Rural Development: Administration and Planning

KHU-701

UNIT-2
Syllabus
Rural Development Programmes: Sriniketan experiment, Gurgaon experiment,
marthandam experiment, Baroda experiment, Firkha development scheme, Etawa pilot
project, Nilokheri experiment, approaches to rural community development: Tagore,
Gandhi etc.

Objectives of Rural Development Programs:

1. Economic Enhancement: Boost local economies by increasing productivity and

creating job opportunities.
2. Infrastructure Improvement: Develop essential facilities like roads, schools, and
healthcare centers.
3. Agricultural Advancement: Modernize farming techniques and improve agricultural
output.
4. Social Upliftment: Enhance access to education, healthcare, and social services.
5. Poverty Reduction: Improve living standards and reduce poverty levels in rural
areas.
6. Sustainable Development: Promote environmentally friendly practices and resource
conservation.

Importance of Rural Development Programs:

1. Economic Growth: Drives economic development and reduces rural poverty.

2. Quality of Life: Improves living conditions through better infrastructure and services.
3. Food Security: Enhances agricultural productivity, ensuring stable food supplies.
4. Equitable Development: Reduces urban-rural disparities and promotes balanced
regional growth.
5. Social Stability: Fosters social cohesion and improves access to essential services.
6. Environmental Protection: Encourages sustainable practices and protects natural
resources.

Relevance of Rural Development Programs:

1. Economic Stability: Strengthens rural economies by promoting agricultural

productivity and creating diverse job opportunities.
2. Poverty Alleviation: Directly addresses rural poverty through infrastructure
improvements and economic empowerment.
3. Social Equity: Reduces disparities between rural and urban areas by improving
access to education, healthcare, and other essential services.
4. Food Security: Enhances agricultural efficiency and food production, contributing to
national food security.
5. Environmental Sustainability: Promotes sustainable practices that help preserve
natural resources and manage environmental impacts.

1
 6. Community Development: Empowers rural communities by involving them in the
planning and execution of development projects, fostering local ownership and
participation.

Application of Rural Development Programs:

1. Infrastructure Development: Building and upgrading roads, schools, and healthcare

facilities to improve connectivity and access to services.
2. Agricultural Support: Introducing modern farming techniques, providing training,
and facilitating access to technology and markets to boost agricultural output.
3. Economic Diversification: Supporting local businesses, promoting entrepreneurship,
and providing financial assistance to reduce reliance on traditional agriculture.
4. Education and Skills Training: Establishing schools, vocational training centers,
and literacy programs to enhance education and skill levels.
5. Healthcare Services: Setting up clinics and providing health education to improve
overall health outcomes and access to medical care.
6. Community Engagement: Involving local residents in decision-making processes to
ensure that development projects meet their needs and encourage active participation.

By addressing these areas, rural development programs aim to create sustainable and resilient
rural communities that contribute to broader national and global development goals.

Advantages of Rural Development Programs:

1. Economic Growth: Stimulates local economies by improving productivity and

creating job opportunities, which helps reduce poverty.
2. Improved Infrastructure: Enhances essential services such as roads, schools, and
healthcare facilities, leading to a better quality of life.
3. Increased Agricultural Productivity: Introduces modern techniques and technology,
leading to higher crop yields and food security.
4. Social Benefits: Expands access to education and healthcare, improving overall well-
being and literacy rates.
5. Balanced Regional Development: Helps reduce disparities between rural and urban
areas, promoting more equitable growth.
6. Environmental Sustainability: Encourages sustainable practices that protect natural
resources and promote environmental conservation.

Disadvantages of Rural Development Programs:

1. High Costs: Significant financial investment is required for infrastructure and

program implementation, which can strain budgets.
2. Displacement: Development projects may lead to displacement of local communities
and disruption of traditional lifestyles.
3. Social Disruption: Rapid changes can disrupt traditional social structures and cultural
practices, leading to resistance or social unrest.
4. Environmental Impact: If not managed properly, development activities can lead to
environmental degradation and loss of biodiversity.
5. Uneven Benefits: Benefits may not be equally distributed, potentially exacerbating
inequalities within rural areas.

2
 6. Dependence on External Aid: Programs may create dependency on government or
donor funding, potentially limiting local initiative and sustainability.

Balancing these advantages and disadvantages is crucial for ensuring that rural development
programs achieve their goals effectively while minimizing negative impacts.

COURSE OUTCOME: After completion of the unit student will be able to:
Students will know the importance, structure, significance, resources of Indian rural
economy.

Notes
Sriniketan experiment

Shri Rabindra Nath Tagore wanted to develop a centre to extend his ideas on education in a

rural setting. During 1914 he established a rural reconstruction institute at Sriniketan

involving youth from a group of 8 villages. It maintained a demonstration farm, a dairy and

poultry unit, an outdoor clinic, a department of cottage industries and a village school. These

agencies were to treat the villages as their laboratory to identify problems and test their ideas.

The villages were expected to approach these agencies through the village workers to obtain

solution of their more pressing problems. These social workers lived in the villages and

worked with the people. At Sriniketan centre, agriculture, dairy and poultry were the

foremost activities. Scheme of land development and tree plantation were given due

importance. Experiment on paddy, sugarcane and cotton were undertaken. Improved seeds,

vegetable seedlings, fruit grafts and saplings were distributed. New breeds of cattle were

introduced. Local artisans were trained in cottage industries. Other activities were village

scout movement, village developmental council,health, cooperatives, circulating library and

village fairs.

Drawbacks

3
(i) This institute could not get Government help and support.

(ii) It could not do research work and hence the programmes remained limited to those8

villages only.

Gurgaon experiment

Towards the end of 1920 F.L.Brayne, an Englishman, was posted as DeputyCommissioner of

Gurgaon district. After his assumption of the charge he studied the area bytouring and

observed that the people were extremely poor, dirty and unhealthy, with noconscious desire

for any better because they had no idea that anything better was possible. Afterseven years of

study he developed a scheme called "The Gurgaon scheme" with the followingobjectives:

 To jerk the villagers out of their old groove and convince them that improvement is

possible;

 To change economic and unhealthy customs and taught better ways of living and

farming.

He took the whole district as the field of operation and approached the area with everyform of

propaganda and publicity.Under his programme village guides were posted in each village,

who acted as thechannel to pass on the information to villagers. The programme introduced

improved seeds,implements, methods of cultivation, etc.

The activities introduced by Brayne were:

(i) A school of rural economy to train the village guides in 1925.

(ii) A domestic school of economy to train groups of women under women and children

welfarework in 1926.

(iii) Health association, which ran five health centres in the district.

(iv) A women's Institute at Gurgaon to manage the ladies' garden in Gurgaon.

4
Drawback

As the village guides were not technical men, only very little could be achieved.

Marthandam experiment

During 1921 under the auspices of YMCA, Marthandam project was started atTravancore in

Kerala by Dr. Spencer Hatch, an American agricultural expert specialized insociology.

Fundamental aim of this programme was fivefold development of physical, spiritual,mental,

economic and social. Dr.Hatch implemented an all-round development in agriculture,public

health and education.

In this centre prize bulls and goats, model bee-hives, demonstration plots for improvinggrain

and vegetable seeds, poultry with prize laying hens, a weaving shed, etc. were maintained.It

also worked for improving literacy. On weekly market day it set up a portable tentwith

teaching equipments, and exhibits with better poultry and livestock. The centre alsopromoted

the cooperative. The society developed the improved breeds of egg layers and goodbees. It

assisted the people for marketing their produces through cooperative organisations. In1939,

the egg selling cooperative society become a self-governing body. Another society

'honeyclub' was also formed. This society cured the honey brought by villagers and

marketedcooperatively. There were bull clubs, weavers' clubs, etc. These cooperative

organisations arestill continued by YMCA and the rural development is taken up intensively.

Baroda experiment

V.T. Krishnamachari, initiated the rural reconstruction programme in the year 1932with the

objective of development of rural areas. The programme tried to promotedevelopment in

5
different fields of rural life in order to sustain the livelihood security and aneconomic

protection of the rural masses.

The main aim of the programme was the improvement in the standard of living of therural

people and to develop the sense of self-help and self-reliance among the rural masses.The

movement of the Baroda experiment was initiated in the villages of Kosamba.

Theprogramme was comprehensive and therefore it stressed the development of rural people

inevery aspect. He even tried to promote agricultural production so that agricultural

economycould be strengthened and the rural infrastructure could be improved.

Firka Development Project

On the eve of the attainment of independence, the former Madras state launched a new

scheme of village development known as Firka development scheme. It was inspired by the

ideology of Gandhiji. The scheme emphasised a perfect coordination of different state

departments that were engaged in rural development.Such departments included agriculture,

industries, irrigation and veterinary. “Under the Firka development plan the five main centres

of activity were agriculture, village industries, sanitation, health and housing, education and

village social and cultural activities.” Rural water supply and health facilities were given

priority over other aspects of village development.The scheme was evaluated in 1952. It was

found that with some drawbacks it was a successful story. However, when the community

development projects were started in 1952 the Firka scheme was merged in it. The experience

of Firka was much useful for running the community development projects.

This project was government sponsored and aided at the attainment of the Gandhian ideal of

Gram Swaraj by bringing about not only educational, economic, sanitary and other

improvements in villages, but also by making the people self-confident. The scheme was

launched in 1946 in 34 Firkas (group of 5 villages) throughout the state, and on April 1, 1950,

6
it was extended to another 50 additional Firkas at the rate of two Firkas for each state. The

selection of the Firkas was based on general backwardness of area and the possibilities for

initiating the production of handloom cloth and other cottage industries to give a

encouragement to Rural Reconstruction.This scheme was aimed at attacking the problem of

rural people as well as short term plans for the development of rural communication, water

supply, formation of panchayats, organization of co-operatives and sanitation programme. In

long term plans, to make the area self-sufficient through agricultural, irrigational and

livestock improvements and the development of Khadi and other Cottage Industries.

The Collector was primarily responsible to see the working of the scheme in the district.

Then he was assisted by rural welfare officer of the rank of Naib Tahsildar. He was put

incharge of 2-3 selected Firkas. Each Firkas was divided into 5 to 10 group of villages which

were put in the charge of Gram Sevaks who were of the rank of Revenue Inspectors. Each

Firka or group of Firka was provided with special staff like agricultural field men,

administrative officers, Mistries, P. W. D. supervisors and minor irrigation overseers. To

associate the people with the implementation of the programme, development committees,

consisting of officials and non-officials, were constituted in each Firka. At the state level,

there was a State Rural Welfare Board comprising the heads of the Departments and

influential and constructive social workers.

For stimulating healthy competition between the official and non-official agencies, the

Government of Madras decided to entrust the development schemes to non-official agencies

were selected and paid grants for doing Firka development of :

(i) Rural Reconstruction

(ii) Drinking water facilities

(iii) Sanitation

(iv) Agriculture and Khadi and other village industries.

7
At the end it was realized that these efforts were restricted in scope and lacked co-ordination.

There was lack of direction, support and encouragement from the central authority.

However, it was identified that no extension programme which is implemented without the

help and co-operation of local people could continue for long and have a desired impact on

the Rural Reconstruction.

Etawah-Pilot Project

The project was conceived by Albert Mayer who was an American town planner and

remained in India during the Second World War. The project started at Mahewa in the district

of Etawah of Uttar Pradesh in 1948 with the aim to develop villages in the fields of

agriculture, cooperation and public health.The Etawah district was divided into a number of

blocks, each block having 64 villages with a population of 70,000. The village development

programmes included improvement of land, agricultural practices, educational facilities and

sanitation in villages; local cooperatives and panchayats were to propagate the message of

development.The Etawah project was the forerunner to the Community Development Project

(CDP) which later on started in 1952. It should also be observed that the project was

supervised by experts in different walks of village life.The project personnel were expected to

provide expert guidance but the people were required to make the project self-running. No

financial assistance, however, was given to the people. The project belonged to them and,

therefore, they had to run it. Another speciality of the project was that it emphasised on

agriculture, cooperatives, health and sanitation, and education. Such an approach to village

development makes two things clear: the development of villages occupies a top most

priority and agriculture, cooperatives and education are the prime areas that no development

effort could afford to neglect.

8
Nilokheri Project

Nilokheri is located in Karnal district of Punjab (now in Haryana). The Nilokheri project was

launched for the settlement of refugees who migrated to Punjab during the riots which took

place soon after independence. The project was initiated by S. K. Dey who was then, the

Minister of Community Development.The original plan of Nilokheri was to have a township

of 5,000 people and to link it with villages having a population of about 25,000. It was

contemplated that the Nilokheri town would have centre of medical relief, public health and

sanitation. There was also a provision for high school education, technical and vocational

training, horticulture, poultry, piggery, fishery, sheep breeding and other farms of animal

husbandry.It was within the scope of the project to change the villages according to the

scheme of development. It was planned to accommodate the refugees who were then living in

the camps. However, the complete scheme for urban and rural area could not materialise as

the Ministry of Rehabilitation was concentrated only with the displaced persons who could be

settled in the new town, and in the villages around there were already old inhabitants.

Alongside technical and vocational training, work centres were started in all the crafts which

were taught in the former institutions. Weaving, calico printing, soap making, laundry,

bakery, tinsmithy, blacksmithy, general mechanics, leather and a multitude of other crafts and

trades came in as production nucleus.

The Nilokheri project was unlike any other village development project. Its objective was to

rehabilitate the refugees in a planned settlement where they could get everything which is

required for a town or a village. The clusters of neighbouring villages were also planned to be

attached with the Nilokheri town. But, this could not be done as the villages were already

settled and had their felt needs fulfilled.The project did not have a formal role of non-

officials. S.K. Dey who was basically an engineer did not pay much heed to social and

cultural aspects of village. Despite this weakness Nilokheri was an excellent exercise in the

9
planning of a town. It would be worthwhile to say here that Indian villages are never found in

planned settlements.

Gandhian Approach to rural development

In the Indian context rural development may be defined as maximising production in

agriculture and allied activities in the rural areas including development of rural industries

with emphasis on village and cottage industries.It attaches importance to the generation of

maximum possible employment opportunities in rural areas, especially for the weaker

sections of the community so as to enable them to improve their standard of living.Provision

of certain basic amenities like drinking water, electricity, especially for the productive

purpose, link roads connecting villages to market centres and facilities for health and

education etc. figure prominently in the scheme of rural development.Theoretically,

Gandhian approach to rural development may be labelled as ‘idealist’. It attaches supreme

importance to moral values and gives primacy to moral values over material conditions. The

Gandhians believe that the source of moral values in general lies in religion and Hindu

scriptures like the Upanishads and the Gita, in particular.The concept of ‘Rama Rajya’ is the

basis of Gandhiji’s idea of an ideal social order. Gandhi defined Rama Rajya as “sovereignty

of the people based on moral authority”. He did not view Rama as a king, and people as his

subjects. In the Gandhian scheme, ‘Rama’ stood for God or one’s own ‘inner voice’ Gandhi

believed in a democratic social order in which people are supreme. Their supremacy is,

however, not absolute. It is subject to moral values.

(a) Ideal Village

The village is the basic unit of the Gandhian ideal social order. Gandhi succinctly pointed

out, “If the village perishes India will perish too…. We have to make a choice between India

of the villages that is as ancient as herself and India of the cities which are a creation of

10
foreign domination”. Gandhi’s ideal village belongs to the Pre-British period, when Indian

villages were supposed to constitute the federation of self-governing autonomous

republics.According to Gandhiji, this federation will be brought about not by coercion or

compulsion but by the voluntary offer of every village republic to join such a federation. The

work of the central authority will only be to coordinate the work of different village republics

and to supervise and manage things of common interest, as education, basic industries,

health, currency, banking etc.The central authority will have no power to enforce its decisions

on village republics except the moral pressure or power of persuasion. The economic system

and transport system introduced by the British have destroyed the “republican’ character of

the villages.Gandhi, however, admitted that in olden times tyranny and oppression were in

fact practised by feudal chiefs. But, “odds were even”. Today the odds are heavy. It is most

demoralising.” In this way in the Gandhian scheme of things the ancient ‘republic’, an Indian

village without tyranny and exploitation serves as a model unit.

(b) Decentralisation

Gandhi firmly believes that village republics can be built only through decentralisation of

social and political power. In such a system decision-making power will be vested in the

Village Panchayat rather than in the State and the national capital. The representatives would

be elected by all adults for a fixed period of five years. The elected representatives would

constitute a council, called the Panchayat. The Panchayat exercises legislative, executive and

judicial functions. It would look after education, health and sanitation of the village. It would

be the Panchayats responsibility to protect and uplift ‘untouchables’ and other poor people.

Resources for Gandhian Approach to managing village affairs would be raised from the

villages. All the conflicts and disputes would be resolved within the village. And as far as

possible not a single case is to be referred to courts outside the village. The Panchayat would

play its role in propagating the importance of moral and spiritual values among the ruralites

11
for bringing about rural reconstruction. Apart from managing its own affairs the village

would also be capable of defending itself against any invasion. A non-violent peace brigade

of volunteers would be organised to defend the village. This corps would be different from

the usual military formation. They would repose the utmost faith in non-violence and God.

(c) Self-sufficiency

Such a decentralised polity implies a decentralised economy. It can be attained only through

self-sufficiency at the village level. The village should be self-sufficient as far as its basic

needs – food, clothing, and other necessities – are concerned. The village has to import

certain things which it cannot produce in the village. “We shall have to produce more of what

we can, in order thereby to obtain in exchange, what we are unable to produce”.The village

should produce food-crops and cotton in order to meet its requirements. Some lands should

also be earmarked for cattle and for a playground for adults and children. If some land is still

available, it should be used for growing useful cash crops like tobacco, opium, etc. to enable

the village to get in exchange things which it does not produce.Village economy should be

planned with a view to providing full employment to all the adults of the village. Each man

should be guaranteed employment to enable him to meet his basic needs in the village itself

so that he is not forced to migrate to towns. In the ultimate analysis full employment should

be linked with equality.Physical labour occupies a central place in the Gandhian concept of

the self-sufficient village. In this respect he was highly influenced by Rus-kin and Tolstoy.

According to Gandhi, each man must do physical labour to earn his bread. Physical labour is

necessary for moral discipline and for the sound development of the mind. Intellectual labour

is only for one’s own satisfaction and one should not demand payment for it.The needs of the

body must be supplied by the body. Gandhi said, “If all laboured for their bread then there

would be enough food and enough leisure for all.” Shriman Narayan rightly observes,

12
“Gandhiji recognised toil to be not a curse but the joyful business of life as it has the power to

make man healthier, merrier, fitter and kindlier”.

(d) Industrialization

Gandhiji maintained that industrialization would help only a few and will lead to

concentration of economic power. Industrialization leads to passive or active exploitation of

the villages. It encourages competition. Large scale production requires marketing. Marketing

means profit-seeking through an exploitative mechanism.Moreover, industrialization replaces

manpower and hence it adds to unemployment. In a country like India, where millions of

labourers in the villages do not get work for even six months in a year, industrialization will

not only increase unemployment but force labourers to migrate to urban areas. This will ruin

villages.In order to avoid such a catastrophe, village and cottage industries should be revived.

They provide employment to meet the needs of the villagers and facilitate village self-

sufficiency. Gandhians are not against machine per se if it meets two aims: self-sufficiency

and full employment. According to Gandhi, there would be no objection to villagers using

even the modern machines and tools that they could make and could afford to use. Only they

should not be used as a means of exploitation of others.

(e) Trusteeship

Gandhiji was not against the institution of private property. But he wanted to restrict the right

of private property to what was necessary to yield an honourable livelihood. For the excess he

prescribed the principle of trusteeship.Gandhiji emphasized the principle of trusteeship in

social and economic affairs. He firmly believed that all social property should be held in

trust. The capitalists would take care not only of themselves but also of others. Some of their

surplus wealth would be used for the rest of the society.The poor workers, under trusteeship,

would consider the capitalists as their benefactors; and would repose faith in their noble

intentions. Gandhiji felt that if such a trusteeship were established, the welfare of the workers

13
would increase and the clash between the workers and employers would be avoided.

Trusteeship would help considerably “in realising a state of equality on earth.”Gandhiji

firmly believed that land should not be owned by any individual. Land belongs to God.

Hence, individual ownership of land should be shunned. For that a landowner should be

persuaded to become a trustee of his land. He should be convinced that the land he owns does

not belong to him. Land belongs to the community and must be used for the welfare of the

community. They are merely trustees. By persuasion the heart of landowners should be

changed and they should be induced to donate their land voluntarily.If the land owners do not

oblige and continue to exploit the poor workers, the latter should organise non-violent, non-

cooperation, civil disobedience struggles against them. Gandhiji rightly held the view that

“no person can amass wealth without the cooperation, willing or forced, of the people

concerned”.If this knowledge were to penetrate and spread amongst the poor, they would

become strong and learn how to free themselves from the crushing inequalities which have

pushed them to the verge of starvation. But the oppressed should not take recourse to violent

methods. In the Gandhian scheme of things, the principle of cooperation, love and service is

most important and violence has no place in it. Violence is against “moral values’ and

civilized society is inconceivable in the absence of moral values.Gandhiji’s concept of

development is oriented to the uplift of the common man. He preferred village habitats to

megalopolises and Swadeshi craft to imported technology for the economic well-being of the

common man. He stressed the need for cottage industries in place of gigantic industries and

advocated for a decentralised economy instead of a centralised one.He realised the need for

integrated rural development and believed that education, health and vocation should be

properly integrated. He emphasised the need for education and training which he called

‘Naitalim’ (New training) for rural reconstruction.In fine, Gandhian approach to rural

development strives to reconstruct village republics which would be non-violent, self-

14
governed and self-sufficient so far as the basic necessities of ruralites are concerned. Apart

from creating a new socio-economic order, it Endeavour’s to transform man; otherwise the

changes in the socio-economic order will be short-lived.

Concept of Rabindranath Tagore for the rural reconstruction and community

development

Tagore saw rural reconstruction as his ‘life’s work’. There were three main phases to his

endeavours. The first was while he was managing the family estates in the 1890s, the second

was the national programme of ‘constructive swadeshi’ he put forward in 1903-8, the third

was Sriniketan, a department of his Visva-Bharati university, in the 1920s.His active work

brought to Tagore a unique understanding of humanity. His inspired and also practical

principles of ‘unity in diversity’ and ‘life in its completeness’ are highly relevant to the

challenges facing us in the world today.

Rural Reconstruction in the 1890s

In 1890 Devendranath Tagore sent his youngest son aged 29 to live on and manage the family

properties in East Bengal. On his tours of the estates Rabindranath was deeply moved by the

natural beauty of the region, and by the ‘simple and unenthusiastic life of the common

people’, and he determined to improve their conditions with programmes of rural

development. Years later Tagore recollected his experiences, his motives, the measures he

tried, and their mixed success. Tagore wrote in a letter about the ‘deep despair pervades rural

life all over the country’. He was well aware that the root cause of this despair was British

imperialism. The Tagores were exceptional as landlords for taking direct interest in their

tenants’ welfare. Most landlords were absentees, residing in the city.The British had

introduced private land ownership into Bengal by the 1793 Permanent Settlement Act,

creating the zemindari landowners ‘from among the Mogul tax collectors’. This took place at

15
a time which in Britain was ‘the great age of parliamentary enclosure, between 1760 and

1820’, driven by ‘the rage for improvement’ in agriculture. Tagore too sought to improve and

modernise agriculture during all the years of his work on rural reconstruction, but strictly

where the ‘motive force is not the greed of profit’. The British were instrumental in creating

cities and urban life in India, with a complex array of new roles and classes with no tradition

of responsibility and cooperation, probably necessitating the strict law and order imposed by

the government which Tagore complains of in his essays. Perhaps most damagingly, big

cities such as Calcutta drew the best and brightest of young men from rural areas in Bengal

and beyond. This draining process is confirmed and quantified by Arthur Geddes in his

population study of Bengal, and, of course, economic migration, and sending remittances

home, continues in the world today.

From the 1890s Onwards: An Evaluation

Tagore’s emotional engagement with rural people and their plight changed him as a creative

artist and thinker, to such an extent that his son reported that his literary output was ‘at its

maximum during the years at Shelidah’. The fifty-nine short stories Tagore wrote in the

1890s reveal his understanding of the complex effects of ‘society in transition’ on urban as

well as rural people. The practical work which Tagore began in the 1890s did not end when

others took over the main responsibility for the family estates. Through this work he acquired

a lifelong mission. He maintained his interest and involvement in the estates over subsequent

years, and when he moved his base to Santiniketan, and established his school there in 1901,

he continued rural reconstruction work in the neighbouring villages.

Some admirers of Tagore like to think that he achieved a great deal of practical value in rural

reconstruction, that he was an innovator, for example of microfinance, and that his model was

built on after India achieved independence. Others argue that his aims and ideals were

misunderstood, that he was let down by those who worked for him, but that Tagore is still

16
relevant today and ‘we shall have to go a long way to realize his ideal of a creative society’.

Tagore’s work ranged from emergency relief, through infrastructure building, to advice and

encouragement towards cooperative self-help and participative democracy. Looking back,

with the challenges of the twenty-first century in mind, one can see that what Tagore

attempted, with some success, was admirable and ahead of his time, but there is little that is

not currently incorporated into efforts to help the disadvantaged around the world, by aid

agencies and philanthropic organisations now. The component which is special to Tagore’s

approach is his emphasis on joy and celebration and creativity.

Constructive Swadeshi: 1903 to 1908

During the first decade of the new century, two crises, one personal, the other political, took

Tagore’s thinking on rural reconstruction in a radical new direction. Tagore suffered a terrible

series of bereavements over this period, and subsequently neglected his health. It is hard to

reconcile the grief-stricken and ailing poet with the statesman-like image of Tagore leading

protests against the Partition of Bengal. Tagore gave rousing speeches, composed patriotic

songs and promoted the swadeshi (home produced) boycott of foreign goods. On Partition

Day itself, 16 October 1905, Tagore led the Rakhibandhan procession, the symbolic tying of

friendship bracelets to demonstrate unity across classes, castes and religions.If we focus on

Tagore’s work on rural reconstruction, we can move beyond the colourful demonstrations to

see how Tagore built on his understanding of how Indian village society had been disrupted

by British rule, in order to put forward ‘Constructive Swadeshi’ as an economic, educational

and political programme for the nation.

He endeavoured to persuade the Calcutta middle class activists, many of whom had

Zamindari landholdings, to reconnect with the villages by encouraging Swadeshi enterprise

and reviving traditional fairs, and he attracted some support for such a cause. The majority of

activists were not prepared for the long, hard task Tagore spoke of. The moderates agitated

17
for a greater role in government and the extremists engaged in petty reprisals and plots.

Tagore was called ‘disloyal, unpatriotic and a traitor’ when he objected to violent attacks on

officials, ‘retired from political activities and went back to his work at Santiniketan’. What

Tagore and other anti-partition activists failed to do was engage the village people themselves

in the campaign. The Swadeshi Movement in Bengal in effect served as a dress rehearsal for

the concerted national movement from 1919 onwards, led by Gandhi.

Question Bank

1. Explain various programs & policies undertaken by GOI for employment generation
of Rural
2. Sector.
3. Write a short note on Etawah Pilot Project.
4. Write a note on Gurgaon Experiment.
5. Write a note on Gandhian Approach of Rural Development.
6. What is Srineketan Project? Elaborate its effect.
7. Explain the purpose of Firkha development scheme.
8. Explain the purpose of Nilokheri Experiment by Dr. S.K. Dey.
9. Discuss any two Pre-independence & Post-independence Rural Development
Programme.
10. Explain the concept of Rural Reconstruction Programme by Mahatma Gandhi.
11. What was an ideology behind Community Development Programme?

18