Rural Uplift

             Gandhiji said that India lives primarily in villages. But when we talk of the country’s progress or achievement, we only think of India’s cities. The facilities that a townsman gets are beyond the dreams of an average villager— telephone, television, refrigerator, air-conditioned rooms, cars and what not. We can say that the cities are flourishing and the villages are going down day by day.
             Only very recently people have started realizing the anomaly of the situation. India needs village uplift, and planning for India’s economic progress means planning for the prosperity of rural India. Villages need, first of all, drinking water, good paths, primary and secondary education, training for agriculture and cottage industry.’ When the villagers are well off and healthy, India as a whole will prosper.
             Two important things in this respect are Village Panchayet and Rural Banking. Village panchayet gives the villagers their democratic rights. Through panchayet which the villagers themselves manage, the common people have the taste of power. They learn how to take the initiative in their own matters. Secondly, the banks in the rural areas free the poor villagers from the clutches of the money-lenders. The bank loans encourage the rural folk to be independent and to spend on fertilizer and pumpset and thus to modernize agriculture.