Indian society has primarily been rural with more than 60% of its population lived in its villages. In ancient India there are several terms for village republics; For instance, in the Mahabharata in Shanti Parva, Bhishma Pitamah gives a detailed description of village republics to Yudhisthira. In The Buddhist literature , there are extensive descriptions about the village republics in India.
In the Arthashastra , there is cataloguing of kings’ duties related to the administrative affairs of the village. Villages have been playing an important role in India’s social, cultural, political, and economic environment irrespective of the fact that urbanisation and the subsequent emergence of cities have triggered off mass populations migrations to the cities. The importance of the village in Indian society could be attributed to the several village studies carried out in the 1950s and 1960s to shed insight into the rural society.
India was perceived by the British as a “village-based” country, principally consist of rural communities that were independent and self-sufficient. Subsequent researchers were influenced by James Mill and Charles Metcalfe’s writings and their conception of the Indian village society. Metcalfe in 1810 observed that “the Indian village communities were little republics, having nearly everything they wanted within themselves and almost independent of foreign relations. They seemed to last where nothing else lasted. Dynasty after dynasty tumbled down; revolutions succeeded but the village community remained the same”.
Before that, Thomas Munro who later also became the Governor of Madras in 1806 mentioned the Indian village as a little republic and India as a mass of such republics. In the colonial writings, the Indian village was a self-sufficient community and had everything within its periphery. The Indian villages reflected the simplicity and social harmony of the 5000-year-old civilization.
Many Indian nationalists wrote extensively on this idea of Indian villages. For Gandhi ji, India’s soul lived in her villages. He imagined that every village could be a republic or panchayat or self-sustained and capable of managing its own affairs and that is the essence of the idea of Gram Swaraj. The exchange of ideas between Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru on this theme constitutes for an interesting read. In a responding to a letter by Mahatma Gandhi on 5th October 1945, Nehru enunciated his views on rural areas and villages. Gandhi wrote, “I am convinced that if India is to attain true freedom and through India the world also, then sooner or later the fact must be recognised that people have to live in villages, not in towns, in huts, not in palaces.
Crores of people will never be able to live in peace with each other in towns and palaces. They will then have no recourse but to resort to both violence and untruth. I hold that without truth and nonviolence there can be nothing but destruction for humanity. We can realise truth and non-violence only in the simplicity of village life”. Jawaharlal Nehru wrote back, “The whole question is how to achieve this society and what its content should be. I do not understand why a village should necessarily embody truth and non-violence. A village, normally speaking, is backward intellectually and culturally and no progress can be made from a backward environment. Narrow-minded people are much more likely to be untruthful and violent”.
Improving village life
The Indian Government’s stress has been on improving the quality of village life to ensure more equitable and inclusive development. The aim and objective of engagement of the government in the rural economy has been “transforming lives and livelihoods through proactive socio-economic inclusion, integration, and empowerment of rural India.”
During the recent years, Women empowerment has also gained momentum, with tangible progress in female participation in household decision-making, owning bank accounts, and use of mobile phones. Most of the indicators concerning the health of rural women and children have improved.
Vibrant Village
The launch of the Vibrant Village Programme in the Union Budget 2023 was a logical step. Under the programme, construction of village infrastructure, housing, tourist centres, road connectivity, provisioning of decentralised renewable energy, direct to home access for Doordarshan and educational channels, and support for livelihood generation will be the main priorities. Apart from these facilities, the existing schemes will be converged and their outcomes will be envaulted and monitored. The programme also aims at enhancing infrastructure in villages along India’s border with China, in states like Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Arunachal Pradesh.
The border villages of the country are considered as difficult terrain, weak transport networks and suboptimal socio-economic indicators. Such villages are scarcely populated with limited connectivity and infrastructure and are often left out of the development gains. Furthermore, these border villages are a strategic asset for the country and important to safeguard border security.
