning.
In the case of India, absence of national state is the greatest handicap in our way to large-scale planning and social reconstruction. A foreign administration sustaining itself on the exploitation of the indigenous population is absolutely unfitted for this job. The question of transfer of political power stands in the way of national planning and economic activity in this country and no one is in a position to say as to when the present political deadlock is to be resolved.
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That being the unfortunate case, we wish to remind the Constructive Workers all over the country that they have no reason to feel depressed or to slacken their efforts in the face of peculiar difficulties inherent in our situation. ‘Nations are by themselves made’ and they are made in the face of all adverse conditions. Self-help being the basic principle of Constructive nation-building, rural workers should see to it that at such a juncture in the history of their country they should not remain waiting for big things to happen and neglect to make small beginnings in planned economic development and Social Security in the village areas under their charge.
Certainly, large-scale drive and planned effort by the State are productive of great results but that does not mean that small individual or local efforts will be wasted or will not be productive of any consequence. In their ultimate analysis mightiest oceans have their beginnings in small drops of water. And so should be made the beginnings of national reconstruction in small village units with Village Panchayats as our national states in miniature and earnest and determined workers or local leaders supplying necessary dynamics of State action. A national state is after all composed of these small units and weakness or strength of these Local administrations will be the determining factor for effectiveness or otherwise of the State action as a whole.
Uncertain political conditions such as they exist in this country leave no other choice to the rural workers. They are called upon to plan out all-sided development of village conditions after making exhaustive social and economic surveys of their areas. The Multi-purpose Societies and the introduction of Co-operative farming together with Social Service activities for the improvement of national health and education in villages provide the key to the problem of planned economic reconstruction of rural areas. Workers with vision and capacity for scientific and coordinated planning will, in course of time, be able to inspire confidence in the intelligent section of the village population and harness their energy for improvements. Let Village Panchayats our miniature republics of old-take initiative in planned national reconstruction in their areas and pave the way for the National State, to assume full responsibility for Social Security and
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National Minimum to every citizen by effecting coordination between these local administrative units later on.
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By: G. K. Puranik
(Article published in March 1946 in The Rural India Bombay)
It has been usual with me to be spending a month or two every year to study village life in different parts of the country. This time the rural study-tour was undertaken in the capacity of the Principal of the Rural Workers Training Institute, Pohri, (Gwalior). The Study-tour was a part of practical training to the trainees and it was my duty as the head of the institute to accompany them. It commenced on the 2nd of December, 1945 and ended on the 10th of January, 1946, covering in all a period of 5 weeks.
In the course of the tour we covered C. P., Bengal and the United Provinces and studied rural reconstruction activities conducted both by the Government and public bodies in these provinces. Constructive nation-building in all its varied aspects being the object of our study-tour, we tried to study both sectional and compartmental schemes of improvements and also all-sided development activities of village conditions. These studies were supplemented by personal talks and discussions with the authorities on different subjects and practical workers in the field. In its cumulative effect, the picture that is produced as a result of this study may well be described as follows: -
“Rural Development” programme has not been given sincere trial in any part of the country by either agencies-official or nonofficial. All-sided development of village life and conditions with a scientific and methodical approach to the problem is nowhere to be seen. All that has been attempted half-heartedly with ‘some-sort- of-welfare’
Rural Study - Tour and its Lessons
50
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attitude of mind is only sectional or compartmental activity involving minimum expenditure and resources in men. It was just show-work or window- dressing and nothing much was expected of it.
Development of Economic condition of the masses, which was the acid test of the programme of rural reconstruction has been hardly touched, The Government and its officials have been found to be disinclined to touch the economic aspect of peoples’ development lest such a process may adversely affect their’ own economic stability. Some kind of charitable show without any definite plan or policy has been maintained and nobody cared to test its results by tangible improvements in village conditions.
Wherever one may go, the present activity carried on in the name of rural reconstruction in the country is a patch work in the direction of promotion of literacy, improvement of village sanitary conditions, introduction of a few cottage industries, dairy farming, agricultural improvements, cooperative activity and working of Panchayats in certain areas and these too are not to be seen worked out in a coordinated way at one place. One should move about half a dozen places or more to find out satisfactory working of these various activities in a scattered form and that too without much method or plan. Therefore, though we must admit that we failed to find all-sided and coordinated plan of village development activities being worked out anywhere during our study- tour which was the main object of our study but severally and in a scattered way most of the items of rural development programme have been seen being worked up at different places with a fair amount of success.
Why after all an experiment at coordinated and all-sided development was not tried, when the same items can be worked up with success separately may be a question? The only answer is that it was not so willed. It may be due to want of clear conception of the manifold aspects of rural development programme in the minds of the early promoters of this movement. It may also be due to unwilling- ness or unprepared ness of the agencies both official and non-official to pay the cost that such a revolutionary undertaking demanded.
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What we have been able to realise from personal experience and little that we have been able to study is that the conception itself has of late undergone revolutionary change as a result of war and the ideas of social justice that it has given birth to. Experience has also taught many a worker that partial treatment of such a widespread malady is no good till all-sided attack is not launched and every aspect of village life is developed in harmony with the rest. The realization has come that life cannot be developed in compartments. It can only be treated as a single whole. And when the magnitude of the problem is so vast and intricate, small and spasmodic efforts do not avail much. They are rather waste of efforts.
The impact of world factors has completely changed the original and the modest conception of rural reconstruction movement with which the pioneers started. Then, small-scale improvements in village conditions were conceived against the background of poor and depressing conditions obtaining in India. Now the latest idea of freedom from want and provision of civic minimum to every citizen in the post-war period have for their background world conditions, which are infinitely more advanced. Before we proceeded on tour our trainees were theoretically equipped with the latest idea of development and it is no wonder, if no suitable model could be seen any where. A backward country like India could not be expected to keep pace with revolutionary advancing theories and international movements. All with which we had to satisfy ourselves was to go round and see sectional or compartmental activities as they are being carried out at different places.
As mentioned earlier, well-planned, coordinated and all-sided activity for the development of villages was no where to he seen and such a thing does not exist either. But we could see for a fact that Wherever even small scale and sectional activities have taken permanent roots, life and conditions in the improvement villages as compared with those existing in the neighbouring ones have fairly improved. Rural development villages have been found to be cleaner in appearance and physical, mental and economic condition of people
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living in them was better than what obtains in the surrounding villages not taken in for improvement.
C. P. Govt’s Rural Uplift work
To begin with, we started on our intensive study tour with a village ‘Khodajhari’ in Central Provinces where the Agriculture Department of C. P. Government in co-operation with the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research are conducting a project of rural development with particular emphasis on agricultural development of the village. This is a Gond village situated in the heart of dense forest on Nagpur-Jubbulpore Road where people mostly live on forest produce. In the last three years of the introduction of improved methods of agriculture, a large area of fallow-land has been brought under cultivation and there has been noticeable increase in yield per acre, as revealed by the records maintained by the worker at the centre. The village puts on a live appearance with a village Assembly Hall donning the centre and a well-laid out approach road adding to the beauty of the village. Almost every home has its own ‘Ban’, 1. e., Kitchen garden at the back yard with its own well where people grow vegetables and fruit trees. Cattle-breeding and poultry-farming on improved lines have been taken up by the villagers. From all appearances people of this village appeared to be well off.
Wardha and its Institutions
Wardha wasthe next place visited by us. It appeared to he a town full of variety of public institutions all having been sprung up as a part of Mahatmaji’s multifarious constructive nation-building activities. Maganwadi, Nalwadi and Sevagram are three separate centres of activities and in between them there are several other being carried on. Institutions of all-India nature, Mahilashram, Hindustani Preacher Sangha and Seksaria College, etc., to name only a few.
Maganwadi is the home of All-India Village Industries Association. It houses several sub-institutions or departments
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connected with research and improvement of village industries. These are handmade paper making, improved Ghani or oil extraction, Magan Dip-a new type of lantern used i$ith linseed oil, palm-Our making, soap-making, Bee Keeping, Magan Sangrahalaya or Museum of Cottage industries and Gramodyog Vidyalaya where students come from all over India and receive training in various cottage industries mentioned above.
Nalwadi is another centre of activity associated with the name of Shri Vinoba Bhave and Seth Jamana Lalji Bajaj. Here ‘Go Pun’ or cow service institute is an excellent dairy farm run on self-supporting basis with some margin of profit as well, and where we were impressed to see some very nice breeds of cow. The management and care taken in this institute for the improvement of the breed of cow, cannot but extract admiration. Close to it is Nalwadi ‘Char Malaya’ or leather works where tanning of leather and production of excellent leather articles is done.
‘Sevagram Ashram’, the head quarter of Mahatmaji himself, is another centre of a variety of institutions connected with his constructive nation-building programme. Here, there are head quarters of the All-India Spinners’ Association and Khadi Vidyalaya where students are trained in spinning and weaving and other technique of Khadi.
Then, there is ‘Gram Seva Vidyalaya’ or village service Institute, which imparts training to the students in rural service. ‘Hindustani Talimi Sangha’ or the head quarters of Wardha Scheme of education and a training school attached to it is the third activity of All-India nature, where experiments to make education economically self-supporting side by side with the all-ihund development of the student are Close by in a mud-hut stays Gandhiji associated by a number of other savants or Sadhakas who help him in his all-India activities. He provides both guidance and inspiration to the workers of these many institutions and carries his numerous political, social and other activities from this cluster of huts.
But alas! Amidst this amazing variety of institutions situated on its very outskirts and the proximity of the Mahatma himself, poor
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Sevagram practically remains where it was. They say, a small ‘Mullah’ stream marks the dividing line between Gandhiji’s ashram and Sevagram and that difference stands literally true to the astonishment of the visitors. I had twice visited old Sabarmati Ashram and had my own modest idea as to what institutions at Wardha would be like, but the magnitude and large scale growth of institutions that have sprung up in Wardha due to the presence of Mahatmaji simply amazed me. So far the growth of institutions is concerned; I found things 10 times bigger in volume and magnitude than what I had conjectured in my mind. But judging these institutions from the point of view of problems as they exist in scattered villages and hamlets of India, I am afraid, Wardha like other centralised public institutions and the limitations from which all such institutions suffer offers little solution.
Having given birth to many institutions and after conducting a number of institutions during the last 25 years of my public life and also having studied the working of similar institutions all over India, I am convinced of the fact that our present day institutions inherit the legacy of capitalistic structure of society in which they are born and from which they draw their support and sustenance and are wholly unsuited to serve the interests of the common-man or masses, for whose benefit they are supposed to be created. Like any other accursed ‘ism ‘institutionalism is a curse from which our country suffers and the benefits of these hardly travel to the masses. Our
Present day public institutions in practice are very much like a capitalistic structure of Government or a business combine, where few organizers or promoters monopolies authority and direct their working in the interest of a limited group or vested interests. The association of a big leader or patronage of an outstanding personality easily attracts public funds and those responsible for their working carry on a routine existence year after year without qualms of conscience. Some of those who can afford to come inside their portals are benefited. But this benefit very much like political or financial power is distributed among the limited few. It does not find its way to decentralisation and widespread distribution to be able to serve the needs of the vast mass of common people who lack necessary means to be benefitted.
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What can be more illustrative of the fact than the existence of Mahatmaji’s Ashram at Sevagram with all kinds of nation-building institutions for the rehabilitation of village life and Sevagram remaining the same insanitary and unprogressive village in its close vicinity challenging the utility of these institutions for the betterment of village conditions? Whatever there names and labels these institutions of ours are a product of a capitalistic society, which is not very much interested in serving the interests of the common-man. And workers and others responsible for their creation being the product of the same social order feel satisfied if they succeed in satisfying their class or group interest. In future, institutions that will cater to the needs of the communicant who lack means and resources will be of a different pattern and will be the product of a changed social attitude, All regimented, centralised and capitalized institutions whether educational or of industrial variety can he made a success under proper management and supervision, but their benefits do not filter down to the society for the elevation of masses in villages has been my sad experience. And Wardha institutions are no exception to the rule.
Khadi Pratisthan, Sodepur, (Calcutta)
Khadi Pratisthan, Sodepur, (Calcutta), was the next institution visited by our party. We reached here the same time, when Gandhiji and his party were staying. It was a coincidence that we shared the hospitality of Sodepur Ashram along with Gandhiji’s party. Sodepur looked like a regular national fair. As usual, there used to be regular stream of visitors to Gandhiji throughout the day and people in their thousands used to assemble during evening prayers. Our party reached Sodepur Ashram just in time for evening prayers and a huge congregation of people from Calcutta and the surrounding area swelled prayer-grounds. The whole Ashram was putting on a festive appearance and the atmosphere was full of life and activity.
In the midst of such a heavy pressure of work, no sooner did we report our arrival at the enquiry office, we found to our surprise that every arrangement regarding our boarding and lodging has already
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been made in advance and people concerned have received instructions regarding our arrival. We were struck by the thoroughness and prompt attendance to details of the Ashramites. In the midst of such a huge crowd of guests and visitors, extra care and attention to details that we observed in every sphere of activity of this Ashram was a marvel of efficient management. That we guests, should occupy front seats in the nearest enclosure to Gandhiji during prayer time came in for special attention to Satish Babu and Charu Babu, the Manager and Assistant Manager of the Ashram and not till we had occupied our seats did the stream of volunteers stopped asking us to get ready and start.
After meals in the evening when Shri Bharatan Kumarappa introduced me to Satish Babu, his complaint was why I was so late to turn up to him. And before he left the Ashram on tour with Gandhi ii he did find time in the midst of his too numerous engagements to write out all our programmers in Calcutta and instructed every one concerned including heathen daughter to help us to visit various persons and places. And long before we finished our round of visit to various cottage industries in the Ashram, though many of them were not in proper working order due to extra pressure of work of Gandhiji’s stay, the books that were to be given to me for review in ‘The Rural India’ were waiting at our cottage. Satish Babu impressed me a man of untiring energy and industry and given to minute details. He was a model of a host and we all returned highly enriched in life having learnt a lesson in hospitality at his Ashram. Though normal working of industries was dislocated due to Gandhiji’s visit, yet we could see paper-making, Khadi-production, leather works, bee-keeping, which are well-organised.
Bengal Government and its interest in
Nation-building
Meeting with Mr. Ishaque, I.C.S., Development Commissioner of Bengal Government, was another happy and never to be forgettable memory of our visit to Calcutta. We were in intimate know of each other through correspondence for long and his contributions to Rural India brought us still nearer. Though we had never met in person, yet
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there existed a bond of fraternity of ideas between us long before we saw each other this time. No sooner did he receive a telephonic call from me, I could atonce mark his over-flowing joy at my being in Calcutta so unexpectedly. He sent his car to fetch me from Sodepur to his place on Burdwan road, a distance of about 18 miles. And how happy and memorable were our three long sittings in which we exchanged notes on problems of rural reconstruction and post-war development. How much sweetness and warmth of feeling did we find in Mr. Ishaque and his good wife and how soul-full and elevating were the talks will remain a memory of a life time. It is difficult to find a man more sincere than Mr. Ishaque for constructive nation-building work in Bengal and yet the irony is that the present Governtnent of Bengal has thought fit to abolish the Development Department of which Mr. Ishaque was the head and the same man who was responsible to bring the department into being has been charged with the duty to wind it up. How great was his agony and depression of feeling on what he has been told to do. We found him very much physically pulled down and mentally dejected due to this open hostile attitude of the Government of Bengal in matters of nation-building.
That is the measure of Government’s interest whether Central or Provincial in matters regarding nation-building and they have no use of Ishaque or of his kind however sincere they may be. Whether it is Sir Dalal at the Centre or Mr. Ishaque in the Bengal Government, the wooden machinery of Government designed for exploitation and suppression of people has no use of them. All they can do is to bewail over their sad plight and come out if they find it inconvenient to stay on. But the present machinery of Government does not admit of any change or improvement.
There is also social and psychological side to this interesting meeting which deserves reflection. At Mr. Ishaque’s place though we his friends and guests were all high class Brahmins (Hindus) but there was not a tinge of strangeness we felt in a Muslim home and in partaking meals cooked in a Muslim family. The way we were accepted in his family by Mr. Ishaque, his wife and children left no room for formality and reserve and we felt completely at home at his
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place. Looked in the light of this personal experience the theory of two nations and claims of unbridgeable Hindu-Muslim differences advanced these days appear to be simply ridiculous. Though religiously we were Hindus and Muslims, but because of our affinity of ideas and identity of interests, we felt, we are nearer to each other than two blood brothers. That shows a way to the solution of the vexed problem of Hindu Muslim differences and the division of India into Hindustan and Pakistan. These so-called differences stand resolved on the basis of common identity of purpose and interests,
Which should be cultivated? It is a pity that religion, which was originally conceived to be a cementing factor between man and man, is being employed for quite opposite purposes, I. e., in creating disharmony, strife, division and disruption.
Study of a Bengal Village
Accompanied by Mr. Dey, the Deputy to Mr. Ishaque, we paid a visit to a Village ‘Gocharan’ some 22 miles away from Calcutta on Sialdah Diamond Harbor line. The problems as they were revealed to us in this part of Bengal as a result of our visit to this village were quite unlike problems in other parts of the country and were perplexing to the extreme.
This is a pretty big village of some twelve hundred souls enjoying modern facilities of railway and road communication and also having other advantages of education and medical relief. But how shocked we felt on enquiry that 40% of population in the village and the surrounding area is actually starving and not getting even two bare meals a day. During the last Bengal famine of 1943 hundreds of people in this area died of starvation and those who survive to-day are no more than living ghosts, reduced to bare-skin and bone due to misery and starvation. I have lived and moved all my life in villages and have seen misery and suffering of the masses. But never in all my life, have I been moved and shocked to see human misery and suffering of the type as I have seen during this tour in Calcutta and in Bengal villages.
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I also never felt so embarrassed and purplexed in finding out as to what should be done to improve conditions of people in these parts as I felt while taking round of this Gocharan village. During my first visit to Calcutta in 1921. Now 25 years, how ecstatic and charmed I felt from the train to see green and beautiful scenery of Bengal countryside and how I wished to have been born in these lovely surroundings. But little did I know then that these very blessings of nature manifested in abundance of water everywhere, overgrowth of vegetation, thick foliage and charming looking shady cluster of trees are a curse for happy and healthy existence of Bengal’s people. This water Jogging everywhere is a formidable problem for Bengal which not only checks human movement but also breeds all sorts of germs and mosquitoes spreading malaria and ill-health and undermining vitality and resisting power of the people. Over. Flow of water impedes agricultural operations and reduces productivity of land. The elements, sun, earth, water and wind rather than being helpful and favorable to the growth and activity of the people seem to work at people’s disadvantage in these parts.
For three quarters of an hour, I felt lost in the thought how a population living under these elementary disadvantages of nature could be saved from sure misery, starvation and death. After heart to heart discussion with the villagers and analytical examination of the whole situation, it was discovered that not till these parts are completely reclaimed and made safe from ravages of flood and excess of water by creating proper drainage facilities, will people enjoy normal and happy existence. Freedom from the curse of water logging, removing overgrowth of vegetation and foliage, filling up ditches and tanks which are the hotbeds of malaria and several other diseases, provision of pure and sanitary drinking water facilities, are some of the urgent needs of the population in these parts. This is a staggering constructive task, which can not be accomplished by mere tinkering. It is possible of accomplishment only through state drive with full cooperation of the people and help of the latest scientific inventions.
Here, it is not a problem of minor reform of sinking a well or two or laying out an approach road, but a formidable problem of reclamation and reconstruction of the whole countryside. I discussed
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the proposition with Mr. Ishaque and we agreed on the urgent need of large-cale development programme to rehabilitate the life of people in these parts. But the existence of an indifferent alien Government is the
Greatest stumbling block in the way of any large-cale development every thing at the moment calls for change of the Government, without which national development plans must wait.
The study of Bengal and its village life will not be complete without some reference to Calcutta and life that we saw in that metropolitan city. Calcutta by far the largest populated city in India-ow the population being estimated at 4 millions and a half-s very much unlike Bombay and is an ugly model of what an insanitary and filthy city could be. When I visited it for the first time in 1921 my impression about that city was bad enough. Since then as I could observe more minutely this time, things have gone hopelessly bad. Except tall buildings in certain quarters, the swarm of population as it moves about in filthy streets, lanes and bylanes in Calcutta in endless row give one an impress ion of its being a city full of coolies and a hopelessly dirty, famishing and miserable looking population. Cleanliness of surroundings and of dress is something rare to be seen in this city. There is complete disrçgard of sanitation, refinement and culture with which one associates life in cities.
Except in a few localities, where only upper middle and high class people live, one comes across almost everywhere the same never ending spectacle of famishing crowd, litter and Kachara thrown in big heaps on main roads and streets and nobody taking care to remove it, crowds of people hanging by railings to the trains and trams without a thought to purchase a ticket, beggars roaming about in the streets, women of ill-fame frequenting every Street corner, Calcutta appeared to me a picture of tragedy, confusion and terrible mismanagement. It is a model of blessings of Rule Britannia in this country. Thirty five lacs of people have already perished in the last Bengal famine and quite a large fraction of those moving ghosts in the streets of Calcutta, appeared to me to be on the waiting list to die. And only a miracle can avert the impending tragedy. With all our very happy meetings with friends, we left Calcutta
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depressed and sick both in mind and body and the memory of what we saw in those 4 days haunts us as a nightmare.
Shantiniketan
Shantiniketan stands in refreshing contrast to what we saw in Calcutta and in its surrounding countryside. Our stay and visit to Shanriniketan, Shriniketan and the village centre Laldah were both happy and stimulating. Gurudev was alive, though by coincidence he was not at Shantiniketan when I first visited it in 1933. Somehow, negligence and mismanagement that I noticed then in the working of the institution spoiled my first impression. Now that Gurudev is no more, I had my own misgivings about the success of our visit to the institution. But I was glad to find that things have improved for better than what I had miscalculated. It speaks volumes in favour of Rathindra Babu and his colleagues who are efficiently managing the affairs of the institution and also of the message that the institution has to convey.
Though our party stayed at Shantiniketan but we were only there to study rural uplift activities at Shriniketan. Casually we took round and saw Shantiniketan colony and its many institutions including Gurudeva’s cottage that are situated there in The very atmosphere of Shantiniketan breathes art and poetry and literature and one who would visit it could not help being struck by its artistic and elevating surroundings.
At Shriniketan, rural survey and statistical records of village life, agricultural farm, dairy and poultry farming, training of village boys for farm life, cottage industries institute, its weaving, leather works, carpentry, potteries and fisheries were some of the activities visited by our party. Weaving and leather works though run on cottage industry basis are very well organised and it was reported to us by the manager that during the last year, these industries earned a net profit to the tune of Rs. 27000/-Due to easy facilities of finance which a public institution can command and educated and efficient management, which equipment the disorganised and illiterate village artisan lacks, these cottage industries while though they prove a success as a centralised unit, fail to be transmitted to the villages for
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 338
the very absence of these favorable conditions. Therefore, success of these centralised units of cottage industries under institutional management has not much meaning and message for their adoption in villages and what is said in this connection of Wardha institutions holds equally true of institutions here.
Laldah village centre 5 miles away from Shriniketan and conducted on behalf of this institute produced most wholesome impression on us and we have nothing but appreciation for that work. This is the first village centre visited by us in this tour where many-ided programme of improvement is being worked out more or less methodically and with a plan. There are detailed charts of all-sided activities kept up on the walls of the local Pali Mangal Samiti, which furnish full information about various activities conducted at the centre and the standards reached in every direction. We took round of the village and the adjoining fields and also saw irrigational work created by the co-operative enterprise of the villagers. This irri-gational work is an excavated tank, which is responsible for the introduction certain new crops like wheat and sugarcane in this area and has added to the economic prosperity of the villagers. The working ofVishwa Bharati Cooperative Bank has greatly organised economic life 0f the villagers here and they put on a different appearance than what we saw at Gocharan village near Calcutta. We were particularly struck by the earnestness and sincerity of the local secretary who is a trained student of Shriniketan.
U. P. Govt’s rural uplift work
Rural Reconstruction work in the villages round about Fyzabad (U. P.) carried on by the Rural Development Department of U. P. Government, which we visited during this tour, deserves mention. U. P. is the only Province where rural development exists as a separate department and where a budgeted sum of about 12 lacs of rupees is being spent every year on items of rural uplift in villages. Our party visited 4 different villages in this area, some 10 miles away on either side of Fyzabad and what we saw pleased us very much.
Taken separately the village, ‘Pura Kashinath’ stands out prominent in our memory. It is a complete newly built model village
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by the labors of the people themselves with only a nominal government help. The people have grown their own Kitchen gardens in their back yards and planted fruit trees. It was only in my sore State near Bangalore that I saw certain 1-larijan Colonies built on cooperative housing model. This village has a specialty in that it is a complete village built on a new housing model with a village well in the centre of it. It is a standing example for post-ar sanitary housing in villages under contemplation. If people are sufficiently inspired and properly guided what is possible at one place may also be a possibility at other places.
Here, in these rural development villages in U. P., one finds Panchayat Ghar’, a village assembly ball, standing prominent in the village built by the department of of Rural Development with the cooperation of the local people. A village worker and a woman village guide stay in these villages and carry on various activities of rural uplift according to the programme drawn up by the department. They look after the education of boys and girls and also that of women and adults, provide medical help, conduct libraries and reading rooms, look to sanitary improvement, organise village Panchayats and conduct their working. We found these villages clean and attractive and people living in them enjoing better educational and economic facilities.
Recapitulation: —
The conclusions arrived at as a result of this study-our may be briefly summarised as follows:—
(1) Rural Development programme has not been given serious trial either by the Government or by none-official agencies
(Continued on 2nd Cover Page)
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 340
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By G. K. Puranik
(Article published in MAY’1946 in ‘The Rural India’ Bombay)
I am glad to associate myself with the trainees of this tlnrd an 11-India Rural Uamp organised by the Adarsh S e v a Sangha at its head-quarters at Pohri. As most of you know, the Sangha- had its birth in a vii lager and quite naturally in tried to serve and uplift the rural masses in a variety of ways dunng these 25 years and more. The last two training cunps have been Non-ere attempts in the sphere of comprehensive study of rural problems. village survey and multi-purpose plannmg and it rcluains tor the present camp to demon strate the practical working of an all-sided plan of de vclopiueut in this ceutra] ly situated Krislinaganj Unit’ if villages in this area. That is the task, which awaits he present campers, and it is confidently expected of them that, before the two months are out, Ihev will leave behind them a record of hard labour and practical application to tins experiment worthy of the true missionaries of village service.
The most outstanding problem of the year and probably of a few years to coin. Before the world as well as India is the grave problem ol food-shortage and Tim Consequent dread of the impending food famine in the country. This is obviously the result of the last world-war, witieht disorgansed noriiuil eivil life both in Europe and Asia and dislocated agriculture auth food-productive meson rces of the world. This cowl try- has already witnessed. The Bengal food-famine of 1913 taking a toll of three million lives. Those who are in the know rightly apprehend that if large stock of food-grain is not immediately imported front outside and made available IC for feeding our population the loss of human life this time mar be several times more.
THE TASK BEFORE POHRI RURAL TRAINING CAMP
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Side by side with our efforts to secure food supplies front outside. The Govern’ ii tent a id ti ie people should Jo] a hands - togel her to lauiicli vigorous food- introduction all over the country and in creased national food-resources to avert tile catastrophe. The trainees of this camp by the very fact of their being constructive workers in villages are our soldiers to fight I his loud Front.’ They should, during the course of their short training here, equip themselves in such a way that on their return to their respective sphere of work, they mistakes their definite contribution to increase the food- productive resources in their areas and hrng credit to their training and the mission to which the are wedded.
A rural workers’ training has not mud meaning, if it does not inspire and equip the trainees to solve this most urgent problem of food-supply to the contra)-which tlneatens our very existence. A Rural Volker should know that his country is short of food-supply to the extent of 4 million tons according to official version and 10 million tons iCeordntg to expert non-official opinion. In the calculation of a la)-man the latter Iignre appears to he more correct as it will be seen later on. It shows that the present food-shortage stands-at two hi nudred and eigl t million m uaunds, i.e. there is no food to feed ti crores or 16th population of the county try. This is an alarnung situation of winch a constructive worker should take serious note. And the gravit of the situation is further aggravated by the difficulty of not getting ad equate supply from outside due to conditions of food-shortage in the world.
That needs an all-out effort to increase food-production with all possible means An address delivered to the trainees of The Rural Training Camp at Pohri,(Gwalior), by the Editor of this magazine And resources available in the country and none who can help it should do without. Making his or her contribution. To meet a grave emergency like this, a village worker should know the ways and means of growing long-term and short-term food crops suitable to his area and he should have ingenuity enough to discover and introduce snbstitute crops if need he. He should have sufficient fund of self-confidence in himself and be capable of inspiring and organizing people to make the most of natural resources not being properly exploited in their
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neighborhood. For that he should have practical experience as to how the available water-resources can be exploited or created afresh if they are not there, adequate supply of manure can be ensured and quick yielding varieties of crops can be grown. So long as this emergency lasts and the country once again attains its normal balance in food self-sufficiency this and similar camps all over India will .b6 well-advised to make practical training in food-production the first item in their curriculum and this traitnng should occupy the most important place in their calculations.
Luckily for you, this Sangha has in its possession a few wells, garden and extensive lands for food and vegetable production. 1 have no doubt, if you have sufficiently realised the gravity of Ilte situation, your camp will, each day that von are here, devote major portion of your time in various experiments, namely, creating more and more water-facilities, preparing various kinds of manures, growing vegetable and root. crops like carrots, sweet potatoes, and also quick growing crops like maize. Besides this home experiment, you should carry a vigorous drive and propaganda among the villagers of this unit for increased food-production during the summer which i mostly the idle perwd of the year in villages. If von do that, I belie ce you will be se II jug up a splendid example in practical rural workers’ Training, which will he worthy of emulation by those who wil.l follow you here and elsewhere.
Let there be no illusion about the fact
That this food-shortage is not a temporary phenomena in the life of the country which may disappear with the coming of the next better harvest, It is nothing like that. The experts hold that India needs 67 million tons of food-grains in cereal and puleses to feed its existing population whereas it produces only 60 million tons foodstuff in an average year of yield. Thus there is regular shortage of? Million tons in the food requirements of the country in an average normal year, which the special circumstances of the var and failure of rains in many parts have aggravated during the present year. This huge deficit, which now stands at 10 million tons, cannot easily be made up by individual or private efforts, unless the State launches an intensive
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food-production drive and completely changes its attitude towards agricultural economy of the country.
The entire period of British administration in this country, now about 200 years, has been a period of exploitation of the productive masses, ruin of cottage industries, increasing pressure on land and poorer yield and consequent poverty, starvation and unemployment of the people. The malady which was inherent due to mal-adjustment in the political and economic structure of the country has been made worse by the increasing population, which increases by 5 millions every year and adds 6 crore new mouths to be fed every 10 years. As a result of positively wrong and ruinous land policy of the present Government, there has been an unequal race between increasing population and decreasing food production for abpnt a century or so with the result that 30% of the country’s population, i. e., 10 to 12 crores of people had lived in a state of semi-starvation in a normal year before the war. All that the war has done is to bring out the chronic malady which was there in the body economic and present it in an acute form - to draw the attention of the Government and. the people.
Next to the question of food-shortage,
Is the problem of all-sided development of village conditions as outlined in hi plan by one of the ex-trainees of this institute, published in the April issue of ‘The Rural India’? This plan of all-round development of village conditions represents the latest phase in the experiments and researches carried on by the Sangha in the field of rural reconstruction for the last quarter of a century and is supported by the knowledge gained through extensive tours and studies of similar projects in different parts of the country. Compartmental or sectional efforts at rural reconstruction tried for a considerable length of time by both official and non-official bodies in this country have produced poor or no results. The only conclusion to which the earnest workers have arrived after many years of trials and errors is that life does not develop in compartments and that it has to he taken as a whole. Therefore, if all aspects of rural life have to be developed simultaneously in the shortest possible time, as is aimed at by the
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post-war reconstruction schemes of the Government, it needs large-scale investment of capital, expert and trained personnel and a huge machinery to implement various programme. The plan referred to above embodies the idea of multi-purpose development in a small unit of 10 villages and suggests machinery for co-ordinated working. This plan is in harmony with large-scale plans prepared for provincial and National Development. It is expected of your camp that you will distribute various functions among separate groups interested in different branches of village activity and gather your own conclusions of co-ordinated and all-sided working for your own benefit and also for the benefit of a large section of other workers working elsewhere in the field.
Important as both money and machinery is, a worker with a vision is certainly the most valuable asset for this difficult task of village reconstruction. It is an initial Advantage to a constructive worker to have a vision of a reconstructed and rejuvenated India. That vision is the vision of an adequately fed, clothed, sheltered, educated and healthy community, living in villages, enjoying advantages of cultural facilities and improved means of communications essential in the modern life. A happy and prosperous village community, enjoying all those facilities which a town-dweller is provided with, should he the constant dream of a rural worker. Oblivious to all the drawbacks and difficulties of the present conditions, he should steadily work his way ahead for the realization of this vision, fortified with the belief that the spirit of the post-war age has made things easy for him to accomplish.
A worker has not properly equipped himself if he fails to understand the spirit of the age, in which he is to work. The essential difference between pre-war and post-war age has to be recognised. While the pre-war world was the world of the imperialist and the capitalist, the post-war world definitely belongs to the common- man. The post-war age is there to bridge the gulf between the rich and the poor and minimize the differences between a town and a village. The common-man and his needs will have the foremost claim on the society and the Government and he cannot now be ignored as in the past. Forms of Governments, laws and institutions will have to be changed or adjusted to meet the essential requirements of the common
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citizen. It is he, who should be cared and looked after by the State and the Society and made happy and prosperous. Blessed with faith and vision, such as this, a constructive worker may be said to have won half the battle. May you all be blessed with this robust faith and patriotic vision to renovate life of suffering humanity in our villages is my earnest prayer!
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!
G.k. Puranik
(Article published in AUGUST ‘1946 in ‘The Rural India’ Bombay)
SINCE the publication of Mr. J. B. Malankar’s plan for an all-round development of a unit of 10 villages round about Krishuaganj, (Pohri), in the April issue of ‘The Rural India’, the idea of implementing it in the proposed unit of villages was gradually gaining ground. While making the announcement of the prize of Rs. 250/- (in cash) td be awarded to the best plan from the trainees of ‘The Rural Workers Training Institute,’ the Adarsh Seva Sangha had in view the idea of developing a new unit on the basis of the latest conception of all-sided and planned development of villages. During our extensive Rural Study Tour in various Provinces in the last winter, we bad realised more than ever, the necessity of all-sided development of village life if the progress has to be permanent and barinouions. Active interest evinced by Raj Rajendra Shrimant Shitole Sahib, in the implementation of this plan therefore augurs well for the success of this scheme and we are all highly obliged to him for consenting to preside over this meeting of the formation of the first Krishnaganj unit Panchayat.
The pressure of advancing world opinion after the Second World War has brought about revolutionary changes in the basic ideas of Society and the new social structure envisaged is that it shonid satisfy minimum physical and intellectual needs of all citizens everywhere. A Society which should satisfy minimum needs of every citizen can only be a planhed society based on the principles of Social Security. Many-advanced eountriesin Europe Including United Kingdom are bringing in legislation guaranteeing social security to all their citizens. When thinking of developing a model village unit in
A NEW MODEL OF A VILLAGE UNIT
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this corner of the world, we should not cut ourselves adrift from the current of world movements, whose pressure, we should know, is irresistible and cannot be checked. It is wise therefore that. we should plan our development of krishnaganj Unit in conformity with the accepted principles of Economic Democracy and Social Security, which rule the world of progress in our times and in which alone lies the hope of deliverance of the common-man.
It is but natural that our original conception of rural development should - undergo a change as a result of impact of progressive ideas of new Social Structure that the world is out to build in the Post-war period. The targets and standards of Social and Economic Welfare of the masses that we are asked to fix up to-day were beyond the wildest dreams of the early pioneers of the Rural Remonstration Movement. The Adarsh Seva Sanga can lay claim of making a successful experiment at Village Reconstruction at its Centie at T) eori, where as a result of its systematic work for the last 10 years, it could raise per capita average monthly income of the villagers, to Es. 6—14—0 and 80% of the aggregate debt of the? Villages of the Centre have been paid off. Besides these tangible results at economic improvement, there has been definite development in Soeial, Administrative and Mental out-look of the people in this area. Litigation has completely stopped, approach roads to the villages have been laid out,
Address delivered in Hiridi on the occasion of the formation of the Krihnaganj Lick Pacchayrat (Pohri). Gwalior State.
Drinking water facilities have been created, sanitary, health and educational facilities have improved and cooperative institutions like Village Bank and Grain Store have been started. As a resnit of these various social, educational and economic activities successfully carried on for this long period there has been general advancement of the community and the people seem to be happy and enjoying fairly prosperous living conditions. They seem to have almost attained the standard of development which we had placed before them when starting this Centre over a decade back and it appears now as if a saturation point has reached in the case of further development of these people.
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The results that the Sangha has attained at Deori Centre maybe satisfactory according to the old conception of rural reconstruction, bnt these appear to be poor and unsatisfactory when weighed in the scales of Post-war reconstruction plans and targets. We never bothered, then, for a well-balanced nutritious diet of 2800 calories which is now onr definite food target for every adult person in a village- Then we satis6ed ourselves with only 15 yards of cloth per head per year which demand has gone up now to 35 yards taking into consideration comparative figures of cloth consumption in some of the advanced countries of the West. New standard of housing which should provide accommodation of 100 sq. feet per every adnlt person and should conform to sanitary model was never thought of in the old programme of rural reconstruction and we satisfied ourselves with ordinary cleaning and improved ventilation of village homes. Programmes of health, education and means of communication were not so comprehensive, all embracing and nun versal as they are being adopted now. And huge finances and large personnel that the present development programmers demand may have been ridiculed then as a madman’s impossible dream. Where we would have grudged spending Rs 500k a year and no more than one worker to look after all activities in a group of villages, we are required to spend Rs. 50,000/—and to employ 40 to 50 people to work up new plans of development. In the light of advancing ideas of world Society onr old achievements in the held of improvement village life appear to be only of elementary nature. Where we satisfied ourselves with a dimly burning oil lamp in the past, we need a hundred candlepower gas lamp to flood the house with a dazzling light. This, I hope, illustrates the difference between old and new standards of Village Development. And it is absolutely necessary that we revise our conceptions of old in the light of the new changes in the Post-war social reconstruction in his perplexity to know exactly what complete picture of a reconstructed village or a reformed villager would be, Samalia Mehte of Deori pnt a straight question to me the other day to get an answer. This is just the sort of question, which an inquisite villager interested in the development of village life may be eager to know about- And the answer given by me in reply to this querry may be taken- to be a model to satisfy the curiosity of an average villager.
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I started by asking him if he marks any difference between how he lives and I live, the standard and cleanliness in our dressing, the kind and quality of food that we eat, the standard and atmosphere of our homes, the social life that we lead
And the facilities of life that we enjoy. If he sees any difference between himself and myself and knowing that he and I both come from the same rural surroundings and almost belong t0 the sante social environinent, this difference, if there is any, furnishes answer tehis very sensible question. If he prefers and likes the standard of living that I enjoy, which is definitely of an average middle-class-man, all we mean by village development is that every villager should enjoy my standard of living and all villages should be provided with the same facilities of life that are enjoyed by the town’s-than and which I seem to be enjoying.
The proposition is how conditions in our villages should he developed and life of village people should be transformed so that the picture presented above may be reduced into practical achievement. For the realization of this splendid vision of the future, all such factors as impede the progress of Village Communities will have to be removed and measures which contribute to the attainment of new Social, Economic and Intellectual standards will have to be introduced. A few such immediate measures may be summarised as follows —
1. Economic Holding
.The first important step towards agricultural development in this country is that the population which lives on agriculture should be provided with economic holdings in compact blocks. According to €expert opinion an economic holding for an average family of 5 people has been computed to be 20 acres of land both wet and dry. Economic rehabilitation of the agriculturist population is impossible unless the State guarantees means of adequate economic production. The present Uneconomic division and fragmentation of holdings is the greatest single factor in the way of economic recovery of the
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agriculturist masses and the State should take immediate steps to re-distribute lands to the agriculturists in compact economic blocks.
2 Irrigational Facilities
Indian agriculture is known to be a gamble in rains. There are lands and lands without permanent irrigational facility in most parts of our country. It is no wonder our production from the land is the poorest in the world and those who live on it lead a life of chronic starvation. The State has not so far realised its responsibility of providing irrigational facility to cultivable lands and assuring ecologic security to the agriculturist population. Production from land can easily be increased by 100% if farms are supplied with easy facilities of water. A National Government solicitous of the economic welfare of the agriculturists should take immediate steps to launch large-scale irrigational projects and see that there are no lands without well or canal irrigation. All economic holdings should compulsorily be provided with deep well or canal irrigation
3 Farm Settlement
One of the main causes of low yield from the land is that it does not receive sufficient care, attention and treatment from the farmer due to his living in a far away village. He comes late, goes earlier and gives less time for the improvement of his land. his permanent habitation being in a village away from the farm, his crops are less protected from the encroachment of wild animals and birds. In general, farm Improvement and production from land suffer a good deal due to absence of the farmer from his lands. Whatever may he the reasons in the past and safety of life and property may be the main consid ration for large numbers of people to live together in village, many of these old would conditions have changed in most parts of the conntr. Now when the whole country is faced with the grave problem of increasing food production to feed its starving p6pulation the movement of farm settlement will definitely go a log way to increase food protection. Settlement on farms will give more time to the cultivators to devote themselves for land improvement and save them from many unhealthy influences which cause unnecessary wastage of
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their time, money and energy in faction fights, fends and litigation ill the present day life of our villages.
4. Means of Communication
To keep farm population in touch with rultiiial and civilizing infhicnces of life, they should be s raved with proper means of (-oinunnieatlon - In the present day undeveloped stage of farming in on r i-onntrv it is not within our iiower or means to provide telephone, radio and electricity to the farms, which facilities are supplied to them in some of the agriculturally advanced -onntries of tire world. l3nt these farms should be so located that they should be approachable iii all seasons through metalled feeder roads connected with district or Provincial roads.
3. Villages with large Population
Complete rural reconstruction means complete change in all aspects of rural life of which social, political and cultural aspects are no less important.. So long as Village Population eontinnes to live in small, scattered helmets, they can never be served with adequate social services and therefore the life of the community cannot be much improved and organised. They cannot he served with schools, libraries, hospitals, maternity homes; cooperative banks and stoves and other facilities for intellectual recreation in the absence of which the villagers must of necessity remain poor and ignorant. The only way to help them with modern facilities of life and to place adequate social services at their disposal is that there should he a strong countrywide move to persuade aild bring pressure on them to appreciate the advantages of coining together and settling down in new model villages with large population of say 2000 and more. This is certainly a difficult item in the scheme of rural reconstvnction and may be taken in the end, hut it is no less essential if village. life has to he socially and culturally elevated and the growing gulf between town and village life has to he bridged in the interest of national development as a whole. This big village or liaxar area will serve as a radiating and distributing centre of soeal and cultural life to the farm.
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Population of the round about area. It is highly desirable that the farm pop ulaion, besides their farm houses should also have a pernianen home in this village, which they mar occasionally visit for purposes of recreation and where their children and elders of the family may stay in the interest of education and medical attention.
The Krishnaganj village unit which we form and for which we elect the first Panchayat to day is intended to be the best model representing the advanced Thought in rural reconstruction. The five essential elements in the life and economy of village reform enumerated above will be the prominent features of this unit. It will be our special concern to develop Krishnaganj into a model village with as many facilities of town-life as are possible so that in the course of time the neighbor- jug 10 villages may be amalgamated and be submerged into this model village.
These reforms, revolutionary as they aie, are not enough by themselves unless they are supplemented by a strong Organisation of workers and technicians at the centre. The centre at Krishnaganj will be nnclens of all the multifarious activities of the unit, which will inspire, organise and control social, economic and cultural life of the area. This machinery at the centre will be composed of technicians and trained workers and will be responsible for affecting various reforms and developing the unit on the lines laid down in the original plan. The suggestive list of various departmental heads who will conduct the operations of this Unit may be stated as follows :—
1. Planning officer or statistician. 2, Agricultural Worker. 3. Dairy Worker. 4. Cottage Industries Worker. 5. Co-operative Worker. 6. Educational Worker. 7. Engineer. 8. Civil Doctor.
9.VeterinaryDoctor. 10. Forest Officer.
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This is only a suggestive list of workers that a new centre of villege work should need to begin with. Each one of them represent a department or a big institution at the centre with its multif arious duties, embracing the whole unit and every member thereof. In ecurse of time each one of these departments will be a big affair by itself, requiring a large number of other workers to assist in carrying out its various operations.
All-round development of a village unit such as we propose here requires the backing of huge finances, State legislation and drive, which a private organization like ours lack at the moment. Important as these factors are, they cannot impede the progress of the commnnitv which has clearly realised its goal of development and which becomes progress- conscious. In essence, the process of development is the process of proper education of human mind, which task an earnest body of workers can surely accomplish. The primary task of the workers of the unit would be t0 carry on vigorous propaganda to educate the villagers as to what promise of prosperity the new development programme holds for them. And when real demand is created among the people, finances and other facilities would naturally follow.
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By G.K, Puranik
(Article published in October ‘1946’ in ‘The Rural India’,Bombay)
WHILE young; many of us were inspired by the dictum that Education is the panacea to cure the present- day ills of our society. We accepted it as a gospel truth and dedicated the best part of our lives to brig up a generation of educated young men according to the highest patriotic ideas and ideals of our time. With our belief that the young generation brought up under the obligation of the Society will develop a pattern of thinking in terms of society rather titan an individualistic outlook, we tried to serve and win them over for the great task of national service. For the time being, till some of these young people completed their College and University education and joined us as colleagues in national work, it appeared that our long cherished hoses would find their best fulfillment through their lives.
But their entry into the actual field of work has been a period of frustration and sad disillusionment for which none of us was prepared. And the golden dreams that we dreamt for the major part of our lives were dashed to - the ground against the hard realities of poor heredity and their bad social environment. A search for finding out the causes of our failure in the programme of ideational reconstruction was started more than a decade and a half back and still continues. Nothing can yet be said with certainty that we have discovered the right remedy for the grave defects From which our present sys tern of education suffers. But the basic fact that we have discovered as a result of this search and investiáation, along which ideational reform- in future should proceed, is waging- total war- against the &vil of ignorance of the society as a whole.
The mistaken notion that possessed us then-now 30 years or more-
WAGUNG TOTAL WAR AGAINST IGNORANCE
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was that education is the key which will unlock the gate to political and Economic emancipation of the country. Experience has brought home to us that what we thought to be a blessing turned out to be a curse. Rather than solving political and economic problem of our people the educated generation of young men helped to complicate it. Those, who- were expected to be national assets turned out to be a liability on our poor country. Contrary to all reasonable expectations, where w had hoped that our educated people would be. standard bearers of national morals, they turned out to be active agents lo undermine the morals of the society; in the place of being good guides of the community, they started on their reckless career of misguiding and rather than adding to human happiness and prosperity, they started living on the exploitation of their fellow- men. As to the moral obligation to the boeiety, they dismissed all such demands as sheer nonsense and out of date in the present context of the materialistic age.
This was a travesty of education, with’ which educationists of our generation found themselves confronted and for a time we felt non-ilussed as to how to remedy the wrong. the patient research of long
Years has led us to the conclusion that since the present system of education is unsuited to the genus of the country, it can never serve the true national interests of the race. And since, it is divorced from the currents of national life, it is no wonder if its products turn out to be misfits in every walk of life and develop socially undesirable tendencies.
In our efforts to create Utopia through educational enterprise, we over-looked the influences of heredity and environment and the limitations of individual nature of children whom we wanted to be recreated into stalwart patriots. This proved to be the tndoiug of our work, for in our enthusiasm to create an ideal society of the future, we forgot to take stock of the material with which we were ont to build and the social background in which the human material was born and bred. The present Indian society cannot escape the influences of national degeneration and decay of a thousand years of slavery, foreign conquest and domination. We have practically lost distinctive featnres of national character in our society. If we are to examine moral and ethical basis of our society, and try to justify our existence
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on the basis of social virtues, I am afraid, we have very little to show to our credit. The dynamic qualities of sense of duty, discipline, courage of conviction, truthfulness, justice, loyalty, patriotism, generosity, spirit of enterprise, consideration for others and the like, which make a people living and virile are hardly seen in our society. For all practical purposes, ours is a stagnant, if not a decaying society with an abundance of opposite of these virtues to our discredit. Children born of such parentage naturally inherit vices rather than virtues of the parents, who have no special idea or design to bring forth their progeny. The present generation, therefore, is the victim of poor inheritance and the most Herculean efforts of the educationists have been found to be wrecked against the rock of poor heredity. And through our failure we have realised the basic defect of our social structure which we are out to remodel, that in the making of man heredity contributes three-fourth and a child usually adopts the pattern of his parents. Unless, therefore, the parents are educated and reformed and they grow in virtues and moral qualities, those should not he expected to be developed in the young ones, however earnest and sincere may be our efforts at inculcating them.
Environment is another important factor in the making of a young man or woman, on which an educationist builds his great hopes. True, if it is possible to change the environment of a child completely, there is bound to be difference in his development, social behaviour and outlook. lint even under ideal conchtions, such complete change of surrounding of a child is hardly possible except in rare cases. However, under best possible environment, the influence of the surrounding in the making of a man when compared with the basic influences of heredity is only minor if it is not superficial. At its best its contribution does not exceed more than 25%, while that of heredity accounts to 75%. With rare except’ tious here and there, which only prove the rule, the general rule i that children born in a particular environment, grow up in the same and pass the rest of their life surrounded by the same family members and the same rotten and vicious environment round about them. In the case of large majority of our children and more particularly in rural areas, change of surrounding and its influence for better is more of a myth than a reality.
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With an overwhelming weight of poor heredity and still poorer if not positively bad environment, much store should not be laid by the atmosphere of our schools, colleges, gurukulas and ashramas, which can hardly be impervious to the general atmosphere of the society in which they are situated. The teachers, professors and acbaryas of these educational institutions are drawn from the same society, whose standards and ideas are none too high and who are not there to serve and elevate the moral and ethical standards of the society but to draw their own living. It is a sad commentary on our present system of education that in the absence of appreciation and reverence of old and also due to inadequacy of material reward, only third rate material is attracted to the profession of teaching, who shonid not be expected to be men of vision and high ideals to influence the life of youngsters for higher attainments.
After a period of sad disillusionment, as early as 1933, I went on tour all over the country to study different educational institutions and to compare notes with leading educational authorities of the country. To my surprise, whichever institution I visited and with whomsoever I had discussions about the system of education and its products, I found a strong and vocal dissatisfaction in all quarters. In the midst of de-nationalizing policy of the Government in the matter of education and the slavish mentality of the people, who look up to Government for the recognition of degrees and diplomas and provision of jobs and services to their wards, national system of education, wherever it has been tried could not make much head-way for want of popular après citation Numerous experiments for effecting reform in the system of education, tried from time to time in this country, could not succeed for Want of Government support. And the well known dictum of Lala Lajpat Rai holds the field: There can be no national system of education, unless there is national Government.’ For, a national Government alone through its varied and well defined policies can give a new pattern to the system of education and influence the attitude of the people for its acceptance.
As the foregoing survey reveals, real and vital change in the system of education can only be possible with the establishment of
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national government in the country. A National Government alone is capable of adopting national ideals in education and giving it authority and administrative sanction. It alone can take proper account of every child and look to its development with an eye to be an asset for the nation. Now that National Interim Government has been established at the Centre, we can confidently look up to an era of educational reconstruction in our country.
That being a hopeful augury for the educational reform of the future the immediate problem to which the educationists should turn their special attention is that they should take up to the educator the community as a whole and not that of an isolated child as has been the ease so far. It has been very rightly said by a great authority on education that “if a ehild had to be educated, start educating his grand-father”. Education in piecemeal against the over-whelming weight of ignorance of the community can never be productive of satisfactory results. Education of a limited class in the midst of ignorance of the mass could only be productive of evil consequences.
Power, wealth and knowledge when unequally distributed are a positive evil and corrupt the society as a whole by setting in motion the anti-social forces of exploitation of the weak by the strong. Those who bappen to possess advantage of knowledge feel tempted to exploit those who have it not and this obviously unjust process continues undermining the just basis of the society. The only cure for this state of affairs is that rather than a child or an individual, the society as a whole should be educated and means -should be adopted to urge the society -of the evil of ignorance.
In a socialistic age, the pattern of -education should necessarily serve socialistic ends. In a socialist society, knowledge should not be the privilege or monopoly of the limited few, but it should be secured by all as equally as possible. The fruits of knowledge will only be propitious, when it is universally and ven1y distributed among all.
But this question of universal and compulsory education raises a series of complicated issues, which are no less perplexing. It is a question of finding large-scale finances, which according to Sergeant
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Scheme, come to Rs. 300 cores, a sum ten times the present expenditure on education. The figure exceeds the total revenue of the Government of India. And unless the total national wealth increases several times over its present -size, the idea of universal education should of necessity remain a fond dream. Besides the finances, there is the question of eating an army of 2 million trained teachers to do the job, which according to the same authority will take a period of 40 years to accomplish it.
Whether we take the question of national education, health or social services, this poor country has not a fraction of money to provide these civic amenities on a nation-wide scale. All these nation- building projects must necessarily wait till we affect enormous increase in national wealth. And development of national wealth is again a matter of time and of launching large-scale projects for the development of agriculture and industries both large scale and of cottage variety.
Finally, in its ultimate analysis, success of nation-building plans, including those that concern the production of wealth, depend in a large measure on the willing cooperation of the people and pooling together of human and material resources for common ends. Those who have tried to organise the masses our cooperative basis will testify to the fact that success in a corporate Endeavour pre-supposes development of intelligence among the people and also of higher moral qualities, viz: -sense of honesty, truthfulness and service to the community. As representative of the new age that is to come, the teachers owe a heavy responsibility to the community to develop these moral virtues in their own sphere of influence through constant preaching and personal example. It should not be forgotten, that a child cannot be properly educated or developed in moral virtues if the society as a whole remains mendicant e and wanting in moral qualities.
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!
By: G. K. Puranik
(Article published in March 1946 in The Rural India Bombay)
It has been usual with me to be spending a month or two every year to study village life in different parts of the country. This time the rural study-tour was undertaken in the capacity of the Principal of the Rural Workers Training Institute, Pohri, (Gwalior). The Study-tour was a part of practical training to the trainees and it was my duty as the head of the institute to accompany them. It commenced on the 2nd of December, 1945 and ended on the 10th of January, 1946, covering in all a period of 5 weeks.
In the course of the tour we covered C. P., Bengal and the United Provinces and studied rural reconstruction activities conducted both by the Government and public bodies in these provinces. Constructive nation-building in all its varied aspects being the object of our study-tour, we tried to study both sectional and compartmental schemes of improvements and also all-sided development activities of village conditions. These studies were supplemented by personal talks and discussions with the authorities on different subjects and practical workers in the field. In its cumulative effect, the picture that is produced as a result of this study may well be described as follows: -
“Rural Development” programme has not been given sincere trial in any part of the country by either agencies-official or nonofficial. All-sided development of village life and conditions with a scientific and methodical approach to the problem is nowhere to be seen. All that has been attempted half-heartedly with ‘some-sort- of-welfare’ attitude of mind is only sectional or compartmental activity involving minimum expenditure and resources in men. It was just show-work or window- dressing and nothing much was expected of it.
Rural Study - Tour and its Lessons
50
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Development of Economic condition of the masses, which was the acid test of the programme of rural reconstruction has been hardly touched, The Government and its officials have been found to be disinclined to touch the economic aspect of peoples’ development lest such a process may adversely affect their’ own economic stability. Some kind of charitable show without any definite plan or policy has been maintained and nobody cared to test its results by tangible improvements in village conditions.
Wherever one may go, the present activity carried on in the name of rural reconstruction in the country is a patch work in the direction of promotion of literacy, improvement of village sanitary conditions, introduction of a few cottage industries, dairy farming, agricultural improvements, cooperative activity and working of Panchayats in certain areas and these too are not to be seen worked out in a coordinated way at one place. One should move about half a dozen places or more to find out satisfactory working of these various activities in a scattered form and that too without much method or plan. Therefore, though we must admit that we failed to find all-sided and coordinated plan of village development activities being worked out anywhere during our study- tour which was the main object of our study but severally and in a scattered way most of the items of rural development programme have been seen being worked up at different places with a fair amount of success.
Why after all an experiment at coordinated and all-sided development was not tried, when the same items can be worked up with success separately may be a question? The only answer is that it was not so willed. It may be due to want of clear conception of the manifold aspects of rural development programme in the minds of the early promoters of this movement. It may also be due to unwilling- ness or unprepared ness of the agencies both official and non-official to pay the cost that such a revolutionary undertaking demanded.
What we have been able to realise from personal experience and little that we have been able to study is that the conception itself has of late undergone revolutionary change as a result of war and the
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ideas of social justice that it has given birth to. Experience has also taught many a worker that partial treatment of such a widespread malady is no good till all-sided attack is not launched and every aspect of village life is developed in harmony with the rest. The realization has come that life cannot be developed in compartments. It can only be treated as a single whole. And when the magnitude of the problem is so vast and intricate, small and spasmodic efforts do not avail much. They are rather waste of efforts.
The impact of world factors has completely changed the original and the modest conception of rural reconstruction movement with which the pioneers started. Then, small-scale improvements in village conditions were conceived against the background of poor and depressing conditions obtaining in India. Now the latest idea of freedom from want and provision of civic minimum to every citizen in the post-war period have for their background world conditions, which are infinitely more advanced. Before we proceeded on tour our trainees were theoretically equipped with the latest idea of development and it is no wonder, if no suitable model could be seen any where. A backward country like India could not be expected to keep pace with revolutionary advancing theories and international movements. All with which we had to satisfy ourselves was to go round and see sectional or compartmental activities as they are being carried out at different places.
As mentioned earlier, well-planned, coordinated and all-sided activity for the development of villages was no where to he seen and such a thing does not exist either. But we could see for a fact that Wherever even small scale and sectional activities have taken permanent roots, life and conditions in the improvement villages as compared with those existing in the neighbouring ones have fairly improved. Rural development villages have been found to be cleaner in appearance and physical, mental and economic condition of people living in them was better than what obtains in the surrounding villages not taken in for improvement.
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C. P. Govt’s Rural Uplift work
To begin with, we started on our intensive study tour with a village ‘Khodajhari’ in Central Provinces where the Agriculture Department of C. P. Government in co-operation with the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research are conducting a project of rural development with particular emphasis on agricultural development of the village. This is a Gond village situated in the heart of dense forest on Nagpur-Jubbulpore Road where people mostly live on forest produce. In the last three years of the introduction of improved methods of agriculture, a large area of fallow-land has been brought under cultivation and there has been noticeable increase in yield per acre, as revealed by the records maintained by the worker at the centre. The village puts on a live appearance with a village Assembly Hall donning the centre and a well-laid out approach road adding to the beauty of the village. Almost every home has its own ‘Ban’, 1. e., Kitchen garden at the back yard with its own well where people grow vegetables and fruit trees. Cattle-breeding and poultry-farming on improved lines have been taken up by the villagers. From all appearances people of this village appeared to be well off.
Wardha and its Institutions
Wardha wasthe next place visited by us. It appeared to he a town full of variety of public institutions all having been sprung up as a part of Mahatmaji’s multifarious constructive nation-building activities. Maganwadi, Nalwadi and Sevagram are three separate centres of activities and in between them there are several other being carried on. Institutions of all-India nature, Mahilashram, Hindustani Preacher Sangha and Seksaria College, etc., to name only a few.
Maganwadi is the home of All-India Village Industries Association. It houses several sub-institutions or departments connected with research and improvement of village industries. These are handmade paper making, improved Ghani or oil extraction, Magan Dip-a new type of lantern used i$ith linseed oil, palm-Our making, soap-making, Bee Keeping, Magan Sangrahalaya or
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Museum of Cottage industries and Gramodyog Vidyalaya where students come from all over India and receive training in various cottage industries mentioned above.
Nalwadi is another centre of activity associated with the name of Shri Vinoba Bhave and Seth Jamana Lalji Bajaj. Here ‘Go Pun’ or cow service institute is an excellent dairy farm run on self-supporting basis with some margin of profit as well, and where we were impressed to see some very nice breeds of cow. The management and care taken in this institute for the improvement of the breed of cow, cannot but extract admiration. Close to it is Nalwadi ‘Char Malaya’ or leather works where tanning of leather and production of excellent leather articles is done.
‘Sevagram Ashram’, the head quarter of Mahatmaji himself, is another centre of a variety of institutions connected with his constructive nation-building programme. Here, there are head quarters of the All-India Spinners’ Association and Khadi Vidyalaya where students are trained in spinning and weaving and other technique of Khadi.
Then, there is ‘Gram Seva Vidyalaya’ or village service Institute, which imparts training to the students in rural service. ‘Hindustani Talimi Sangha’ or the head quarters of Wardha Scheme of education and a training school attached to it is the third activity of All-India nature, where experiments to make education economically self-supporting side by side with the all-ihund development of the student are Close by in a mud-hut stays Gandhiji associated by a number of other savants or Sadhakas who help him in his all-India activities. He provides both guidance and inspiration to the workers of these many institutions and carries his numerous political, social and other activities from this cluster of huts.
But alas! Amidst this amazing variety of institutions situated on its very outskirts and the proximity of the Mahatma himself, poor Sevagram practically remains where it was. They say, a small ‘Mullah’ stream marks the dividing line between Gandhiji’s ashram and Sevagram and that difference stands literally true to the astonishment of the visitors. I had twice visited old Sabarmati Ashram
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and had my own modest idea as to what institutions at Wardha would be like, but the magnitude and large scale growth of institutions that have sprung up in Wardha due to the presence of Mahatmaji simply amazed me. So far the growth of institutions is concerned; I found things 10 times bigger in volume and magnitude than what I had conjectured in my mind. But judging these institutions from the point of view of problems as they exist in scattered villages and hamlets of India, I am afraid, Wardha like other centralised public institutions and the limitations from which all such institutions suffer offers little solution.
Having given birth to many institutions and after conducting a number of institutions during the last 25 years of my public life and also having studied the working of similar institutions all over India, I am convinced of the fact that our present day institutions inherit the legacy of capitalistic structure of society in which they are born and from which they draw their support and sustenance and are wholly unsuited to serve the interests of the common-man or masses, for whose benefit they are supposed to be created. Like any other accursed ‘ism ‘institutionalism is a curse from which our country suffers and the benefits of these hardly travel to the masses. Our
Present day public institutions in practice are very much like a capitalistic structure of Government or a business combine, where few organizers or promoters monopolies authority and direct their working in the interest of a limited group or vested interests. The association of a big leader or patronage of an outstanding personality easily attracts public funds and those responsible for their working carry on a routine existence year after year without qualms of conscience. Some of those who can afford to come inside their portals are benefited. But this benefit very much like political or financial power is distributed among the limited few. It does not find its way to decentralisation and widespread distribution to be able to serve the needs of the vast mass of common people who lack necessary means to be benefitted.
What can be more illustrative of the fact than the existence of Mahatmaji’s Ashram at Sevagram with all kinds of nation-building institutions for the rehabilitation of village life and Sevagram
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remaining the same insanitary and unprogressive village in its close vicinity challenging the utility of these institutions for the betterment of village conditions? Whatever there names and labels these institutions of ours are a product of a capitalistic society, which is not very much interested in serving the interests of the common-man. And workers and others responsible for their creation being the product of the same social order feel satisfied if they succeed in satisfying their class or group interest. In future, institutions that will cater to the needs of the communicant who lack means and resources will be of a different pattern and will be the product of a changed social attitude, All regimented, centralised and capitalized institutions whether educational or of industrial variety can he made a success under proper management and supervision, but their benefits do not filter down to the society for the elevation of masses in villages has been my sad experience. And Wardha institutions are no exception to the rule.
Khadi Pratisthan, Sodepur, (Calcutta)
Khadi Pratisthan, Sodepur, (Calcutta), was the next institution visited by our party. We reached here the same time, when Gandhiji and his party were staying. It was a coincidence that we shared the hospitality of Sodepur Ashram along with Gandhiji’s party. Sodepur looked like a regular national fair. As usual, there used to be regular stream of visitors to Gandhiji throughout the day and people in their thousands used to assemble during evening prayers. Our party reached Sodepur Ashram just in time for evening prayers and a huge congregation of people from Calcutta and the surrounding area swelled prayer-grounds. The whole Ashram was putting on a festive appearance and the atmosphere was full of life and activity.
In the midst of such a heavy pressure of work, no sooner did we report our arrival at the enquiry office, we found to our surprise that every arrangement regarding our boarding and lodging has already been made in advance and people concerned have received instructions regarding our arrival. We were struck by the thoroughness and prompt attendance to details of the Ashramites. In the midst of such a huge crowd of guests and visitors, extra care and attention to details that we observed in every sphere of activity of this Ashram
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was a marvel of efficient management. That we guests, should occupy front seats in the nearest enclosure to Gandhiji during prayer time came in for special attention to Satish Babu and Charu Babu, the Manager and Assistant Manager of the Ashram and not till we had occupied our seats did the stream of volunteers stopped asking us to get ready and start.
After meals in the evening when Shri Bharatan Kumarappa introduced me to Satish Babu, his complaint was why I was so late to turn up to him. And before he left the Ashram on tour with Gandhi ii he did find time in the midst of his too numerous engagements to write out all our programmers in Calcutta and instructed every one concerned including heathen daughter to help us to visit various persons and places. And long before we finished our round of visit to various cottage industries in the Ashram, though many of them were not in proper working order due to extra pressure of work of Gandhiji’s stay, the books that were to be given to me for review in ‘The Rural India’ were waiting at our cottage. Satish Babu impressed me a man of untiring energy and industry and given to minute details. He was a model of a host and we all returned highly enriched in life having learnt a lesson in hospitality at his Ashram. Though normal working of industries was dislocated due to Gandhiji’s visit, yet we could see paper-making, Khadi-production, leather works, bee-keeping, which are well-organised.
Bengal Government and its interest in
Nation-building
Meeting with Mr. Ishaque, I.C.S., Development Commissioner of Bengal Government, was another happy and never to be forgettable memory of our visit to Calcutta. We were in intimate know of each other through correspondence for long and his contributions to Rural India brought us still nearer. Though we had never met in person, yet there existed a bond of fraternity of ideas between us long before we saw each other this time. No sooner did he receive a telephonic call from me, I could atonce mark his over-flowing joy at my being in Calcutta so unexpectedly. He sent his car to fetch me from Sodepur to
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his place on Burdwan road, a distance of about 18 miles. And how happy and memorable were our three long sittings in which we exchanged notes on problems of rural reconstruction and post-war development. How much sweetness and warmth of feeling did we find in Mr. Ishaque and his good wife and how soul-full and elevating were the talks will remain a memory of a life time. It is difficult to find a man more sincere than Mr. Ishaque for constructive nation-building work in Bengal and yet the irony is that the present Governtnent of Bengal has thought fit to abolish the Development Department of which Mr. Ishaque was the head and the same man who was responsible to bring the department into being has been charged with the duty to wind it up. How great was his agony and depression of feeling on what he has been told to do. We found him very much physically pulled down and mentally dejected due to this open hostile attitude of the Government of Bengal in matters of nation-building.
That is the measure of Government’s interest whether Central or Provincial in matters regarding nation-building and they have no use of Ishaque or of his kind however sincere they may be. Whether it is Sir Dalal at the Centre or Mr. Ishaque in the Bengal Government, the wooden machinery of Government designed for exploitation and suppression of people has no use of them. All they can do is to bewail over their sad plight and come out if they find it inconvenient to stay on. But the present machinery of Government does not admit of any change or improvement.
There is also social and psychological side to this interesting meeting which deserves reflection. At Mr. Ishaque’s place though we his friends and guests were all high class Brahmins (Hindus) but there was not a tinge of strangeness we felt in a Muslim home and in partaking meals cooked in a Muslim family. The way we were accepted in his family by Mr. Ishaque, his wife and children left no room for formality and reserve and we felt completely at home at his place. Looked in the light of this personal experience the theory of two nations and claims of unbridgeable Hindu-Muslim differences advanced these days appear to be simply ridiculous. Though religiously we were Hindus and Muslims, but because of our affinity
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of ideas and identity of interests, we felt, we are nearer to each other than two blood brothers. That shows a way to the solution of the vexed problem of Hindu Muslim differences and the division of India into Hindustan and Pakistan. These so-called differences stand resolved on the basis of common identity of purpose and interests,
Which should be cultivated? It is a pity that religion, which was originally conceived to be a cementing factor between man and man, is being employed for quite opposite purposes, I. e., in creating disharmony, strife, division and disruption.
Study of a Bengal Village
Accompanied by Mr. Dey, the Deputy to Mr. Ishaque, we paid a visit to a Village ‘Gocharan’ some 22 miles away from Calcutta on Sialdah Diamond Harbor line. The problems as they were revealed to us in this part of Bengal as a result of our visit to this village were quite unlike problems in other parts of the country and were perplexing to the extreme.
This is a pretty big village of some twelve hundred souls enjoying modern facilities of railway and road communication and also having other advantages of education and medical relief. But how shocked we felt on enquiry that 40% of population in the village and the surrounding area is actually starving and not getting even two bare meals a day. During the last Bengal famine of 1943 hundreds of people in this area died of starvation and those who survive to-day are no more than living ghosts, reduced to bare-skin and bone due to misery and starvation. I have lived and moved all my life in villages and have seen misery and suffering of the masses. But never in all my life, have I been moved and shocked to see human misery and suffering of the type as I have seen during this tour in Calcutta and in Bengal villages.
I also never felt so embarrassed and purplexed in finding out as to what should be done to improve conditions of people in these parts as I felt while taking round of this Gocharan village. During my first
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visit to Calcutta in 1921. Now 25 years, how ecstatic and charmed I felt from the train to see green and beautiful scenery of Bengal countryside and how I wished to have been born in these lovely surroundings. But little did I know then that these very blessings of nature manifested in abundance of water everywhere, overgrowth of vegetation, thick foliage and charming looking shady cluster of trees are a curse for happy and healthy existence of Bengal’s people. This water Jogging everywhere is a formidable problem for Bengal which not only checks human movement but also breeds all sorts of germs and mosquitoes spreading malaria and ill-health and undermining vitality and resisting power of the people. Over. Flow of water impedes agricultural operations and reduces productivity of land. The elements, sun, earth, water and wind rather than being helpful and favorable to the growth and activity of the people seem to work at people’s disadvantage in these parts.
For three quarters of an hour, I felt lost in the thought how a population living under these elementary disadvantages of nature could be saved from sure misery, starvation and death. After heart to heart discussion with the villagers and analytical examination of the whole situation, it was discovered that not till these parts are completely reclaimed and made safe from ravages of flood and excess of water by creating proper drainage facilities, will people enjoy normal and happy existence. Freedom from the curse of water logging, removing overgrowth of vegetation and foliage, filling up ditches and tanks which are the hotbeds of malaria and several other diseases, provision of pure and sanitary drinking water facilities, are some of the urgent needs of the population in these parts. This is a staggering constructive task, which can not be accomplished by mere tinkering. It is possible of accomplishment only through state drive with full cooperation of the people and help of the latest scientific inventions.
Here, it is not a problem of minor reform of sinking a well or two or laying out an approach road, but a formidable problem of reclamation and reconstruction of the whole countryside. I discussed the proposition with Mr. Ishaque and we agreed on the urgent need of large-cale development programme to rehabilitate the life of people in
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these parts. But the existence of an indifferent alien Government is the
Greatest stumbling block in the way of any large-cale development every thing at the moment calls for change of the Government, without which national development plans must wait.
The study of Bengal and its village life will not be complete without some reference to Calcutta and life that we saw in that metropolitan city. Calcutta by far the largest populated city in India-ow the population being estimated at 4 millions and a half-s very much unlike Bombay and is an ugly model of what an insanitary and filthy city could be. When I visited it for the first time in 1921 my impression about that city was bad enough. Since then as I could observe more minutely this time, things have gone hopelessly bad. Except tall buildings in certain quarters, the swarm of population as it moves about in filthy streets, lanes and bylanes in Calcutta in endless row give one an impress ion of its being a city full of coolies and a hopelessly dirty, famishing and miserable looking population. Cleanliness of surroundings and of dress is something rare to be seen in this city. There is complete disrçgard of sanitation, refinement and culture with which one associates life in cities.
Except in a few localities, where only upper middle and high class people live, one comes across almost everywhere the same never ending spectacle of famishing crowd, litter and Kachara thrown in big heaps on main roads and streets and nobody taking care to remove it, crowds of people hanging by railings to the trains and trams without a thought to purchase a ticket, beggars roaming about in the streets, women of ill-fame frequenting every Street corner, Calcutta appeared to me a picture of tragedy, confusion and terrible mismanagement. It is a model of blessings of Rule Britannia in this country. Thirty five lacs of people have already perished in the last Bengal famine and quite a large fraction of those moving ghosts in the streets of Calcutta, appeared to me to be on the waiting list to die. And only a miracle can avert the impending tragedy. With all our very happy meetings with friends, we left Calcutta depressed and sick both in mind and body and the memory of what we saw in those 4 days haunts us as a nightmare.
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Shantiniketan
Shantiniketan stands in refreshing contrast to what we saw in Calcutta and in its surrounding countryside. Our stay and visit to Shanriniketan, Shriniketan and the village centre Laldah were both happy and stimulating. Gurudev was alive, though by coincidence he was not at Shantiniketan when I first visited it in 1933. Somehow, negligence and mismanagement that I noticed then in the working of the institution spoiled my first impression. Now that Gurudev is no more, I had my own misgivings about the success of our visit to the institution. But I was glad to find that things have improved for better than what I had miscalculated. It speaks volumes in favour of Rathindra Babu and his colleagues who are efficiently managing the affairs of the institution and also of the message that the institution has to convey.
Though our party stayed at Shantiniketan but we were only there to study rural uplift activities at Shriniketan. Casually we took round and saw Shantiniketan colony and its many institutions including Gurudeva’s cottage that are situated there in The very atmosphere of Shantiniketan breathes art and poetry and literature and one who would visit it could not help being struck by its artistic and elevating surroundings.
At Shriniketan, rural survey and statistical records of village life, agricultural farm, dairy and poultry farming, training of village boys for farm life, cottage industries institute, its weaving, leather works, carpentry, potteries and fisheries were some of the activities visited by our party. Weaving and leather works though run on cottage industry basis are very well organised and it was reported to us by the manager that during the last year, these industries earned a net profit to the tune of Rs. 27000/-Due to easy facilities of finance which a public institution can command and educated and efficient management, which equipment the disorganised and illiterate village artisan lacks, these cottage industries while though they prove a success as a centralised unit, fail to be transmitted to the villages for the very absence of these favorable conditions. Therefore, success of
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these centralised units of cottage industries under institutional management has not much meaning and message for their adoption in villages and what is said in this connection of Wardha institutions holds equally true of institutions here.
Laldah village centre 5 miles away from Shriniketan and conducted on behalf of this institute produced most wholesome impression on us and we have nothing but appreciation for that work. This is the first village centre visited by us in this tour where many-ided programme of improvement is being worked out more or less methodically and with a plan. There are detailed charts of all-sided activities kept up on the walls of the local Pali Mangal Samiti, which furnish full information about various activities conducted at the centre and the standards reached in every direction. We took round of the village and the adjoining fields and also saw irrigational work created by the co-operative enterprise of the villagers. This irri-gational work is an excavated tank, which is responsible for the introduction certain new crops like wheat and sugarcane in this area and has added to the economic prosperity of the villagers. The working ofVishwa Bharati Cooperative Bank has greatly organised economic life 0f the villagers here and they put on a different appearance than what we saw at Gocharan village near Calcutta. We were particularly struck by the earnestness and sincerity of the local secretary who is a trained student of Shriniketan.
U. P. Govt’s rural uplift work
Rural Reconstruction work in the villages round about Fyzabad (U. P.) carried on by the Rural Development Department of U. P. Government, which we visited during this tour, deserves mention. U. P. is the only Province where rural development exists as a separate department and where a budgeted sum of about 12 lacs of rupees is being spent every year on items of rural uplift in villages. Our party visited 4 different villages in this area, some 10 miles away on either side of Fyzabad and what we saw pleased us very much.
Taken separately the village, ‘Pura Kashinath’ stands out prominent in our memory. It is a complete newly built model village
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 374
by the labors of the people themselves with only a nominal government help. The people have grown their own Kitchen gardens in their back yards and planted fruit trees. It was only in my sore State near Bangalore that I saw certain 1-larijan Colonies built on cooperative housing model. This village has a specialty in that it is a complete village built on a new housing model with a village well in the centre of it. It is a standing example for post-ar sanitary housing in villages under contemplation. If people are sufficiently inspired and properly guided what is possible at one place may also be a possibility at other places.
Here, in these rural development villages in U. P., one finds Panchayat Ghar’, a village assembly ball, standing prominent in the village built by the department of of Rural Development with the cooperation of the local people. A village worker and a woman village guide stay in these villages and carry on various activities of rural uplift according to the programme drawn up by the department. They look after the education of boys and girls and also that of women and adults, provide medical help, conduct libraries and reading rooms, look to sanitary improvement, organise village Panchayats and conduct their working. We found these villages clean and attractive and people living in them enjoing better educational and economic facilities.
Recapitulation: —
The conclusions arrived at as a result of this study-our may be briefly summarised as follows:—
(1) Rural Development programme has not been given serious trial either by the Government or by none-official agencies
(Continued on 2nd Cover Page)
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!
By G. K. Puranik
(Article published in MAY’1946 in ‘The Rural India’ Bombay)
I am glad to associate myself with the trainees of this tlnrd an 11-India Rural Uamp organised by the Adarsh S e v a Sangha at its head-quarters at Pohri. As most of you know, the Sangha- had its birth in a vii lager and quite naturally in tried to serve and uplift the rural masses in a variety of ways dunng these 25 years and more. The last two training cunps have been Non-ere attempts in the sphere of comprehensive study of rural problems. village survey and multi-purpose plannmg and it rcluains tor the present camp to demon strate the practical working of an all-sided plan of de vclopiueut in this ceutra] ly situated Krislinaganj Unit’ if villages in this area. That is the task, which awaits he present campers, and it is confidently expected of them that, before the two months are out, Ihev will leave behind them a record of hard labour and practical application to tins experiment worthy of the true missionaries of village service.
The most outstanding problem of the year and probably of a few years to coin. Before the world as well as India is the grave problem ol food-shortage and Tim Consequent dread of the impending food famine in the country. This is obviously the result of the last world-war, witieht disorgansed noriiuil eivil life both in Europe and Asia and dislocated agriculture auth food-productive meson rces of the world. This cowl try- has already witnessed. The Bengal food-famine of 1913 taking a toll of three million lives. Those who are in the know rightly apprehend that if large stock of food-grain is not immediately
THE TASK BEFORE POHRI RURAL TRAINING CAMP
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! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 376
imported front outside and made available IC for feeding our population the loss of human life this time mar be several times more.
Side by side with our efforts to secure food supplies front outside. The Govern’ ii tent a id ti ie people should Jo] a hands - togel her to lauiicli vigorous food- introduction all over the country and in creased national food-resources to avert tile catastrophe. The trainees of this camp by the very fact of their being constructive workers in villages are our soldiers to fight I his loud Front.’ They should, during the course of their short training here, equip themselves in such a way that on their return to their respective sphere of work, they mistakes their definite contribution to increase the food- productive resources in their areas and hrng credit to their training and the mission to which the are wedded.
A rural workers’ training has not mud meaning, if it does not inspire and equip the trainees to solve this most urgent problem of food-supply to the contra)-which tlneatens our very existence. A Rural Volker should know that his country is short of food-supply to the extent of 4 million tons according to official version and 10 million tons iCeordntg to expert non-official opinion. In the calculation of a la)-man the latter Iignre appears to he more correct as it will be seen later on. It shows that the present food-shortage stands-at two hi nudred and eigl t million m uaunds, i.e. there is no food to feed ti crores or 16th population of the county try. This is an alarnung situation of winch a constructive worker should take serious note. And the gravit of the situation is further aggravated by the difficulty of not getting ad equate supply from outside due to conditions of food-shortage in the world.
That needs an all-out effort to increase food-production with all possible means An address delivered to the trainees of The Rural Training Camp at Pohri,(Gwalior), by the Editor of this magazine And resources available in the country and none who can help it should do without. Making his or her contribution. To meet a grave emergency like this, a village worker should know the ways and means of growing long-term and short-term food crops suitable to his area and he should have ingenuity enough to discover and introduce snbstitute crops if need he. He should have sufficient fund of self-confidence in
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himself and be capable of inspiring and organizing people to make the most of natural resources not being properly exploited in their neighborhood. For that he should have practical experience as to how the available water-resources can be exploited or created afresh if they are not there, adequate supply of manure can be ensured and quick yielding varieties of crops can be grown. So long as this emergency lasts and the country once again attains its normal balance in food self-sufficiency this and similar camps all over India will .b6 well-advised to make practical training in food-production the first item in their curriculum and this traitnng should occupy the most important place in their calculations.
Luckily for you, this Sangha has in its possession a few wells, garden and extensive lands for food and vegetable production. 1 have no doubt, if you have sufficiently realised the gravity of Ilte situation, your camp will, each day that von are here, devote major portion of your time in various experiments, namely, creating more and more water-facilities, preparing various kinds of manures, growing vegetable and root. crops like carrots, sweet potatoes, and also quick growing crops like maize. Besides this home experiment, you should carry a vigorous drive and propaganda among the villagers of this unit for increased food-production during the summer which i mostly the idle perwd of the year in villages. If von do that, I belie ce you will be se II jug up a splendid example in practical rural workers’ Training, which will he worthy of emulation by those who wil.l follow you here and elsewhere.
Let there be no illusion about the fact
That this food-shortage is not a temporary phenomena in the life of the country which may disappear with the coming of the next better harvest, It is nothing like that. The experts hold that India needs 67 million tons of food-grains in cereal and puleses to feed its existing population whereas it produces only 60 million tons foodstuff in an average year of yield. Thus there is regular shortage of? Million tons in the food requirements of the country in an average normal year, which the special circumstances of the var and failure of rains in
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 378
many parts have aggravated during the present year. This huge deficit, which now stands at 10 million tons, cannot easily be made up by individual or private efforts, unless the State launches an intensive food-production drive and completely changes its attitude towards agricultural economy of the country.
The entire period of British administration in this country, now about 200 years, has been a period of exploitation of the productive masses, ruin of cottage industries, increasing pressure on land and poorer yield and consequent poverty, starvation and unemployment of the people. The malady which was inherent due to mal-adjustment in the political and economic structure of the country has been made worse by the increasing population, which increases by 5 millions every year and adds 6 crore new mouths to be fed every 10 years. As a result of positively wrong and ruinous land policy of the present Government, there has been an unequal race between increasing population and decreasing food production for abpnt a century or so with the result that 30% of the country’s population, i. e., 10 to 12 crores of people had lived in a state of semi-starvation in a normal year before the war. All that the war has done is to bring out the chronic malady which was there in the body economic and present it in an acute form - to draw the attention of the Government and. the people.
Next to the question of food-shortage,
Is the problem of all-sided development of village conditions as outlined in hi plan by one of the ex-trainees of this institute, published in the April issue of ‘The Rural India’? This plan of all-round development of village conditions represents the latest phase in the experiments and researches carried on by the Sangha in the field of rural reconstruction for the last quarter of a century and is supported by the knowledge gained through extensive tours and studies of similar projects in different parts of the country. Compartmental or sectional efforts at rural reconstruction tried for a considerable length of time by both official and non-official bodies in this country have produced poor or no results. The only conclusion to which the earnest workers have arrived after many years of trials and errors is that life does not develop in compartments and that it has to he taken as a
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whole. Therefore, if all aspects of rural life have to be developed simultaneously in the shortest possible time, as is aimed at by the post-war reconstruction schemes of the Government, it needs large-scale investment of capital, expert and trained personnel and a huge machinery to implement various programme. The plan referred to above embodies the idea of multi-purpose development in a small unit of 10 villages and suggests machinery for co-ordinated working. This plan is in harmony with large-scale plans prepared for provincial and National Development. It is expected of your camp that you will distribute various functions among separate groups interested in different branches of village activity and gather your own conclusions of co-ordinated and all-sided working for your own benefit and also for the benefit of a large section of other workers working elsewhere in the field.
Important as both money and machinery is, a worker with a vision is certainly the most valuable asset for this difficult task of village reconstruction. It is an initial Advantage to a constructive worker to have a vision of a reconstructed and rejuvenated India. That vision is the vision of an adequately fed, clothed, sheltered, educated and healthy community, living in villages, enjoying advantages of cultural facilities and improved means of communications essential in the modern life. A happy and prosperous village community, enjoying all those facilities which a town-dweller is provided with, should he the constant dream of a rural worker. Oblivious to all the drawbacks and difficulties of the present conditions, he should steadily work his way ahead for the realization of this vision, fortified with the belief that the spirit of the post-war age has made things easy for him to accomplish.
A worker has not properly equipped himself if he fails to understand the spirit of the age, in which he is to work. The essential difference between pre-war and post-war age has to be recognised. While the pre-war world was the world of the imperialist and the capitalist, the post-war world definitely belongs to the common- man. The post-war age is there to bridge the gulf between the rich and the poor and minimize the differences between a town and a village. The common-man and his needs will have the foremost claim on the society and the Government and he cannot now be ignored as in the
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 380
past. Forms of Governments, laws and institutions will have to be changed or adjusted to meet the essential requirements of the common citizen. It is he, who should be cared and looked after by the State and the Society and made happy and prosperous. Blessed with faith and vision, such as this, a constructive worker may be said to have won half the battle. May you all be blessed with this robust faith and patriotic vision to renovate life of suffering humanity in our villages is my earnest prayer!
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!
G.k. Puranik
(Article published in AUGUST ‘1946 in ‘The Rural India’ Bombay)
SINCE the publication of Mr. J. B. Malankar’s plan for an all-round development of a unit of 10 villages round about Krishuaganj, (Pohri), in the April issue of ‘The Rural India’, the idea of implementing it in the proposed unit of villages was gradually gaining ground. While making the announcement of the prize of Rs. 250/- (in cash) td be awarded to the best plan from the trainees of ‘The Rural Workers Training Institute,’ the Adarsh Seva Sangha had in view the idea of developing a new unit on the basis of the latest conception of all-sided and planned development of villages. During our extensive Rural Study Tour in various Provinces in the last winter, we bad realised more than ever, the necessity of all-sided development of village life if the progress has to be permanent and barinouions. Active interest evinced by Raj Rajendra Shrimant Shitole Sahib, in the implementation of this plan therefore augurs well for the success of this scheme and we are all highly obliged to him for consenting to preside over this meeting of the formation of the first Krishnaganj unit Panchayat.
The pressure of advancing world opinion after the Second World War has brought about revolutionary changes in the basic ideas of Society and the new social structure envisaged is that it shonid satisfy minimum physical and intellectual needs of all citizens everywhere. A Society which should satisfy minimum needs of every citizen can only be a planhed society based on the principles of Social Security. Many-advanced eountriesin Europe Including United Kingdom are bringing in legislation guaranteeing social security to all
A NEW MODEL OF A VILLAGE UNIT
52
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 382
their citizens. When thinking of developing a model village unit in this corner of the world, we should not cut ourselves adrift from the current of world movements, whose pressure, we should know, is irresistible and cannot be checked. It is wise therefore that. we should plan our development of krishnaganj Unit in conformity with the accepted principles of Economic Democracy and Social Security, which rule the world of progress in our times and in which alone lies the hope of deliverance of the common-man.
It is but natural that our original conception of rural development should - undergo a change as a result of impact of progressive ideas of new Social Structure that the world is out to build in the Post-war period. The targets and standards of Social and Economic Welfare of the masses that we are asked to fix up to-day were beyond the wildest dreams of the early pioneers of the Rural Remonstration Movement. The Adarsh Seva Sanga can lay claim of making a successful experiment at Village Reconstruction at its Centie at T) eori, where as a result of its systematic work for the last 10 years, it could raise per capita average monthly income of the villagers, to Es. 6—14—0 and 80% of the aggregate debt of the? Villages of the Centre have been paid off. Besides these tangible results at economic improvement, there has been definite development in Soeial, Administrative and Mental out-look of the people in this area. Litigation has completely stopped, approach roads to the villages have been laid out,
Address delivered in Hiridi on the occasion of the formation of the Krihnaganj Lick Pacchayrat (Pohri). Gwalior State.
Drinking water facilities have been created, sanitary, health and educational facilities have improved and cooperative institutions like Village Bank and Grain Store have been started. As a resnit of these various social, educational and economic activities successfully carried on for this long period there has been general advancement of the community and the people seem to be happy and enjoying fairly prosperous living conditions. They seem to have almost attained the standard of development which we had placed before them when starting this Centre over a decade back and it appears now as if a
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saturation point has reached in the case of further development of these people.
The results that the Sangha has attained at Deori Centre maybe satisfactory according to the old conception of rural reconstruction, bnt these appear to be poor and unsatisfactory when weighed in the scales of Post-war reconstruction plans and targets. We never bothered, then, for a well-balanced nutritious diet of 2800 calories which is now onr definite food target for every adult person in a village- Then we satis6ed ourselves with only 15 yards of cloth per head per year which demand has gone up now to 35 yards taking into consideration comparative figures of cloth consumption in some of the advanced countries of the West. New standard of housing which should provide accommodation of 100 sq. feet per every adnlt person and should conform to sanitary model was never thought of in the old programme of rural reconstruction and we satisfied ourselves with ordinary cleaning and improved ventilation of village homes. Programmes of health, education and means of communication were not so comprehensive, all embracing and nun versal as they are being adopted now. And huge finances and large personnel that the present development programmers demand may have been ridiculed then as a madman’s impossible dream. Where we would have grudged spending Rs 500k a year and no more than one worker to look after all activities in a group of villages, we are required to spend Rs. 50,000/—and to employ 40 to 50 people to work up new plans of development. In the light of advancing ideas of world Society onr old achievements in the held of improvement village life appear to be only of elementary nature. Where we satisfied ourselves with a dimly burning oil lamp in the past, we need a hundred candlepower gas lamp to flood the house with a dazzling light. This, I hope, illustrates the difference between old and new standards of Village Development. And it is absolutely necessary that we revise our conceptions of old in the light of the new changes in the Post-war social reconstruction in his perplexity to know exactly what complete picture of a reconstructed village or a reformed villager would be, Samalia Mehte of Deori pnt a straight question to me the other day to get an answer. This is just the sort of question, which an inquisite villager interested in the development of village life may be eager to
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 384
know about- And the answer given by me in reply to this querry may be taken- to be a model to satisfy the curiosity of an average villager.
I started by asking him if he marks any difference between how he lives and I live, the standard and cleanliness in our dressing, the kind and quality of food that we eat, the standard and atmosphere of our homes, the social life that we lead
And the facilities of life that we enjoy. If he sees any difference between himself and myself and knowing that he and I both come from the same rural surroundings and almost belong t0 the sante social environinent, this difference, if there is any, furnishes answer tehis very sensible question. If he prefers and likes the standard of living that I enjoy, which is definitely of an average middle-class-man, all we mean by village development is that every villager should enjoy my standard of living and all villages should be provided with the same facilities of life that are enjoyed by the town’s-than and which I seem to be enjoying.
The proposition is how conditions in our villages should he developed and life of village people should be transformed so that the picture presented above may be reduced into practical achievement. For the realization of this splendid vision of the future, all such factors as impede the progress of Village Communities will have to be removed and measures which contribute to the attainment of new Social, Economic and Intellectual standards will have to be introduced. A few such immediate measures may be summarised as follows —
1. Economic Holding
.The first important step towards agricultural development in this country is that the population which lives on agriculture should be provided with economic holdings in compact blocks. According to €expert opinion an economic holding for an average family of 5 people has been computed to be 20 acres of land both wet and dry. Economic rehabilitation of the agriculturist population is impossible unless the State guarantees means of adequate economic production. The present Uneconomic division and fragmentation of holdings is
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the greatest single factor in the way of economic recovery of the agriculturist masses and the State should take immediate steps to re-distribute lands to the agriculturists in compact economic blocks.
2 Irrigational Facilities
Indian agriculture is known to be a gamble in rains. There are lands and lands without permanent irrigational facility in most parts of our country. It is no wonder our production from the land is the poorest in the world and those who live on it lead a life of chronic starvation. The State has not so far realised its responsibility of providing irrigational facility to cultivable lands and assuring ecologic security to the agriculturist population. Production from land can easily be increased by 100% if farms are supplied with easy facilities of water. A National Government solicitous of the economic welfare of the agriculturists should take immediate steps to launch large-scale irrigational projects and see that there are no lands without well or canal irrigation. All economic holdings should compulsorily be provided with deep well or canal irrigation
3 Farm Settlement
One of the main causes of low yield from the land is that it does not receive sufficient care, attention and treatment from the farmer due to his living in a far away village. He comes late, goes earlier and gives less time for the improvement of his land. his permanent habitation being in a village away from the farm, his crops are less protected from the encroachment of wild animals and birds. In general, farm Improvement and production from land suffer a good deal due to absence of the farmer from his lands. Whatever may he the reasons in the past and safety of life and property may be the main consid ration for large numbers of people to live together in village, many of these old would conditions have changed in most parts of the conntr. Now when the whole country is faced with the grave problem of increasing food production to feed its starving p6pulation the movement of farm settlement will definitely go a log way to increase food protection. Settlement on farms will give more time to the
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 386
cultivators to devote themselves for land improvement and save them from many unhealthy influences which cause unnecessary wastage of their time, money and energy in faction fights, fends and litigation ill the present day life of our villages.
4. Means of Communication
To keep farm population in touch with rultiiial and civilizing infhicnces of life, they should be s raved with proper means of (-oinunnieatlon - In the present day undeveloped stage of farming in on r i-onntrv it is not within our iiower or means to provide telephone, radio and electricity to the farms, which facilities are supplied to them in some of the agriculturally advanced -onntries of tire world. l3nt these farms should be so located that they should be approachable iii all seasons through metalled feeder roads connected with district or Provincial roads.
3. Villages with large Population
Complete rural reconstruction means complete change in all aspects of rural life of which social, political and cultural aspects are no less important.. So long as Village Population eontinnes to live in small, scattered helmets, they can never be served with adequate social services and therefore the life of the community cannot be much improved and organised. They cannot he served with schools, libraries, hospitals, maternity homes; cooperative banks and stoves and other facilities for intellectual recreation in the absence of which the villagers must of necessity remain poor and ignorant. The only way to help them with modern facilities of life and to place adequate social services at their disposal is that there should he a strong countrywide move to persuade aild bring pressure on them to appreciate the advantages of coining together and settling down in new model villages with large population of say 2000 and more. This is certainly a difficult item in the scheme of rural reconstvnction and may be taken in the end, hut it is no less essential if village. life has to he socially and culturally elevated and the growing gulf between town and village life has to he bridged in the interest of national development as a whole. This big village or liaxar area will serve as a
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radiating and distributing centre of soeal and cultural life to the farm. Population of the round about area. It is highly desirable that the farm pop ulaion, besides their farm houses should also have a pernianen home in this village, which they mar occasionally visit for purposes of recreation and where their children and elders of the family may stay in the interest of education and medical attention.
The Krishnaganj village unit which we form and for which we elect the first Panchayat to day is intended to be the best model representing the advanced Thought in rural reconstruction. The five essential elements in the life and economy of village reform enumerated above will be the prominent features of this unit. It will be our special concern to develop Krishnaganj into a model village with as many facilities of town-life as are possible so that in the course of time the neighbor- jug 10 villages may be amalgamated and be submerged into this model village.
These reforms, revolutionary as they aie, are not enough by themselves unless they are supplemented by a strong Organisation of workers and technicians at the centre. The centre at Krishnaganj will be nnclens of all the multifarious activities of the unit, which will inspire, organise and control social, economic and cultural life of the area. This machinery at the centre will be composed of technicians and trained workers and will be responsible for affecting various reforms and developing the unit on the lines laid down in the original plan. The suggestive list of various departmental heads who will conduct the operations of this Unit may be stated as follows :—
1. Planning officer or statistician. 2, Agricultural Worker. 3. Dairy Worker. 4. Cottage Industries Worker. 5. Co-operative Worker. 6. Educational Worker. 7. Engineer. 8. Civil Doctor.
9.VeterinaryDoctor. 10. Forest Officer.
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 388
This is only a suggestive list of workers that a new centre of villege work should need to begin with. Each one of them represent a department or a big institution at the centre with its multif arious duties, embracing the whole unit and every member thereof. In ecurse of time each one of these departments will be a big affair by itself, requiring a large number of other workers to assist in carrying out its various operations.
All-round development of a village unit such as we propose here requires the backing of huge finances, State legislation and drive, which a private organization like ours lack at the moment. Important as these factors are, they cannot impede the progress of the commnnitv which has clearly realised its goal of development and which becomes progress- conscious. In essence, the process of development is the process of proper education of human mind, which task an earnest body of workers can surely accomplish. The primary task of the workers of the unit would be t0 carry on vigorous propaganda to educate the villagers as to what promise of prosperity the new development programme holds for them. And when real demand is created among the people, finances and other facilities would naturally follow.
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!
By G.K, Puranik
(Article published in October ‘1946’ in ‘The Rural India’,Bombay)
WHILE young; many of us were inspired by the dictum that Education is the panacea to cure the present- day ills of our society. We accepted it as a gospel truth and dedicated the best part of our lives to brig up a generation of educated young men according to the highest patriotic ideas and ideals of our time. With our belief that the young generation brought up under the obligation of the Society will develop a pattern of thinking in terms of society rather titan an individualistic outlook, we tried to serve and win them over for the great task of national service. For the time being, till some of these young people completed their College and University education and joined us as colleagues in national work, it appeared that our long cherished hoses would find their best fulfillment through their lives.
But their entry into the actual field of work has been a period of frustration and sad disillusionment for which none of us was prepared. And the golden dreams that we dreamt for the major part of our lives were dashed to - the ground against the hard realities of poor heredity and their bad social environment. A search for finding out the causes of our failure in the programme of ideational reconstruction was started more than a decade and a half back and still continues. Nothing can yet be said with certainty that we have discovered the right remedy for the grave defects From which our present sys tern of education suffers. But the basic fact that we have discovered as a result of this search and investiáation, along which ideational reform- in future should proceed, is waging- total war- against the &vil of ignorance of the society as a whole.
WAGUNG TOTAL WAR AGAINST IGNORANCE
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! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 390
The mistaken notion that possessed us then-now 30 years or more-was that education is the key which will unlock the gate to political and Economic emancipation of the country. Experience has brought home to us that what we thought to be a blessing turned out to be a curse. Rather than solving political and economic problem of our people the educated generation of young men helped to complicate it. Those, who- were expected to be national assets turned out to be a liability on our poor country. Contrary to all reasonable expectations, where w had hoped that our educated people would be. standard bearers of national morals, they turned out to be active agents lo undermine the morals of the society; in the place of being good guides of the community, they started on their reckless career of misguiding and rather than adding to human happiness and prosperity, they started living on the exploitation of their fellow- men. As to the moral obligation to the boeiety, they dismissed all such demands as sheer nonsense and out of date in the present context of the materialistic age.
This was a travesty of education, with’ which educationists of our generation found themselves confronted and for a time we felt non-ilussed as to how to remedy the wrong. the patient research of long
Years has led us to the conclusion that since the present system of education is unsuited to the genus of the country, it can never serve the true national interests of the race. And since, it is divorced from the currents of national life, it is no wonder if its products turn out to be misfits in every walk of life and develop socially undesirable tendencies.
In our efforts to create Utopia through educational enterprise, we over-looked the influences of heredity and environment and the limitations of individual nature of children whom we wanted to be recreated into stalwart patriots. This proved to be the tndoiug of our work, for in our enthusiasm to create an ideal society of the future, we forgot to take stock of the material with which we were ont to build and the social background in which the human material was born and bred. The present Indian society cannot escape the influences of national degeneration and decay of a thousand years of slavery, foreign conquest and domination. We have practically lost distinctive
Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !391
featnres of national character in our society. If we are to examine moral and ethical basis of our society, and try to justify our existence on the basis of social virtues, I am afraid, we have very little to show to our credit. The dynamic qualities of sense of duty, discipline, courage of conviction, truthfulness, justice, loyalty, patriotism, generosity, spirit of enterprise, consideration for others and the like, which make a people living and virile are hardly seen in our society. For all practical purposes, ours is a stagnant, if not a decaying society with an abundance of opposite of these virtues to our discredit. Children born of such parentage naturally inherit vices rather than virtues of the parents, who have no special idea or design to bring forth their progeny. The present generation, therefore, is the victim of poor inheritance and the most Herculean efforts of the educationists have been found to be wrecked against the rock of poor heredity. And through our failure we have realised the basic defect of our social structure which we are out to remodel, that in the making of man heredity contributes three-fourth and a child usually adopts the pattern of his parents. Unless, therefore, the parents are educated and reformed and they grow in virtues and moral qualities, those should not he expected to be developed in the young ones, however earnest and sincere may be our efforts at inculcating them.
Environment is another important factor in the making of a young man or woman, on which an educationist builds his great hopes. True, if it is possible to change the environment of a child completely, there is bound to be difference in his development, social behaviour and outlook. lint even under ideal conchtions, such complete change of surrounding of a child is hardly possible except in rare cases. However, under best possible environment, the influence of the surrounding in the making of a man when compared with the basic influences of heredity is only minor if it is not superficial. At its best its contribution does not exceed more than 25%, while that of heredity accounts to 75%. With rare except’ tious here and there, which only prove the rule, the general rule i that children born in a particular environment, grow up in the same and pass the rest of their life surrounded by the same family members and the same rotten and vicious environment round about them. In the case of large majority of our
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 392
children and more particularly in rural areas, change of surrounding and its influence for better is more of a myth than a reality.
With an overwhelming weight of poor heredity and still poorer if not positively bad environment, much store should not be laid by the atmosphere of our schools, colleges, gurukulas and ashramas, which can hardly be impervious to the general atmosphere of the society in which they are situated. The teachers, professors and acbaryas of these educational institutions are drawn from the same society, whose standards and ideas are none too high and who are not there to serve and elevate the moral and ethical standards of the society but to draw their own living. It is a sad commentary on our present system of education that in the absence of appreciation and reverence of old and also due to inadequacy of material reward, only third rate material is attracted to the profession of teaching, who shonid not be expected to be men of vision and high ideals to influence the life of youngsters for higher attainments.
After a period of sad disillusionment, as early as 1933, I went on tour all over the country to study different educational institutions and to compare notes with leading educational authorities of the country. To my surprise, whichever institution I visited and with whomsoever I had discussions about the system of education and its products, I found a strong and vocal dissatisfaction in all quarters. In the midst of de-nationalizing policy of the Government in the matter of education and the slavish mentality of the people, who look up to Government for the recognition of degrees and diplomas and provision of jobs and services to their wards, national system of education, wherever it has been tried could not make much head-way for want of popular après citation Numerous experiments for effecting reform in the system of education, tried from time to time in this country, could not succeed for Want of Government support. And the well known dictum of Lala Lajpat Rai holds the field: There can be no national system of education, unless there is national Government.’ For, a national Government alone through its varied and well defined policies can give a new pattern to the system of education and influence the attitude of the people for its acceptance.
Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !393
As the foregoing survey reveals, real and vital change in the system of education can only be possible with the establishment of national government in the country. A National Government alone is capable of adopting national ideals in education and giving it authority and administrative sanction. It alone can take proper account of every child and look to its development with an eye to be an asset for the nation. Now that National Interim Government has been established at the Centre, we can confidently look up to an era of educational reconstruction in our country.
That being a hopeful augury for the educational reform of the future the immediate problem to which the educationists should turn their special attention is that they should take up to the educator the community as a whole and not that of an isolated child as has been the ease so far. It has been very rightly said by a great authority on education that “if a ehild had to be educated, start educating his grand-father”. Education in piecemeal against the over-whelming weight of ignorance of the community can never be productive of satisfactory results. Education of a limited class in the midst of ignorance of the mass could only be productive of evil consequences.
Power, wealth and knowledge when unequally distributed are a positive evil and corrupt the society as a whole by setting in motion the anti-social forces of exploitation of the weak by the strong. Those who bappen to possess advantage of knowledge feel tempted to exploit those who have it not and this obviously unjust process continues undermining the just basis of the society. The only cure for this state of affairs is that rather than a child or an individual, the society as a whole should be educated and means -should be adopted to urge the society -of the evil of ignorance.
In a socialistic age, the pattern of -education should necessarily serve socialistic ends. In a socialist society, knowledge should not be the privilege or monopoly of the limited few, but it should be secured by all as equally as possible. The fruits of knowledge will only be propitious, when it is universally and ven1y distributed among all.
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 394
But this question of universal and compulsory education raises a series of complicated issues, which are no less perplexing. It is a question of finding large-scale finances, which according to Sergeant Scheme, come to Rs. 300 cores, a sum ten times the present expenditure on education. The figure exceeds the total revenue of the Government of India. And unless the total national wealth increases several times over its present -size, the idea of universal education should of necessity remain a fond dream. Besides the finances, there is the question of eating an army of 2 million trained teachers to do the job, which according to the same authority will take a period of 40 years to accomplish it.
Whether we take the question of national education, health or social services, this poor country has not a fraction of money to provide these civic amenities on a nation-wide scale. All these nation- building projects must necessarily wait till we affect enormous increase in national wealth. And development of national wealth is again a matter of time and of launching large-scale projects for the development of agriculture and industries both large scale and of cottage variety.
Finally, in its ultimate analysis, success of nation-building plans, including those that concern the production of wealth, depend in a large measure on the willing cooperation of the people and pooling together of human and material resources for common ends. Those who have tried to organise the masses our cooperative basis will testify to the fact that success in a corporate Endeavour pre-supposes development of intelligence among the people and also of higher moral qualities, viz: -sense of honesty, truthfulness and service to the community. As representative of the new age that is to come, the teachers owe a heavy responsibility to the community to develop these moral virtues in their own sphere of influence through constant preaching and personal example. It should not be forgotten, that a child cannot be properly educated or developed in moral virtues if the society as a whole remains mendicant e and wanting in moral qualities.
Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !395
!
By G. K. PURANIK
(Article published in June-July ‘1948 in ‘The Rural India’ Bombay)
At the end of your one-year’s training at this Institute, it is my very happy duty to wish you all hearty good-bye and to send you back as trained workers for planned development of your Province. The Government of Assam is to be congratulated for having deputed you for this triune, which, I am sure, qualifies you to undertake development of your Province with confidence. In the nature of things, it is expected of you that you will come up to the expectations of your Government and bring good name and credit to the Institute which has equipped you in life to play your great role as Nation-builders in a free India.
You are all aware of the fact that the science of planning is in its infancy in this country. The idea of all sided reconstruction of society is merely being talked out in high political and economic circles on an academic basis. Lately, of course, there is growing realization of the futility and wastage of piecemeal reforms. All the same, the concept of a-sided and planned development of society has not yet become dynamic enough to mould the policies of central and provincial administrations.
In the new democratic setting, men who have hardly any previous experience in matters administration are running the machinery of Government, and it is no wonder, if they find themselves unequal to handle giant schemes of development. Unavailability of trained personnel and huge finances required for implementing reconstruct ional schemes present insuperable difficulties which a determined administration may alone be capable
FAREWELL TO THE TRAINEES
55
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 396
of surmounting. Conflicts and contradictions like these, inherent in our present situation, have rendered the task of National Planning almost impossible.
The coming of freedom itself has created numerous complicated problems, which are well nigh baffling. It has let loose forces of reaction, political and communal rivalries and brought individualistic and selfish tendencies to the surface which are undermining the moral tone of the community and doing incalculable injury to national life. The democratic form of Government, which derives its sanctions from the rule of numbers, has greatly restricted the choice of selection of the best men to hold ministerial jobs in popular administrations. The vast majority of electorates being ignorant and unable to make proper discrimination in the choice of their rulers, it is only natural that our administrations may be representative of popular ignorance rather than of enlightened public opinion. The evil effects of ignorant democracy are the natural corollary of the change that has come, Rather than dreams of prosperity and national advancement which we all have associated with the new changes; we witness all-round deterioration of moral and material standards. National life at this stage suffers from a feeling of frustration of hopes and therefore there is general depression of spirits in the country. We are passing through the valley of darkness and it is the business of creative and constructive statesmanship to save the country from national disaster, which seems to overwhelm us at the moment,
In the course of our All-India study tour, we have painfully observed all-round depression and deterioration of national life. Political freedom does not seem to bring economic freedom to the masses, which they have learnt to associate with. Better amenities of life with regard to flooding, clothing, housing conditions and facilities for health and education are nowhere to be seen. In no
Part of the country the State seems to be alive to discharge these obligations towards its citizens. Not even an honest effort is there. The impression is that in the race of power politics the prizewinners seem to have forgotten their immediate duty to the people to which they stand committed by the pledges given by them. These pledges, which have naturally raised high hopes in the minds of people to
Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !397
witness a new orderofthingswith the coming of freedom, remain unredeemed, if not forgotten. For a variety of reasons and the chief among them being absence of clear vision and want of “Will” on the part of the Government, the conception of economic Swaraj remains a distant cry in wilderness. Signs do not want to show that in the face of all-round deterioration in public morals and standards in administration, the present Government may find itself unequal to discharge the duties of national reconstruction in the immediate future.
With all talk of national planning and reconstruction and the promises of doubling and trebling national income in the course of 10 years immediately we attain freedom. We find national production decreasing in all parts of the country.
How shocking and depressing it is to find that there is not a single place in the length and breadth of this great Continent where even an honest attempt is being made for all-sided and planned development of a small region or unit. Workers, both official and non-official, engaged in nation-building work suffer from want of conception of planned and all-sided nation-building work. Outmoded, piecemeal and compartmental activities carried on by various administrations in the sphere of nation. Buildings are in a state of suspended animation and have no vigour and vitality about them. They suffer from neglect and those who are charged to carry them on have no living interest in them, the departmental activities of Panchayat administration, agriculture, co-operation, cattle-improvement and promotion of cottage industries suffer from neglect under our national administrations. Nation-building activities are not receiving either serious attention or encouragement in the popular regime of our own people. Nothing can be more distressing to a constructive worker than to witness the apathy of our own administrations in the matter of nation- building. No less a person than Acharya Kriplani, a President of the Congress, charges the Government of inactivity and want of faith in the matter of constructive programme and says: —
“All schemes of reconstruction, if there are any, are held up as the Governments, Central and Provincial cannot give any attention to the
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 398
constructive programme. The Congress organization is fully occupied with purely political activity. It is engaged in the parliamentary programme, which includes seats on local bodies and their executives. All this provides Congressmen with prestige, power and patronage. The constructive work thus gets neglected.”
Further on, he says
‘But, it is not merely pre-occupation with politics that has made reconstruction difficult. It would appear that today the effective leadership has not that faith in Gandhiji’s constructive programme as they had during years of national struggle. And, yet, they have not been able to evolve any new integrated scheme of national reconstruction. There seems to be no aim and direction to their effort. The common man is confused. Apart from any schemes of social reconstruction, the very basis of healthy physical national life is lacking.”
The inertia and lack of active drive on the part of the Government have made people sceptic about the future of planning and national reconstruction. They seem to be losing faith in our capacity to bring about national development. The people as something unreal and wanting in sincerity are resenting the very talk of planning. It is only natural that under these depressing conditions prevailing at the moment, your training at the Institute may be adversely affected and the usefulness of a study-tour in the country may be greatly marred.
With regard to theoretical side of your training, I think, we all have an easy conscience of having done our bit satisfactorily. But the same cannot be said about practical wc’rk, which was greatly interfered with due to prevailing abnormal conditions in the country. Practical side of the training is always difficult even when facilities are at hand and conditions favorable. It is rendered hundred times more difficult when the atmosphere in the country so completely changes from construction to destruction. A training, which entirely depends on, Government sanctions and drive and which requires huge financial investment cannot satis. Factorily be proceeded with in the absence of all these facilities. However, in the midst of all these
Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !399
disadvantages, no painful were spared to give you thorough grounding in practical work to be able to take up development programme in your own areas with confidence.
The picture presented to you in the foregoing and the conditions observed by you in your study tour all over the country leave no room for doubt that we stand at the threshold of a new period in the history of our country and the Age of national construction has not yet begun. Conditions favorable for national development are nowhere to be seen and the forces of reaction and destruction are holding their unchecked sway every here. Gandhiji’s dream of Economic Swaraj for the masses has receded to the background. And the craze for power and profit has so completely monopolized the party in power that constructive nation building seems to be out of picture at the moment.
It seems, the battle for Economic Swaraj will have to be fought once again by those who believe in the programme of constructive nation building. You, who have received training here, have already enlisted yourselves to fight your battle on the economic front. However despairing may be the conditions at the front, a soldier has to fight at his post of duty. A losing front is always an additional incentive to a really brave fighter to steel his courage and determination, to harness the resources at his disposal and to prepare him for desperate action. This has been the process of all major reforms in human history and it cannot be different when you are out to establish the new order of Economic Democracy or Economic Swaraj for the masses. People who have served humanity before you have had to pay the price and you, who have to carry this process further, will have to do the same, before a new economic order is established in the country.
Whatever else freedom may or may not have brought, it has certainly brought dignity and new consciousness to the citizens. This country and all it stands for is your sacred heritage. You are the custodians of its future and its glory. It is within your power to make it or mar it. You are therefore under national obligation to conduct yourselves in life in such
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 400
a way that you add to the greatness and glory of your nation and carry forward the process of national evolution.
The new responsibility of citizenship in a free India expects you to feel that this country in its absolute values belongs to you. You are now masters in this land and no longer slaves that you used to be before. In the new honorable role, which is yours you cannot afford to be mercenary slaves who may have eased their conscience by working for monetary rewards. That narrow outlook of profit or personal gain is dead and buried alongside that burial of our slavery which had bred it. The new dignity of citizenship demands that you will undertake jobs of reconstruction of your province in the spirit of missionaries and not otherwise. However dark and gloomy the immediate outlook may be, you can always depend on the light of your ‘Missio-i’ which will steer you clear of surrounding darkness and lead you to the promised land of hope and sunshine. If constructive nation-building is a mission with you, as I believe it should, I have no doubt in my mind that you will be able to get over the present depression and fim3 full scope for the development of your Province-may be a day earlier or a day later.
Men of Faith have accomplished great deeds inhuman histories. No man, who aspires to be a missionary in a great cause, can go about without faith in his mission. Nature puts this faith of a missionary to test by putting obstructions and difficulties in his way and by keeping him away from the pursuit of his objective; A man of faith pursues his mission undaunted by the trials and tribulations that beset his path. Such people with faith and deathless perseverance ultimately succeed in overcoming all obstacles and turn a seeming failure into success, A man of mission has to be a man of faith as the one does not sustain without the other.
May you be blessed with Faith and zeal for your constructive mission, is my earnest prayer!
Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !401
\
By G. K. Puranik
(Article Published in December’1948 in ‘The Rural India’, Bombay)
IN the course of my two meetings with the Food and Agriculture Minister of the Government of India, Shri Jairamdas Doulatram, be evinced keen interest in the work of rural reconstruction of the Adarsh Seva Sangha and particularly in that aspect of it which pertains to the increase of production of food. At his instance, a Comparative Statement of progress of ‘Food Production’ at ‘Peon’ centre comprising of? villages of Pohri (Madhya Bharat) was prepared and submitted to him for his information and use. In a period of 9 years between 1938-39 and 1947-48 covered by the comparative chart in question (appended herewith), the centre has registered an increase of 126% in the production of food in the area under its jurisdiction.
When the Sangha took up this unit of villages for intensive ‘Production Drive’ in the year 1938-39, it had a population of 1,117 souls and the aggregate production of food commodities (cereals and pulses) in the area was 4,019 mds. At the rate of 1 lb. per head per day, this quantity could only satisfy the nutritional needs of 68% of the population and the area was short of food self-sufficiency to the extent of 32%. By organised, systematic and intensive effort at production during these 9 years of experiment, the aggregate food production of the unit has come up to 8,138 mds showing an additional increase of food by 4,119 mds. The unit has not only become self-sufficient in its food requirements, but it can also lay claim of being a surplus area by 1481 mds or 20% more, over and above the requirements of its population.
56
TURNING FOOD DEFICIT AREAS INTO SURPLUS AN EXAMPLE OF ‘DEORI' RURAL DEVELOPMENT
CENTRE
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 402
The ‘Centre’ has been maintaining systematic and regular records of agricultural production of every family in the unit for the last 10 years and more showing how production has increased from year to year. On an average the production in this area has increased by 14% every year. On the basis of the past experience, it may safely be said that with proper organisation and equipment and organised effort of the people, it should not be difficult to bring about yearly increase in agricultural production between 5 to 10% in a reasonably suitable agricultural area.
That an experiment of this nature should attract the attention and please the heart of the Food and Agriculture Minister of the Government of India is only natural. At his expressed desire that the experiment he given early publicity in ‘The Rural India’ in the interest of providing in spiration and practical guidance to the workers in the cause of food production in the country, we take this opportunity of publishing it in the present issue in the interest of its wider utility, The Competitive Statement referred to above presents detailed study of increased production obtained at this centre in various agricultural commodities between the years 1938-39 and 1947-48 and also shows the increase of area under cultivation during the same period.
Increase in food and agricultural production is an important aspect of rural economy. There is other aspects showing increasing economic standard of the people of the area which are illustrated by the following table: —
S.no.
Items 1938-39 A.D. Samwat 1995
1947-48 A.D. Samwat 2004
Increase i n 1947-48 o v e r 1938-39
Percentage o f increase
Remarks
1. Population
1117 1162 45
2. L a n d u n d e r cultivation
4 1 1 0 bighas
4 8 4 8 bighas
7 3 8 bighas
Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !403
It is significant that the total income of this unit, which was Rs. 13,2211- in the year 1933-39, increased to Rs. 1,31,673/- in the year 1947-48 showing more than 10 times increase in the average income of the people. The yearly income per head, which was Rs, 11/12/3 in the beginning of our development programme, now stands at Es.
3. Agriculture production
5 3 5 6 mds
1 2 1 4 2 mds
4. S e l f -sufficiency i n f o o d production
68% 120%
5. T o t a l income
R s 13,221
R s 1,47,894
6. Av e r a g e i n c o m e per head p e r annum
R s . 11/12/3
R s 127/4/5
7. Total debt. R s 16197/-
R s 15,268/-
8. Number of f a m i l i e s free from debt.
60 133
9. Milk-yield 1 8 0 9 mds
2 3 1 6 mds
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 404
127/4/5 which records remarkable improvement in the economic’ standard of the people.
The Technique
Taken as a whole, this is mainly an agricultural area. In the prewar time, when this area was taken up for deve1op went it was period of food-famine or scarcity anywhere in the country more so in this particular part where food commodities were in plentiful supply. Increased production of food could not have made a deeper appeal to the agricultural producers under the circumstances. Of course, the money-value of their produce was awfully poor and they could easily.
Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !405
! By G. K. Puranik
(Article published in October ‘1969 in ‘The Rural India’ Bombay)
(This is the reproduction of a note written by late Shri G. K, Puranik of revered memory on October 2, 1950: But the views expressed 30 years back hold equally true to-day).
—EDITOR
The Second of October reminds us of “Gandhi Jayanti” and the debt of gratitude that the people of this country owe to the Father of the Nation. Gandhiji was born on this day in 1869. With the advent of Gandhiji on the political stage, this celebration has become our annual fixture. It is especially devoted to the promo none of constructive activities of nation-building and particularly Khadi and the removal of untouchability the twin activities which were dear to his heart and through which he wanted to establish a classless and nonviolent society in the country.
The political freedom of India, being Gandhiji’s greatest contribution, the tempo of Jayanti celebrations including the production and sale of Khadi is usually marked by the rise or fall in the political barometer in the post freedom era, public response to these national celebrations including the observance of the Independence Day is mostly determined by beneficial or otherwise effects of the activities of the Government, which symbols Gandhiji’s greatest gift to the nation. Great responsibility therefore, devolves on those, who are the custodians of Gandhiji’s most precious legacy “Swaraj” to make ii an effective instrument of fulfilling his great
GANDHI CENTENARY
57
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 406
ideals of moral and material elevation of his people. That is the most effective way of keeping alive Gandhiji’s imperishable memory in the minds and hearts of his ever grateful and adoring countrymen. Gandhiji lived and died for his people and to raise their stature in the comity of nations. Those who are responsible to conduct the Government his imperishable legacy-owe it to the Father of the Nation that they may conduct it in such a splendid way as. to be conducive to bring in an era of moral elevation and material prosperity to the people in the shortest possible time. It would be sheer betrayal of the Nation if those to whom he had entrusted his greatest heritage of Swaraj monopolised and converted it into an instrument to satisfy their ambitions of power and personal advantage. That would be misappropriation of his precious heritage for which they would not be forgiven by the nation and would sooner or later forfeit their claim of being rightful custodians.
Events of the years do not produce sufficient evidence that the present inheritors of the political legacy of the Father have been true to their professions. They seem to have strayed away from the path of “Truth” and “Non-violence” shown to them by the Father and misappropriated the trust to their personal power and advantage at the sacrifice of welfare of the people. Rather than setting the best example of character, integrity, sense of gratitude and discipline and patriotic and devoted service to the nation, they seem to have made a move in the opposite direction and brought about virtual collapse of those qualities, which go to build up a nation and contribute to its stability and greatness. The result is widespread confusion and frustration and tense atmosphere of crisis in almost every phase of national life, the like of which was never witnessed within living memory.
The fruits of “Swaraj” have created bad taste in the mouth of the people and damped their enthusiasm for national festivals like the Independence Day and Gandhi Jayanti. Swaraj, rather than increasing prosperity and happiness of the people has intensified their miseries, wants and sufferings and this, of course, has affected their attitude towards these festivals. These national festivals fail to enthuse and cheer up the people as thy used to do in the recent past. On the
Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !407
contrary, they remind them of the privations and sufferings they have been subjected to. Men cannot be ordered to be happy and enthusiastic about things and events. Whose associations fail to provoke appropriate and spontaneous feelings?
There was marked decline of popular enthusiasm at the observance of the last Independence Day and this fact was greatly deplored by the leaders of the country. There must be reason why Khadi the emblem of purity, patriotism and self-sacrifice-has fallen in popular esteem and evoked quite different type of feelings in p6pulr mind than what it used to do till the other day. People in general have started suspecting the motives of Khaddarites and aggrieved people sometime start making bon-fire of Gandhi-Cap which till yesterday was an emblem of national pride and created terror in the minds of enemies of our freedom. There are small but very sure symptoms which indicate the direction to which the wind is blowing. And, in our intoxication of power and greed, if we continue to behave in the present un-Gandhi like way, history will accuse us to have banished “Gandhi” from the land to which he brought the blessings of Freedom.
! T h e R u r a l I n d i a Ye a r 1 9 3 8 408
!
By G. K. Puranik
(Article published in November ‘1981 in ‘The Rural India’ Bombay)
(This is one of the unpublished articles written about 20 years back by Late Shri G. K. Puranik of revered memory, former Editor Rural India and President Adarsh Seva Sangha).
—Editor
These lines are being written during our tour in South India. The tour is undertaken to obtain first band knowledge of the progress of ‘Food Production Drive’ in the Provinces and the States.
Having visited a few important units of administration, we have begun to doubt if the much advertised ‘Food Drive’ has any basis in actual operation. War like emergency apart, we have failed to observe even normal functioning of the Government Machinery to the ends of attending food self-sufficiency in the country. Barring the only exception of the creation of a new post of Food Commissioner in the Centre and the Provinces, there is practically no planned and systematic effort ensuring large-scale increased production of ‘Food’ in the near future, it is amazing, what makes our top- ranking leaders and administrators feel satisfled with the progress of ‘Food Campaign’, when practically we see nothing much moving in that direction.
FIGHTING THE ‘FOOD FRONT’ WITHOUT PLAN, MEN AND
58
Ye a r 1 9 3 8 A r t i c l e s !409
The Case of Madras:
Madras is a deficit area to the extent of one million ton, which is practically 1/4th of total food-deficit of the country. Due to precarious rain fall and cyclone in Andhra, this part of the country has no chance to produce normal crop and it is most likely that the deficit of ‘Food’ rather than being made up may increase to one and a half million tons-in the current year. There is no special effort at increased food production in the area which may be depended upon even to partially make up for the shortage caused by the operation of the natural factors, We have no authentic reports from other Provinces showing that the damage caused in Madras is compensated by large-scale surplus production in other areas. On the basis of available information, it is very much doubtful whether the first year of ‘Food Drive’ will have something much worthwhile to its credit. We will be happy if we maintain Status Quo’ and do not further increase our food deficit in the present year under consideration.
Paper Propaganda;
‘Food’ is not a commodity which could be, produced in abundance by more paper propaganda, radio talks or press statements issued by the leaders from time to time. It requires faithful implementation of the well-known three recommendations of Lord Boyed Orr i. e. (I) War like basis (2) perfect co-ordination between the Centre and the Provinces and (3) efficient working machinery from the centre down to the village and farm level.
We regret to have to submit that the present effort of the Government comes now here in near approach to these basic conditions. Rather, all these conditions absolutely essential for the successful operation of the ‘Food Plan’ are observed hi their breach both at the Centre and in the Provinces. Here, it is a perfect case of blind leading the blind, not by the hand, but by empty words unaccompanied by action.
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\]The Centre has no plan
We are amazed to find that for so huge and complex and undertaking as the additional production of 4-1/2 million tons of food within the country, the centre, the Provinces and the State units have no plan- worth the name. Where even the much maligned ‘Paper plan’ does not exist, the question of its being perfectly co-ordinated and integrated with units hardly arises. And, if the Centre can do without an AU-India ‘Food Plan’, the Provinces would hardly care to frame one. Under these obvious conditions the Centre has to be satisfied with any rough estimate or idea that the unit may care to-submit. We are at a loss to understand how the centre without the help of a comprehensive and detailed all-India Plan can successfully guide the Provinces and State units in the matter of allocation of lands for purposes of growing food, sugarcane, cotton, jute and other agricultural crops in a balanced and appropriate proportion to meet the requirements of the country and its population. And, if there is loss or damage caused in a certain area, as it happens to be the case in Madras in the present instance, how the Centre can make up for the shortage so caused by increasing additional production in certain other favourably situated units. In the absence of a clear All-India picture of the means and instruments of Production, we fail to understand how the Centre can possibly regulate balanced crop planning in the provinces and State Unions and how it can adopt special remedial measures in case of emergency or failure of crops in certain areas. The Provinces, however efficient cannot regulate their production to suit the requirements of the country as a whole. That is the function of the centre and could only be done with the help and guidance of a detailed All-India Plan.
Provincial Food Plans:
The so-called ‘Provincial Food Plans’ where ever they exist, are practically no plans. They do not satisfy any of the five essential conditions which a plan worth the name should satisfy viz. (I) Accurate date (2) target-fixing (3) adequate finances (4) trained machinery and (5) periodical checking and revision. In a large
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majority of cases, they are no more than financial demands made by the Provinces from the Centre for purposes of certain items of expenditure to be incurred in the Provincial sphere for augmenting food and agricultural production. These items of expenditure, though useful for purposes of general agricultural development in the long run, hardly answer the immediate purpose of meeting the pressing problem of food shortage the administration has in view under the headline lack of funds.
Obviously, all wars are costly affairs. The ‘Food Front’ if it must be fought to success within the time limit of 2 years set by the Government needs huge investment of money. Due to its own precarious financial position, as it has been made abundantly clear by now, the Centre is not in a position in meet the financial demands made by the Provinces and it has asked them to stand on their own legs. The Provincial Finances being-ma still bad way, the Provinces can hardly venture on big projects involving heavy expenditure. That being she financial position, both at the Centre and at the Provincial level, the “Food Plan” stands where it was without making much headway towards its implementation More than the absence of the Central P1an, the financial weakness of the Centre has rendered it ineffective in giving vigorous ‘Drive’ to the Provinces who hardly pay any serious attention to its numerous directives issued from time to time.
Co-ordinate Machinery
With admittedly two fun in mental draws backs of absence of scientific planning and lack of financers the question of machinery hardly arises. However barring the appointment efFoo4 Commissioners at the Centre and in the Provinces and state Unions, there is no new machinery created to handle the problem of food production. In some of the Provinces and State Unions, some sort of nab-belief ‘Food Committees’ have been formed at the District and Taluka levels which hardly function. If food production machinery is not satisfactorily functioning at the Centre and the Provincial level, its efficient working at the Village end is out of consideration. That there is lack of co-ordination between the Centre anti the Provinces and
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between the many departments in the same Province is too well known a fact given expression to by no less a person than the Prime Minister himself in his recent address at Rurke.
The Chances at Food Front:
The forgoing analysis does not leave any room for doubt regarding the ultimate fate of the present ‘Food Campaign. Accept in the radio talks of the leaders and in the bold headlines of the news papers’ a thing like ‘Food Front’ hardly exists anywhere. All this betrays lack of ‘Will’ and inefficiency at the top level and lack of method and earnestness at all stages of ‘Food Administration’. No ‘Front’ in the history of map was ever fou2ht to success with basic draw, backs and lack of means of warfare, And, with all good will in the world ‘Food Front’ will not be an exception.
Constructive leadership the remedy:
In critical stages of warfare it is the individual brave deed which saves situation and converts defeats into successes, Whether we accept it or pot, ‘Food Front’ is almost as good as lost and something need be immediately to save the country and its teeming millions from being perished for want of ‘Food in the near future. With our crumbling economy and dwindling sterling balances, we will not be in a position to depend on foreign imports even if we wish it. The only way out of the critical situation ahead lies in intensifying f our efforts in increasing home production.
So far, our failures in the sphere of Constructive Nation-building economic reconstruction including ‘Food Production’ has been mainly due to lack of Constructive talent in the present administrative making up. With fundamental drawbacks in the out look and attitues of eminent people sunning the administration, the remedy to the present problems will have to be found somewhere else. In a word, it lies in the rise of constructive ‘Leadership’ in the country.
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The present ‘Food’ situation is a standing challenge to the constructive genius of the country to work up a solution. The solution lies that all such constructive and social workers as feel the urge of constructive patriotism may select small or big village areas for intensive Food Production, according to .their capacity and means available to them. They should prove by their practical example that given Will and Determination and a scientific approach, increased ‘Food Production’ is a practical possibility and not a matter for academic discussions and unending conferences as appear to be the case at the moment. We have no doubt that the Government support and encouragement to all such constructive enterprises will not for long be denied, when they realise that what is being done is the job which belongs to Government essentially.
