It is a not summer morning. Ram, a resident of a backward village in Odisha, wakes up to find that there has been no electricity since the last week. Meanwhile his son returns from school saying the master has not come today also. Ram then takes his pregnant wife to a local PHC. The kaccha road is still not repaired. On reaching the PHC, Ram finds there is no doctor or even an ASHA at the local PHC. All this makes Ram frustrated about the future of his village, his country, and his own life.
Like Ram, there are millions of Indians whose lives are tied to the future of these villages.
The endeavor of this essay is to examine why the future of India lies in its villages, what are the problems the villages are facing, steps by the government to ameliorate those problems, and the road ahead.
Bharat: The India within India
70% of Indians, i.e. around 80 crore people reside in villages. The majority of these are dependent on agriculture as their prime occupation. Because of low remuneration in agriculture, the majority of India’s poors reside in villages.
This low purchasing power has translated into low expenditure on basic services like quality health and education. Low-quality health and education has translated into poor human capital with children wasted and stunted, women anaemic and malnourished, and the youth unskilled and unemployed.
The above deficiencies have translated into a low Human Development Index of India [128th rank], lower than BRICS countries and Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
This underdevelopment of villages has caused the most terrific challenge to India’s security – Naxalism. The movement was started in Naxalbari in West Bengal primarily because of poverty emanating from poor land reforms.
Hence, it is anybody’s care that lifting India’s 70% population out of this misery is the road to a prosperous future.
Identifying the challenges
Politically, the villages are still not empowered even after the implementation of Panchayati Raj [73rd Amendment Act]. This is because of low awareness of rights amongst people, Bogus meetings of Gram Sabha, corruption at the level of panchayat and village officials.
The Gram Sabha also faces the 3f challenge – lack of funds, functions, and functionaries. Regular elections to panchayat do not take place. Finally, the agenda of land reforms has still not taken place. This has led to economic challenges.
The land holdings of 86% farmers are less than 2 crores. Hence, low product from small parcels of land is another challenge. Further, the APMC Mandis in villages smack of poor infrastructure proliferation of taxes and middlemen and a complex network of corruption.
All this has made the farmer destitute. He lives hand to mouth. Nonfarm activities like MGNREGA have not lived up to their expectations. With low wages and less than 100 mandated days of work, people have been left with a big hole in their pockets.
Social problems too are more prevalent in villages. The role of casteism and patriarchy finds fertile ground in the minds of villagers. Dalits are still not allowed access to common renounces like temples, ponds, etc. Women have to accomplish traditional tasks of getting water from pond, looking for food, lending a hand in agriculture, and also accept a subordinate status in society. No doubt BR Ambedkar had called villages as “Den of ignorance.”
Administrative problems like lack of access to local bureaucracy for grievance redressal, improper delineation of land, dishonest implementation of Forest Rights Act, and Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act has further aggravated the life of Indian villages and villagers.
This has led to a crisis of basic necessities. Non-availability and poor availability of electricity, Kacha roads overflowing with water during rainy seasons, unavailability of mobile towers for trivial calling and internet purposes.
Such a grim situation deters good doctors and teachers from taking transfers in the village. Hence the people in villages are deprived of basic human rights of health and education.
The government is aware of the situation on the ground and has taken various steps in this regard.
It has started schemes like Soil Health card, KUSUM scheme for solar pumps, PM Krishi Sinchayi Yojana for micro-irrigation to benefit India farmers who majorly reside in villages. The government has also come up with laws to end the monopoly of APWC Mandis, remove Essential Commodities Act and bring contract farming to enhance farmer’s incomes.
To restore the dignity of women in villages, Ujjawala Yojana to provide free LPG cylinders and Swach Bharat Mission to provide privacy to women while relieving themselves has been a huge success.
E-Gram Swaraj and Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan have been initiated to empower and build capacity of Gram Panchayat, realizing the dream of democratic decentralization.
To ensure villagers are not deprived of basic human necessities schemes like Saubhagya Yojana [for electricity], PM Awas Yojana [for house], PM Gram Sadak Yojana [for road] and Bharat Net [for internet] has been started. National Education Policy, which has special provisions for education in the village and National Health policy 2017 strives to spend 2/3rd of health expenditure on village PHCs.
Towards a brighter future
This essay has discussed why Indian villages lag behind, the challenges they face, and why the future of India lies in their future.
The government is duty-bound to provide a life of dignity to our brethren living in the hinterland. The gap between India and Bharat is the gap that separates two aspirations, two dreams, and two lives.
India is the world’s fifth-largest economy, but her soul lies in Bharat. A Bharat that has many Rams in it. A Bharat that wants these Rams to live a life that they deserve.