Urban-rural interaction can bring about rural empowerment

| Last updated less than one minute ago

Submit :

News Photos Just In Debate Topic Latest News Articles Local News Blog Posts Pictures Reviews Recipes

Vinod Anand

17 February, 2011

India's rural areas and populace face major problems such as infrastructure development. Increased interaction and dialogue between people living in rural and urban areas can enable the poor of our nation to lead better live

No one will refute the fact that there is a wide rural urban divide in India in the sense that there are many push and pull factors that act as catalyst agents to force people of the rural areas to shift to urban areas.

But this migration of people hides the fact that there is little or no contact of urban people with people living in rural areas.

For India to attain its full potential in every field, both God-given and man-made, we require better and new ways to narrow this divide. Practically speaking, in the context of the two sectors, the most important thing is that young people who have qualified for various government services should be given an option to volunteer to go to rural areas for a minimum period of say six months or so, before being assigned to their first postings in the district concerned.

Such people must be given due recognition in various ways in their service records. We cannot expect people largely from an urban background to bridge the urban-rural divide. The interaction and close living with farmers will build compassion and understanding. Farmers will also empathise with these young people and recognise that the “sarkar” is in fact, composed of human beings like themselves.

This move will establish a vital link that will bring about some practical benefits. For example, potential administrators will be able to spot able leaders at the village level, who are not necessarily in the local panchayat hierarchy. These leaders could be invited to participate in planning meetings at the block and district levels - and where suitable, even at the state level, so that there is an on-going dialogue even when the “volunteers” leave the village on postings.

There are many examples when good, honest, and reputed villagers were even made Honorary Magistrates in various districts.

One of the serious impediments to develop rural areas is that resources allotted by the government and even private agencies do not reach people in these areas. They get filtered to the so-called political entrepreneurs and their supporters but once the interaction between the urban and rural people begins the rural people will have sufficient confidence to come forward to point out the lacunae, which deny them their rightful due. There are several other initiatives too, which can be taken to make local officials more accountable.

There is no doubt that much has been done in this context, but what is being done is simply not effective. The reality of the situation at the ground level will become clear when there is mutual credibility between officials and people who have had the opportunity to interact closely and understand each other’s concerns and requirements.