One of my friends, who is junior to me by a year or two, lives in the village and has accepted farming as his profession. He often discusses problems relating to rural life and farming with me. Recently, while talking to me over the phone, he asked me to search for a job in the town so that he could earn a salary of fifteen to twenty thousand rupees and leave farming for good. I advised him not to do so and to drop such an idea from ever coming to his mind, as he is in a noble profession. There are problems and professional setbacks in every field, and farming cannot be an exception to this. I try to convince him every time he talks in this vein. He grumbles, and the next moment, tries to be his normal self. He is not the only person who talks like this. I have had the experience of meeting many such people who live in villages and do not think highly of their living and farming. Let us now try to find out the reasons for such an attitude towards rural life and farming and the probable solutions:
1) An Increasing Attraction for Urban Life
After independence, it has been seen that in rural areas, there has been an increasing attraction for urban life. As a child, I happened to meet rural people who were quite happy with their life in the village. Even certain educated people who got jobs in nearby towns and cities returned to the village in the evening. The attraction seems to have increased more twenty-five to thirty years back. The reason is not far to seek. Better medical, entertainment, and other facilities in the towns and cities are the main reasons. An easy source of income through a job or business is another reason. Those who got education and jobs in the towns and cities left the village and never returned. Whenever they come to the village, they speak highly of their sophisticated life, which only adds fuel to the fire. But everybody cannot leave the village, keeping in view the status of poverty and literacy in the country. For them, going to the towns and cities remains a dream all their lives. The percentage of people who are really happy leading a rural life will be much less.
Now let us have a look at the probable solutions. In rural areas, the ‘Gaon Haat’ or village market is the biggest attraction that stops the rural folk from going over to the nearby towns for the purchase of day-to-day items. The rural sellers and businessmen also get a chance for sales and profit. In every five to ten villages, a village market can be seen, and people flock to it. Keeping this in view, the local panchayat bodies should make the necessary arrangements for smooth selling and buying and levy a minimum tax on the sellers and vendors. It is seen that most markets do not have the facilities and infrastructure to counter inclement weather.
In block headquarters, the block authority should make arrangements for market places and malls and provide the same at a minimum rent. Since it may not be possible on the part of the government to set up theatres or cinema halls for the entertainment of the people, private video halls may very well be encouraged. I have seen such halls in smaller towns in the absence of cinema halls. Public Health Centres should be well equipped to meet the requirements of the people. Cold storages should be made available to the people at the block level so that the local farmers will be able to store their products and face no loss.
2) Change in Nature and Behaviour of the Rural People
As a child, when I went to the village, I found people to be simple and modest in the way they talked and behaved. They were all praise for my living in the town and being educated. Some of them even called me ‘Saheb’ or ‘Hakim’. Whenever any four-wheeler came to the village, children ran after it, shouting joyously, the way we looked up at the sky in smaller towns and cities to catch a glimpse of flying aircraft. In a way, they were in awe of people coming from the towns. Whenever any officer or policeman came, some of them even tried to hide. Of course, it was a legacy of the British Raj.
But today, the situation has changed. The gap between town and village has narrowed. It is only natural. We cannot stop time from flowing. There has been a change in the nature and behaviour of the rural folk. The village children do not run after four-wheelers any longer. For them, urban people are no more aliens. We, the town and city dwellers, have equally changed because of the spread of the internet and other communications. Have we not? So it is only natural that the rural folk should also change. But the simplicity and warmth can still be seen in many of them.
3) An Increasing Attraction for Employment in the Towns and Cities
Earlier in rural areas, mostly joint families existed that depended upon agriculture. The landless people worked as labour in the households of the landed people and managed their livelihood. But with the course of time, the joint family has split into nuclear families. It so happens that in the joint family, overall finance is managed smoothly. But in the nuclear family, financial responsibility increases and forces the head to go in for finance and earning.
Disinterest in agriculture due to various reasons, loss of jungles, and subsequent restrictions and loss of groves in the villages have deprived people of a source of income, which is forcing them to flock to towns and cities to work as labour or search for work. Job opportunities in the private sector have been an added attraction for them. The loss of jungles and groves in the villages has brought about a change. Earlier, rural people moved to the jungles in bullock carts for the collection of wood and other forest products. But rapid jungle loss forced the government to be stricter in the matter. The groves in the villages that provided fruits for sale have also been destroyed, thereby depriving people of a source of living.
Both government and private organisations should create awareness among the rural people regarding the utility of jungles and the environment. ‘Jungle Surakhya Samiti’ is a good attempt, but its proper implementation is a must. Attempts should also be made to revive the lost groves by both the government and private organisations. Youth and youth organisations in rural areas should be provided with proper facilities under government schemes for new plantations and the creation of jungles.
4) Loss of the Family Profession
The earlier system of following the ancestral family profession is on the decline and seems to die out completely in times to come. The barbers, carpenters, and others were mostly landless and depended on their profession for a source of living. It is not possible to impose a profession on the new generation. Disinterest in the family profession and being landless are forcing them to search for greener pastures in the towns and cities.
The government should evaluate the present schemes and come out with new ones for the uneducated and semi-educated youth of rural areas so that they do not move to the towns. Professionals like carpenters, potters, and others should be encouraged and financed. The new generation should stick to the family profession as far as practicable, with partial dependence on agriculture and government schemes for a source of income.
5) Change in the Rural System – Non-availability of Labour and Excessive Dependence on Machinery
The system of working as labour in the houses of the landed people has almost disappeared from the scene. Earlier, labour worked for a fixed monthly or yearly income in the form of paddy or rice. The labour worked for a household for years together. He was called ‘Goti’ or ‘Kuthia’, and the wage that he earned was called ‘Bhuti’. Disinterest in the system by the new generation and various government schemes for the rural people have brought about a change in the system prevalent in rural society for long. The non-availability of labour is being cited as the most important factor for people’s growing disinterest in farming. So those still engaged in farming have to depend on machinery, which is also not cheaply and easily available in remote areas. Disinterest in farming, taking recourse to other rewarding labour work, migration of labour for greener pastures, and different government schemes being implemented in rural areas have been cited as the main reasons for the non-availability of labour in the farming sector.
Farming is being managed somehow with available labour and machinery. It is known that in India, 78 percent of employed women work in agriculture. As per a latest survey, the highest woman labour participation in the agriculture sector has been 62.9 percent. Keeping this in view, there should be better schemes for them, and efforts should be made to organise the labour in the agriculture sector, which, along with proper payment of wages, may encourage the labour in the sector. Since agricultural machinery and implements are expensive, the government should make easy finances available to the farmers for purchase. At the block and Gram Panchayat level, the government may also have its lending store on moderate rent.
6) Government Schemes
The government has come out with diverse schemes for the upliftment of the rural people and areas, and for this, crores of rupees are being earmarked in the plans of the government. But there seems to be a bottleneck somewhere. How sincerely and honestly the plans are being executed is a matter of scrutiny. Timely and proper implementation of the plans is a must. If the labour is reaping the benefits and not getting more income, then why do they migrate?
It is good that after independence, the central government has put stress on the agriculture sector and set up many official and educational institutions for the purpose. We have agricultural universities and institutes in the country, but it seems that our agriculture sector has not been able to reap the benefit as it should. Of course, there are farmers who have turned out to be very successful, but a question that lingers is: how far are we able to stop the migration of people from villages to towns and cities? We often hear of scientists and researchers visiting developed countries for higher education and coming back after being awarded a degree. In most cases, they are overawed by the superior technology of the country and the institutional facilities, and they take the help of the country for further research and invention. Since the villagers are reluctant to leave agriculture, the need of the hour is to provide proper educational facilities and promote village and farming life.
7) Movement to urban areas and disinterest in rural life after education and service in towns
Movement to urban areas for education and then employment is impacting the population of rural areas. Those who are moving to urban areas hardly return to the village and settle down there. It is seen that those moving to urban areas for higher education and then service hardly return to the village. Rather, they start underestimating it after settling down in towns and cities. Even their offspring follow in their footsteps. They move to even bigger cities and forget about their hometowns, not to mention the village.
A change in the thought process of people coming to towns and cities and settling down is the need of the hour. During their service period and after retirement, they should think of the village and farming. Instead of owning several houses in towns and cities, they should take care of their ancestral house in the village. The youth in employment in bigger cities, instead of settling down there, should think of their smaller hometowns, villages, and family farming. It is high time that a rush back to the village is the clarion call of the day.
8) Disinterest on the part of youth in farming and rural life
Though the tradition of our country looks upon farming as a noble profession, the youth of today, particularly the educated youth, seem to be disinterested in farming as a profession. Rural life and farming never attract them, though in certain states of our country and other countries around the globe, highly educated people have taken recourse to farming as a profession.
In this age of unemployment, farming and its allied sectors can be a good source of employment. The uneducated, mostly confined to rural areas, semi-educated, and educated youth can take recourse to it, which will be beneficial in a country where agriculture is the mainstay of its economy. There are many government schemes in this regard, and the youth can better understand and utilize them. Farming, if properly done, can be rewarding. The government should come out with better packages to attract the youth.
India lives in her villages. Despite the rise in trends of urban population and rural-to-urban migration since independence, there are still people amounting to approximately 69 percent living in rural areas. With such a huge populace living in rural areas and agriculture being the mainstay of our economy, the village and agriculture should get utmost priority.
(The views expressed are the writer’s own)
Mr. Prafulla Kumar Majhi,
Retired Asst. Director, A. I. R, is an eminent Scholar and freelance writer in English & Odia. His areas of interests are sociocultural, economic, literary, historical and analytical studies and writings.
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