“India lives in its villages”. I don’t know who said it but I am sure most of us have heard it. We (Urban India) keep on saying this on several occasions to reinforce the image of India which has been stereotyped. Rural India is portrayed via various media in two distinct shades. One, as a land of happy, satisfied, unselfish people and secondly as a land of dejectedly poor, illiterate, of old generation people. But the real picture is not painted in these two colors only.
There is currently a huge and to the extent mad rush, in our rural citizens to get themselves urbanize. The young and newly educated have one aspiration – to get a white collar job. We can also rephrase it as, they don’t aspire to settle themselves in their villages. You don’t need much proof to see this. Just visit any of the nearby village on a normal day and see how many educated and young are there in villages. Very few. The aspiration to be an urbanite at any cost is getting stronger day by day and those who are left out are seen as losers.
There is no objection or problem to see that people wanting to move to cities. But the pace and the mindset does pose a problem. Villages are india’s identity. They are our roots. They are our ‘annadata’. Government’s efforts are also to an extent commendable in providing villages with all basic infrastructures. (at least in Gujarat it is good). But still it is failing to contain the rush to cities.
There has been some kind of stigma attached to a person who is not able to find some job or work in city. More so if he is educated. (remember the ad of herohonda splendor… padhai to bahut kari thi sehar jane k liye). On the other hand there are not much white collar jobs available in Villages, except provided and lavishly paid by government. So the new problem is not of lack of education but lack of white collar job opportunities in Rural India. On top of this our education system and society has produced a monster stigma which says that educated person should not do a work which might involve physical work.It is below dignity. So the young person, who has taken education for good, thinks that he is no good if he picks us agriculture/economic activity in rural areas. So he has left with no choice then to look towards cities. If these was not enough you can add more demanding condition from society that a good candidate for marriage is the one who is settled in city so that their daughter need not do agriculture related work. Getting a good higher education in second tier towns/villages is also an issue.
Sitting in a city and writing/reading this blog is very convenient and easy. But when you are faced with above conditions, a person has to uproot himself and try to gain a foothold in cities. But the problem is that this uprooting is taking place with desire and willingness. Only those who either lack skills or funds are forced to stay back in village. This is creating damage at multiple layers of society which will not be immediately visible but will surely alter the scenario both in cities as well as in villages for worse. Some symptoms are already visible like high cost of education, increase in corruption, Income inequality, educational inequality, nuclear families, etc.
This vicious circle is rapidly deteriorating the quality of life & quality of people left behind in the villages. If this continues then the days are not far when we will have over populated and congested cities with frustrated people and underpopulated villages with stagnated and stale lives. The current trend is dangerous and alarming. Efforts are needed to impart genuine and relevant education in the villages for which the government is already spending zillions but need to make sure that it creates an impact. In India a person with rupee-power is revered. Efforts are required to bring back the glory for the farmers (read – bring back glory for the physical work which requires intellect). This can only be done if small farmers can earn and prosper. Currently the traders earn more than the actual farmer. This is not a sign of good governance irrespective of what Mr. CM says.
For any healthy nation it is must that it has balance of villages and cities which are healthy. If we don’t have healthy villages than rest assured that we will have more goons, naxals & anti-social elements. The growth will never be inclusive and sustainable if we leave behind our rural brethren without any fruits of development which has increased the comfort, lifestyle & HDI indicators.
The adoption of technology which reduces the physical work needs to be promoted and targeted subsidies can be given in this area so that the educated class who is not in position to do hard work can use technology for farming or manufacturing. This will ensure that even in globalize world the local economies keep humming. We need to create that opportunity of wealth creation in hinterland so that no excess migration happens. The need is to work towards increasing wealth and prosperity for those carry out physical work with dignity and intelligence out of choice. The need is to respect those intellectuals who chose to stay back despite all the lures of Urban glare and choose not to be a one more victim of urban drains. (on the positive side , this trend also provides a huge opportunity , but it needs a totally different lens. Will talk about his some other day.)
You can follow my blogs at www.tusharkpatel.wordpress.com
There is currently a huge and to the extent mad rush, in our rural citizens to get themselves urbanize. The young and newly educated have one aspiration – to get a white collar job. We can also rephrase it as, they don’t aspire to settle themselves in their villages. You don’t need much proof to see this. Just visit any of the nearby village on a normal day and see how many educated and young are there in villages. Very few. The aspiration to be an urbanite at any cost is getting stronger day by day and those who are left out are seen as losers.
There is no objection or problem to see that people wanting to move to cities. But the pace and the mindset does pose a problem. Villages are india’s identity. They are our roots. They are our ‘annadata’. Government’s efforts are also to an extent commendable in providing villages with all basic infrastructures. (at least in Gujarat it is good). But still it is failing to contain the rush to cities.
There has been some kind of stigma attached to a person who is not able to find some job or work in city. More so if he is educated. (remember the ad of herohonda splendor… padhai to bahut kari thi sehar jane k liye). On the other hand there are not much white collar jobs available in Villages, except provided and lavishly paid by government. So the new problem is not of lack of education but lack of white collar job opportunities in Rural India. On top of this our education system and society has produced a monster stigma which says that educated person should not do a work which might involve physical work.It is below dignity. So the young person, who has taken education for good, thinks that he is no good if he picks us agriculture/economic activity in rural areas. So he has left with no choice then to look towards cities. If these was not enough you can add more demanding condition from society that a good candidate for marriage is the one who is settled in city so that their daughter need not do agriculture related work. Getting a good higher education in second tier towns/villages is also an issue.
Sitting in a city and writing/reading this blog is very convenient and easy. But when you are faced with above conditions, a person has to uproot himself and try to gain a foothold in cities. But the problem is that this uprooting is taking place with desire and willingness. Only those who either lack skills or funds are forced to stay back in village. This is creating damage at multiple layers of society which will not be immediately visible but will surely alter the scenario both in cities as well as in villages for worse. Some symptoms are already visible like high cost of education, increase in corruption, Income inequality, educational inequality, nuclear families, etc.
This vicious circle is rapidly deteriorating the quality of life & quality of people left behind in the villages. If this continues then the days are not far when we will have over populated and congested cities with frustrated people and underpopulated villages with stagnated and stale lives. The current trend is dangerous and alarming. Efforts are needed to impart genuine and relevant education in the villages for which the government is already spending zillions but need to make sure that it creates an impact. In India a person with rupee-power is revered. Efforts are required to bring back the glory for the farmers (read – bring back glory for the physical work which requires intellect). This can only be done if small farmers can earn and prosper. Currently the traders earn more than the actual farmer. This is not a sign of good governance irrespective of what Mr. CM says.
For any healthy nation it is must that it has balance of villages and cities which are healthy. If we don’t have healthy villages than rest assured that we will have more goons, naxals & anti-social elements. The growth will never be inclusive and sustainable if we leave behind our rural brethren without any fruits of development which has increased the comfort, lifestyle & HDI indicators.
The adoption of technology which reduces the physical work needs to be promoted and targeted subsidies can be given in this area so that the educated class who is not in position to do hard work can use technology for farming or manufacturing. This will ensure that even in globalize world the local economies keep humming. We need to create that opportunity of wealth creation in hinterland so that no excess migration happens. The need is to work towards increasing wealth and prosperity for those carry out physical work with dignity and intelligence out of choice. The need is to respect those intellectuals who chose to stay back despite all the lures of Urban glare and choose not to be a one more victim of urban drains. (on the positive side , this trend also provides a huge opportunity , but it needs a totally different lens. Will talk about his some other day.)
You can follow my blogs at www.tusharkpatel.wordpress.com