Myth about the village.....!!!

Myth about the village

by S. Sivathasan


Much has been said about the mystical excellence of rural existence. A mythical quality is attributed to the village which is home to such a life. Society is even left to infer that as it matures over time, it will discard the process of urbanization and relapse into a life, simple in style and noble in thought. Are these perceptions tenable? To some, the village is on life support. When demise is for sure, why lend assistance is their query.


Urbanisation pace

Rome developed into a city of a million inhabitants 2,000 years back. For the next city of a million citizens-London- to emerge, it took 1,800 years. It is forecast that by 2015, there will be 475 cities with more than one million citizens each. In addition, a further 22 mega cities will have more than eight to 20 million people each. An urban population of 220 million in 1900 is projected to grow to 3,820 million by 2015. Is it rational to presume that more than half the world’s population does not have an intelligent approach in selecting its place of work and residence?


Demographic shifts

Urbanisation is not induced by plan or persuasion. The very dynamics of economic development bring about a demographic shift. Farmers in US were 60% of the total work force in 1900. They were 0.9% in 2009. In Japan 60% were engaged in farming in1946. They became 4% in 2009. Similar trends were seen in the livestock and dairy sector as well. Several of the developed countries present the same pattern of change. Peter Drucker pointed out about two decades ago that the demographic shift enabled farm output and industrial production to triple and quadruple. Could the developed countries have taken their economies to a different trajectory with cosmetic changes to rural livelihood?


Response to challenge

"Wisdom consists in going the way of the world." So said a Tamil poet two millennia back. Merits and demerits of urbanisation apart, what needs to be discerned is the inexorable nature of global trends. When opportunities opened up, occupational change was the response. Locational shifts followed and the demographic profile altered. Growth of cities was the outcome and depopulation of the countryside a consequence. Taking the cue there from, intellectual resources have to be devoted to turn the cities to the best advantage. The speed of transformational programmes has to match the pace of economic advance. It may be noted that in the 20th century it took the US 58 years to double her per capita output. China reached it in 10 years. India took only a few years longer. It is pointed out by Huntington that by 2020, Asian societies will account for over 40% of the global economic output. To meet this challenge, the whole corpus of infrastructure for urban development needs to be in place.


Wealth creation

It is estimated that, over 80% of wealth creation is in the cities. Bearings can be taken from the actual order of things in the US. There, the metro areas comprising 12% of the land extent are home to 65% of the population. The metro economy accounted for 68% of the jobs and 75% of the GDP. The OECD, comprising 36 countries, with a population of 1.175 billion would present a comparable picture. One can see this happening in India even as an agrarian economy is witnessing increasing dominance by industry and services. In most developing countries too, the urban magnet is exerting its pull and deserted villages will become the visible phenomenon. The rural economy and the rural institutions will at best remain for a century more. Within this span of time they will be drawn relentlessly into the vortex of urbanization.


Modes of Governance

For over two millennia, governance sought acceptance through bread and circus. Empowering the inept is the third dimension. It has gained currency now. Devises are varied. The village is selected for attention. In India, the Village Panchayat composing the Panchayati Raj is one among them.


Panchayati Raj

India has 600,000 villages. Out of them 286,000 have a population of less than 500. A further 145,000 villages have less than 1000. Thus 72% of the villages is home to an estimated 20% of the population or less. For 431,000 villages there are 265,000 Village Panchayats. The Panchayats are lower in number than the villages, since several thousand villages are so small that they have to be pooled together to form a Panchayat. Having no resources of their own, they subsist on meagre grants from the centre and the state. They attend to low technology work like gravelling lanes, de-silting drains, digging a well or erecting a few lamp posts. ‘Social evil’ like cross caste elopement is tackled by tattooing the culprits. Promoting cow worship and installing a biogas plant in a village are among the achievements. Better ones may do a little more.


Panchayats in Tamil Nadu

The state government of Tamil Nadu in its Policy Statement quotes Mahathma Gandhi-"Villages are the backbone of a nation’s prosperity". The government prates "we must try to achieve prosperity by developing the villages". The principal occupation of the villages in the state is agriculture and the state government is supporting agriculture by giving 25% of the state’s electricity absolutely free. There are very many subsidies targeting the villages. Yet in 2007, the government of Tamil Nadu waived Rs.70 billion in agricultural loans since the farmers in the village were too impecunious to pay back. The backbone though ‘broke’ has 12,620 village Panchayats instituted for them. What can they do to uplift the state? Nothing.

Tamil Nadu is the most urbanized state in India. An accelerated tempo of urban development is now the trend with massive investments in infrastructure, information technology, manufacturing and housing. Plaintive cries are made by employers about persistent demands for higher wages. Labour shortages are complained of with no inclination shown for offering attractive salaries and wages. These are indices of fast track development.

Instead of assimilating the change and responding appropriately and positively, there is a hark back to earlier times of rural goodness. In the onrush of rapids, the Panchayati pebbles will be washed away.


Rural institutions

Power lies where intelligence lies. It also lies where money lies. Neither lie in the rural hinterland. Village communities impecunious for generations, outside the pale of participatory governance, lacking in education and therefore devoid of confidence cannot reach beyond the Panchayat level of capability. To create the delusion of power sharing, the Village Panchayat is superciliously palmed off to them. To sustain the illusion, grants are made from central and state funds. Habituated to what Marx called "the idiocy of rural life" how efficient can rural institutions manned by such communities be? To compensate for lack of capacity they are said to possess grassroots experience. Under the ground, steeped in darkness, how clear is their vision? With what wisdom the Japanese said, when the sun rises, the summit catches the rays first!


The future

Having seen the astounding changes in the last two decades, it appears prudent to go by the wise prescription of Peter Drucker made in 1975 - "to learn to factor the world economy into their thinking, planning and decisions".

He also said that "the newest energy of all – information - is totally knowledge intensive. In the knowledge society, the knowledge base is the foundation of the economy". Whichever segment of society measures up to it, can take it on.


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