9 Indian village a myth or reality

Vineet Kumar Verma

Content of this unit

Introduction

1.  Classification of Villages

• Pura
• Khas
• Kalan
• Khurd
• Khera
• Nangley

2.  Rural settlement pattern

• Rectangular or square pattern
• Linear pattern
• L – Shaped pattern
• Circular pattern

3.  Socio-Cultural Aspect of Villages

• Family
• Caste system
• Religion

4.  Class Structure of Rural Agrarian Society

5.  Rural poverty

• Agrarian Reforms and its Impact on the Villages
• Abolition of Intermediaries
• Redistribution of Land
• Bhoodan Movement
• Green Revolution

6.  Panchayati Raj Institution

7.  Post Independence Transformation of Rural Society

8.  Globalisation and Indian Village

9. Summary

Learning objectives

• To able to define Indian village
• To determine the identity of the Rural lives in its villages
• To be able to define and distinguish between several ways in which villages can be classified
• To able to define the process of examining source of livelihood for village
• To able to describe Rural settlement pattern

Introduction

The father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi has rightly quoted: “India lives in its villages”. Villages are the nerve centre of Indian civilisation since time immemorial. About 67% of total population in India resides in the rural areas. The socio –economic fabric of villages depends mostly on agriculture, handicrafts and other agricultural related activities. Agriculture is not just a source of livelihood for village folks but it is also a way of life. Cultures and traditions have grown out of agriculture. With the advent of modern means of communication, rural migration, education has brought about dynamic changes to the social structure of villages. It is no longer viewed as isolated hamlets.

The impact of globalization has set foot on rural India making it more integrated to the outer world. Indian village is no longer a myth; it is a reality reflecting wide panoramic view of society and culture in India.

Classification of Villages

There are several ways in which villages can be classified but classification based on size, population and area of land is the most accepted classification. Based on these criteria villages are classified as:

1. Pura. The place where habitats are in close settlement. The habitats are around or in nearby areas. These habitats are thus being called nucleus of the area.

2. Khas. The main village or sadar is called as Khas. When the people of the main village settle at some distance from the village and called this as their main village. With the growth of population the word Khas is used for the villages from where people spread around.

3. Kalan. Large villages are called as Kalan. These villages have heterogeneous population of varied caste and class.

4. Khurd. Small villages are called as Khurd.

5. Khera. Small colonies and also higher ground of villages are called as Khera. Khera has a great social value for village community because social gathering and functions takes place in Khera.

6. Nangley. It comprises group of small villages where one village is surrounded by several satellite villages

Rural settlement pattern

The layout of the streets and arrangements of building patterns in the villages gives out certain settlement patterns. The most common patterns found in villages are rectangular or square, checker board, elongated, linear, circular or semi-circular, L and T shape, triangular pattern.

1.  Rectangular or square pattern. This pattern is mostly found in areas of uniform topography. The rectangular shape of the cultivated fields rise to this pattern. The main lanes of the villages intersect at right angles at the centre. Smaller lanes go to the interior of the housing more or less parallel to the former main lane. Such patterns are found in areas of Marwar plateau, Nirmar upland and in Narmada valley.

2.  Linear pattern. This type of pattern is typical of area where Main Street of the village runs parallel to the railway lines, roads or water front. Such pattern are found in middle and lower Ganga plain, parts of the Himalayan region and along the coast ,especially in Malabar and Konkan.

3. L – Shaped pattern. The L- shaped pattern form where at the junction of main road two rectangular blocks of houses meet to give a L-shaped pattern. In some villages, a smaller limb extends towards the cultivated field giving the L-shaped pattern a T shaped pattern.

4.  Circular pattern. The settlement takes a circular pattern when the habitats are situated along the bank of a pond or lake. Such settlements are found in Upper Ganga-Yamuna doab. Settlements along the meandering bend of the river takes horse shoe pattern.

Socio-Cultural Aspect of Villages

Agriculture being the main stays occupation of villages; they have close relationship with nature. The social ethos of village life depends on close ties of kinship and friendship. They lay stress on customs, traditions, consensus and informality. Caste and class structure do take special place in social fabric.

Family

Family is the indispensible part of rural life. The bonding of familial ties plays a vital role in various aspect of village life. It’s the pyramid of psychological support structure. Joint family structure is dominant in villages. With the coming of globalisation and market economy nuclear families has sprouted but still there is emotional attachment with the greater family. Rural family is far more homogenous organically interlinked. The ties between family members are strong and last longer than their urban counterparts. The economy of families is mainly agriculture and the whole family forms a single economic entity, cooperate with one another and hold property in common. This interdependence among members helps develop a collective consciousness among the village folk. The centrifugal forces of modernity and globalization has eroded the base of social life of villages, yet the family as an institution has stood the test of time.

Caste system

Caste as an institution plays a major role in social arrangement pattern in Indian sub-continent. Varna and Jati refers to two broad institutional arrangements within Indian caste system. Varna is the four fold division of society into Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. The caste system in villages was rigid once upon a time. The coming of market economy, communication, education, rural- urban migration has dissolve the caste hierarchy and made the self -contained castes into mobile classes. The power structure and land holding in villages are determined by caste. The monetary economy of village was also determined by caste lines.

The effect of globalization has diluted the caste and class structure has gain prominence. Traditional crafts previously determine according to caste are no longer perform by the certain specialized caste. Education has given the social mobility to castes. Certain caste has lose its dominance and submerged to the lowest class group whereas previously held lower caste have moved upwards in the social ladder armed with education and economic stronghold. Religious life of rural people which was rigorously determined by caste is no longer affected by it.

Economic necessity and knowledge economy is the determinant of the new type of social relationship. The age old system of caste has lost its foot hold in today’s society. The laissez- faire system of economy has produced class within caste system. The constitution of India has guaranteed equality of all citizens under the democratic set up of society. In such a democratic establishment equality and fraternity among the citizens should drive the society forward. This is the core principle of the founding fathers of our constitution.

Religion

Agriculture dominates the basic mode of livelihood in villages. Before the advent of modern irrigation and agricultural techniques; most of the rural farmer depends on Indra (God of Rain) for their harvest. The dependence on the forces of nature like rains, natural calamities and displeasure of gods points the basic nature of religious belief prevalent in rural society. The dependence on the natural forces and lack of proper reasoning and scientific outlook give rise to various superstitious beliefs among the people. Education and rational outlook can be a panacea for such ills. The religious beliefs dominate the intellectual and practical life of village people. Religion has permeated onto the cultural norms of the society. Religious beliefs also have influenced the folk songs, paintings, marriage customs and social festivals. Rituals provide sanctity to the religious codes and dominate the life of rural people. The specific sets of rituals are codified for particular caste.

Temples are religious and social institution in villages. The primary function of temples is offering prayers to various gods and deities. It also serve as centre for various social causes such as organizing cultural activities, social gathering, education, social welfare work, political gathering, propagating ethical values, dispensing judgement by village elders and so on. The same functions are also performed by the monasteries situated in various parts of Indian villages.

The propagation of modern scientific outlook and education has change the way religion has been perceived. Secular and liberal democratic philosophy has been able to break the yoke of orthodox belief system associated with religion. Present day religion is more integrating and has superseded the caste traditions to form a more egalitarian society.

Class Structure of Rural Agrarian Society

The division of class structure in villages is basically divided into landowner, tenants and peasant. The economy of agriculture provides the basic class stratification. The villages also contain local artisans, uneconomic holders of land. The caste structure in present day may be ordained as class structure because large land holding may be previously with upper castes. Present day market economy has provided economic mobility to erstwhile lower caste who may be the present day land owner. In today’s world economy is the prime mover of class structure in village although the hereditary caste structure cannot be together rooted out.

The land owner derives his primary agriculture income from property rights in the soil i.e., from the share of produce that grows on his soil. The benefits can be reaped as cash or in kind. The proprietor of land may lease his lands to tenets and may hire labourers to cultivate. The tenets may be temporary land holders who may possess the land on rent or in lease. The tenet can be a working peasant who has small land holding. The labourers are landless villagers who earn their livelihood by working as daily wage worker. Such landless peasants work as migrant labours when they are not working on the fields.

It has often been observed that the landless labourers or small tenets are dragged into the cycle of poverty. Due to absence of formal credit structure, financial literacy and crop insurances the peasants depends on money lenders for their credit. Money is required for various functions such as for buying new crops, irrigation, health, marriage, social functions and so on. The failure of harvest may lead to debt cycle due to exorbitant credit. Such instances may lead to rural migration, farmer’s suicide. These are detrimental to the social fabric of village society.

A paradigm shift in policy implementation is required to solve the rural distress. Vocational training institutes, skill development training, rural handicrafts and artisan’s centres can absorb large number of rural folks into its fold. Also a proper market linkage for village crafts produce is required. Education can go a long way in solving rural crisis. Crop insurance and weather smart farming methods should be applied to mitigate the low agriculture yield.

Rural poverty

Villages are the life line of India but poverty has plagued the lives of rural folk. The unequal distribution of rural assets such as land along with failure in crops due to erratic rainfall and floods are causes of poverty in the country side. Lack of skills and education along with distress migration has been other causes of poverty. Poverty has its effects on overall human development. The poor are deprived of basic human necessity of nutrition, sanitation, health. Such situation has negative repercussion in the overall economy of the nation; also a major demography cannot be harness to its optimum potential.

Causes of Rural Poverty

1) The anti -poverty and development programmes has not percolated to the real beneficiary.

2) The problem of disguised labour is prevalent in agriculture.

3)  Lack of other employment avenues due lack of requisite skills and technical education.

4) Irrigational facilities are not available in major areas. Dependence on rainfall and groundwater extraction has cause a detrimental effect on agricultural practices

5) Low agricultural poverty due to dependence on traditional methods of farming techniques.

6) Proper institutional credit facilities are lacking, non-availability of crop insurance, financial literacy is absent among the rural folks.

7) Poor quality of livestock.

8) The connectivity networks are poor; markets are not properly established leading to poor market linkages and dominance of middle in agricultural business.

9) Poor quality of education and lack of skill development.

10) Absence of dynamic community leadership.

11) Failure of village co-operatives to functions in a creative way.

12) Women are not properly included in developmental and decision making processes.

13) Presence of feudalism, patriarchy and inter-caste rivalry.

14) Presence of liquor and unwanted expansive social spending on rituals, customs etc.

Models presenting causes of Rural Poverty (Society in India, Ram Ahuja)

Strategies for Alleviating Poverty in Rural Areas

1) The formal credit institution should be properly strengthened.

2)  Targeted use of power supply and fertilizer for agricultural purposes.

3) Co-operative societies should be renewed for selling products of house hold industries.

4) Poverty alleviation programmes should be properly targeted so the benefits reach the needy ones.

5) Focus should be given on integrated approach of human development by focussing on health, nutrition, sanitation and skill development.

6) Creating social awareness to arrest increasing debt growth among the poor.

7) Financial literacy must be propagated and banking facilities must be introduce with right earnest.

8) Diversifying farming activities to animal husbandry, poultry, fishing and dairy farming.

9) Panchayats role must be creatively crafted to focus on more need based integrated development approach of villages. Focus should be given on education programme, road construction, water conservation and maintaining tree plantations.

10) Steps should be taken to empower women by skill training, education, handicraft, financial training so that they can be part of the developmental process.

Agrarian Reforms and its Impact on the Villages

Agriculture being the core of rural economy and livelihood depends on agricultural income, comprehensive programme of land reform was enacted after independence in India. Keeping in view of the goal of a welfare state policy and to provide security to the marginal and landless farmers various reform policies were enacted.

Abolition of Intermediaries

The post-independence India has seen a major overhaul in land reforms among which is the abolition of intermediary tenures-known as Zamindaris, Jagirs, and Inams etc. This reform brought about the occupancy tenants into direct relationship with the state. This measures help raised rural income. The management and control of village land resources were passed to the Panchayats.

Redistribution of Land

There was a high degree of inequality in the distribution of land in the villages. It was necessary to follow up abolition of intermediaries with redistribution of land. The second stage of reforms consist of, (1) land ceiling (2) redistributing the surplus land among the landless and small land holders. The policies were mainly distributive in nature which helps in redistribution of rural income to tillers of the land. But the policy did not prove to be a success due to benami transfer. Under the benami transfer system land holders transfer their surplus lands to their relatives, friends and other acquaintances. It is called benami because even though land is transferred to the person, he is not the actual cultivator.

Bhoodan Movement

Bhoodan movement pioneered by AcharyaVinoba Bhave was an alternative method of redistribution of land. The basic motto of this movement was to provide land to the landless peasants, which will bring about a sense of equality and dignity among the poor farmers. It was an appeal to the large land owners to donate one – sixth of their land holding so that one acre of each land can be distributed among the landless peasants. It was seen that much of the land donated were rocky, barren and unproductive lands which were of inferior quality for agriculture. The movement could not achieved its desired ends due to certain drawbacks.

Green Revolution

Green revolution was introduced in India in 1966 to enhance the food grain productivity through high yielding variety of seeds of wheat and rice. It was first initiated in the areas of assured irrigation and then to other areas except dry lands. The green revolution was successful in Punjab, Haryana, western U.P, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The enhancement of agricultural yield was mainly beneficial to large land owners; it didn’t benefited small and marginal farmers much. There was growth of wealth among rich farmers due to proper market linkages to sell their yields; also they could spend on the inputs such as fertilizer, electricity, storage, transportation etc. Thus there was a sharp class and caste inequality, exploitative labour relationship. The commercialisation of agriculture enriched the large landholder on one hand and increased the number of landless labourers most of whom are low caste and untouchables

Panchayati Raj Institution

Keeping in consonance with the Gandhian philosophy of Gram Swaraj and also enshrined in the constitution as Directive Principle of State Policy, Panchayati raj institution were set up in India by 73rd Constitutional Amendment act, 1992. The act was initiated to devolve power to village level institution so that participatory democracy can be ensured at the grass root level. The paradigm shift in development dynamics took place so that village folks can take part in socio economic development and distributive social justice system. The function of the Panchayati raj institution is to administer local public affairs, raise required local finances and locate man power resources.

The devolution of power to the grass root has not been transformative because of bureaucratic highhandedness, lack of funds, lack of faith on elected representatives, lack of clear demarcation of functions, overlapping function of rural agencies. District Rural Development Agency runs the poverty alleviation programmes. The relationship between Panchayats and DRDA is not clearly defined. The philosophy of participative democracy, where every men matter is the cornerstone of development dynamics in today’s evolving village society. The engine of rural development can be accelerated if people’s resources are properly channelized and they are prompted to take part in the decision making process that affects their lives and livelihood. The current predicament has stifled the dynamics of rural growth. Allocation of funds are not properly utilized, oppression of the powerful, denying rights to women, inter caste rivalry, presence of patriarchy and subversion of election are pathologically pervasive in the countryside. Judicious and proper utilization of funds, a aware citizens can make Panchayati raj institution a fruitful developmental paradigm.

Post Independence Transformation of Rural Society

The post -independence period has shown a dynamic shift in rural society especially in regions undergoing Green Revolution. The increase use of agricultural labour, shift in mode of payment from kind to cash and presence of free wage laborers were evident in these areas. The commercialisation of agriculture has brought about a capitalistic mode of production to this sector. The labourers were used as a mere means of production. As farm sector growth took place the rural society was integrated to the market economy. The flow of capital led to diversification of business and employment opportunities. The transformation of rural society began during colonial period but it gain momentum during post-independence period due to intervention of government policies. Development of irrigation, rural infrastructure, input fertilizers; formal credit mechanism through banks and co-operatives for agricultural growth prompted these changes. These policies not only transform the rural economy but also rural social system.

The developmental dynamics of post green revolution brought about a new entrepreneurial class. The dominant farmers gain from rich agricultural yields. The capital was invested in new business ventures; also migration from rural to urban areas took place. A form of new elite class was formed from these farming classes. The growth of technical and professional education benefited the children of these elites-many of them joined professional and white collar jobs, further expanding the middle class.

The transformation of rural society was regionally imbalanced and varied across India. States like Punjab, Haryana, Western U.P and Gujarat reaped the benefits of growth whereas regions of Bihar and Eastern U.P were lacking behind. The lack of effective land reforms, political mobilisation and redistributive measures stifled the development process in these regions. In state like Kerala the development dynamics has been different, here political mobilisation, redistributive measures, human development and linkage to external economy has brought about a substantial transformation to the country side. Economy in Kerala is of mixed type, agriculture along with services sector due to rich human resources and remittances from abroad are the prime mover of rural economy.

Globalisation and Indian Village

India opened its economy to the global market during 1990’s heralding the dawn of globalization and liberalisation. The policy of liberalization entails India to join WTO, which leads to opening its market to global commodity and removing preferential trading barriers. The agriculture is opened up to the international challenge. The agricultural sector was integrated to the global market directly affecting the rural farmers. The multinational companies got into contract farming with the farmers to produce for processing or export. The MNC provided technical know- how, seeds, fertilizer, credit facilities. The market for the produce is assured by the companies which benefitted the farmers. Contract farming provides security to the rural farmers. The contract farming is not without its evil: farmers are dependent on MNC’s, mono cropping, use of genetically modified crops, dwindling of traditional knowledge of farming, diversion of land from food crops to cash crops. It may not be ecologically sustainable due to excess use of fertilizer.

The impact of globalization had its impact on social customs and traditions; the westernization of culture has led to erosion of traditional values and customs. The impact of global media has brought about a tectonic shift in the culture and thought process of Indian villages. The globalization process has brought about a aspiration changes in the mind of rural people. The employment is no longer fixed to agricultural sector. The village youth has shifted to various employment avenues armed with education and skill development. The age old traditional customs are question by logical rational outlook.

Summary

Villages in India reflect the wider kaleidoscopic nature of rural society, which in one hand is rooted in ancient traditions whereas on the other hand forces of modernization are working in tandem. The rural villages are organically interlinked society which has evolved through times. It is a reality that mirrors the very heart of India. Villages are the centres of self-sufficiency, embodiment of collectivism. Though society is still rooted in age old customs of caste, feudalism and patriarchy the process of modern participative democracy has ensured the principle of equality. The effectiveness of participative institution provides the basis of redistribution and egalitarianism which is the feature of a democratic society. Villages are the epitaph on which the foundation of democracy is written.

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