When one thinks village the person sees a stereotype of the films. From the classical jamindar to “desh-ki-dharti” and many variations in between. It is only recent media exposure and real-time visits that can portray the harsh truth. According to Census of India, any human settlement will be called village if for minimum 75% of households are engaged in agriculture, irrespective of their population, the number of hhs and area. They tend to be permanent settlements. Move toward modernisation and lack of opportunity lead to migration.
According to the 2011 census in India, 68.84% of Indians (around 833.1 million people) live in 640,867 different villages. The size of these villages varies considerably. 236,004 Indian villages have a population of fewer than 500, while 3,976 villages have a population of 10,000+. Most of the villages have their own temple, mosque, or church, depending on the local religious following. I have presented my case on Decentralisation based on the fundamental dynamics of village functioning. I have observed first-hand a plethora of Indian villages from the ideal to drought-hit which will be discussed herein.Let us consider the aspects systematically:
#1)FINANCES: The farmer needs certain basic amenities to survive these are constant water supply for at least 6-8 months, single phase electricity for at least 12-14 hours/day good quality of grain and farm equipment which is subject to weather and investable income. Additionally at least 2 milking animals is essential. The current government emphasis on feederseparation is an excellent move to ensure electricity supply in rural area. It mandate is to provide 24 hours supply for hhs and 8 hours supply for fields for irrigation. Mr.Piyush Goyal has set up a live site which shows the current status of electrification of rural areas. In India 48% of household have less than 0.5 Hectare of land, that to not as single plot. So these farmer can\’t survive depending only agriculture. There is need to generate an alternate source of income for them. While considering water supply for irrigation there was a huge emphasis on irrigation projects, majorly on canal irrigation in Indo-gangatic plane. That is big failure and loss making by virtue of it design. Currently the peninsular region which cover majority of cultivable land is rain fed. Water market developing slowly as big farmer are investing on individual tube well and providing irrigation to nearby fields. So need for recharging these underground water source is emerging major challenge. Typical expenses incude family education, electricity bills, water bills and loans among others.
According to Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi. The farmers take loan majorly for seeds, fertilisers and pesticide followed by farm equipment.An Indian farmer typically has an average loan of Rs.47,000/-according to Finance Minister Jayant Sinha. Nearly 50% of all Indian famers are indebted as of 2015. Organic/minimum external input based farming can be helpful in reducing these investments. Hence the reduce the need for loan.
Government provides number of schemes to its Gram that range from agricultural assistance to educational cess through the SarvaShikshaAbhiyaan. These schemes are provided by Central as well as respective State governments to their Panchayats. Statistics provided paint a shabby picture: The faltering procedure of fund transfer, lack of trust on village authorities and irresponsible allocation has led to degradation and drying up of resources. Community based worker like Accredited social health activists (ASHAs) by NRHM, KisanMitrai Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty(SERP)and Bank Mitra with micro-ATM under PMJDYshowed better results in last few years similar type of framework can be used in other schemes too. Similarly DBT linked with Aadhar number is much better over subsidies.
#2)DEVELOPMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE: “The soul of India lives in its villages” declared M.K.Gandhi. It was his earnest vision to make villages self-sustained units contributing to the mechanism that is India. This requires on this day assitance from external supporting Institutions. Developement can be thought of as Social and Economic. a)Social Developement: We talk of progress but to this day the dowry, casteism, and malpractices are pertinent. Villagers trust the local sage and fall for superstitions and beliefs. Religion can play a big role in combating these social evils. The our value system if practiced in real sense are capable to do so. There is a lack of sense of responsibility within citizens, elected representatives and government officials towards building their Gram. There is a lack of awareness and knowledge-sharing. There is a lack of brotherhood and communal bonding. These conditions stem from insecurity and greed. The sense of responsibility will come when people start gives priority to nation over their personal benefits. For this we need nationalism movement. b)Economic Developement: It is tough to recieve a loan and even tougher for the villager to pay it. Money lending and uncooperative financial practices are still abundant in the country. Interest rates are high in such cases but the villager is forced to take up the loan. Bank loans are institutional and unflexible on conditions such as rainfall, produce etc. It would be wrong to say that government is’nt trying. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Emplement Garuntee Act (MGNREGA), is a phenomenal success. It has a lot of potential to develop rural areas. As it focuses on building assets in rural areas along with providing the employment. The reasons for failure lies in execution of schemes due to lack of interest by bureaucracy. Community offers no or little help in such matters. Government has been forced to waiver loans in the past due to huge drought and the miserable plight of the farmers. Through personal travels to villages in the Nagpur-Vidharbabelt, my hometown at Beed, Maharashtra, and Good Governance Yatra I got the opportunity to experience first hand what village really is.
Mr.PopatraoPawar, Mr.Anna Hazare have created villages that are role models of self-sustainability, awareness, and communal living).At the same time M.P.’s and M.L.A.’s under the Saansad Gram AdarshYojna(SAGY) are trying to devlope local villages into models to follow.
Avantika Foundation which is co-founded by Mr.T.Raghunandan, a 2009 retired I.A.S. officer is spreading awareness on decentralization and its necessity in villages in Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts as well as to the State and Central Government. Such example set the model to replicate. But proper customization is pre-requisite for success. There is a war going on which aims to shift mentalities and fulfil visions.Evidentally the process of decentralisation has evolved and become a complicated dance of hand-holding between the Gram, Government and N.G.O. A pertinent question to ask Mr.Pawar would be: Why hasn’t the neighbouring village also developed into a self-sustained one? How long will dependence remain is an unanswered question.