The traditional barter system received a severe setback during the British period. Introduction of cash economy by the Britishers enabled the peasants to adopt commercial crops. In this way, the agricultural subsistence economy gave rise to commercial crops.
During the British period, the famines took place at regular intervals. The colonial rulers felt that the challenge of famine could be successfully met only through irrigation. Subsequently, the government appointed the Royal Commission on Agriculture in India in 1926. The Commission submitted its report in 1928.
Some of the major recommendations of the Committee were putting a ban on fragmentation and sub-division of land, establishment of the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research etc.
To combat the agricultural crisis during the British period, the government adopted several measures such as the provision of irrigation facilities, setting up of cooperative societies, the creation of a research committee for the comprehension of problems in agriculture etc. In this way, the colonial rulers evinced keen interest in improving the agricultural situation in rural India.
Efforts Made by Voluntary Organisations:
With the arrival of Gandhiji into Indian political arena, rural development received a Philip. The non-cooperation movement spearheaded by him in 1920 was the first political attempt to awaken the ruralites. Several voluntary organisations emerged in the countryside. Inspired by profound humanism, Rabindranath Tagore’s experiments at Sriniketan in 1921 was aimed at both the economic as well as the moral rehabilitation of the rural community.
Rural development programme was initiated by Spencer Hatch at Martandum in 1921. Martandum rural reconstruction centre was opened with a five-sided programme comprising spirit, mind, body, economic and social side. To meet the physical, mental and spiritual needs of the people, social activities were initiated in health centres, libraries, boy scouts and girl guides, and in the sports club.
Special emphasis was placed on folk-dances and folk-singing. Co-operation in work, in play and in all activities of life was successfully emphasised. The Gurgaon experiment started by F.L. Brayne in 1927 aimed at promoting thrift, self-respect, self-control, self-help, mutual help and mutual respect among the ruralites.
In 1932, the princely state of Baroda launched a broad-based programme with a view to promoting the will to live better and a capacity for self-help and self-reliance among the rural people under the dynamic leadership of V.K. Krishnamachari. The Seva Gram Ashram established by Gandhiji in 1935 at Wardha undertook several development programmes for the ruralites such as sanitation, adult education, promotion of village industries, manual work etc.
They were encouraged to meet their own needs without depending on the government. In this way, several voluntary organisations played important roles in preaching the message of self-sufficiency among the villagers.
Rural Development after Independence:
Rural development has acquired special significance in the countries of the Third World. Since independence, the Government of India has launched various programmes of ‘planned change’ encompassing social, economic and political processes. There are two approaches adopted by the government with regard to the patterns of development. These approaches are (a) the ‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement ‘approach.
The Transformation Approach:
The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance to a radical change in the existing system in terms of the scale of operation, production techniques, and socio-legal reforms. Implementation of land reform measures comes within the purview of this approach. So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a large number of tenants or farmers have now become the owners of the land that they are cultivating.
The slogan “land to the tiller” has been successfully translated into reality in most of the States of India. The tenancy rights are more secure now. The Zamindari abolition laws have succeeded in eliminating the intermediaries.
Tenancy legislations have been passed in most of the states to regulate rent and also to make the rent fair and reasonable. Eviction of the tenants from the land which they have been cultivating becomes an uphill task now.
Most of the states have enacted ceiling laws to fix the maximum amount of land that an individual or family can possess. Needless to state that this is a step in the right direction of achieving social justice. Attempts have been made for consolidation of holdings. So far 51.8 million hectares of land have been consolidated in the country.
The evil of absentee landlordism associated with the Indian agriculture has been removed. Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts are being made to provide the landless labourers with the land. Efforts are also being made for the compilation and updating of the land records.
The Improvement Approach:
The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about agricultural development within the existing peasant production system. It attaches importance to the programmes of rural development such as the Community Development Programme, Panchayati Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies related to the process of development in rural India.
According to the Planning Commission, community development is the process of changing the lives of a community from backwardness to a new economic and social order through its open efforts. The Community Development Programme undertaken by the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 – the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest rural reconstruction scheme.
The programme is instrumental in raising the standard of living of the ruralites and in reconstructing rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor rightly observes that the programme signifies active co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in formulating and executing their own plans and programmes.
The programme has attained considerable success in the field of agriculture, education, employment, health services, communication, vocational training, the supply of drinking water, social welfare. With the passage of time, the Community Development Programme has started losing its importance. It has suffered from several drawbacks.
Various factors such as lack of clearly defined priorities, cornering of the benefits by the rich and big farmers, a dismal lack of coordination among different development departments, lack of commitment, administrative inefficiency and corruption at the bureaucratic level etc. contribute to the failure of the programme. Despite these shortcomings, the CDP has contributed a lot in arousing the consciousness and awareness of the ruralites about the modern means of agriculture.
The Community Development Programme was launched with a view to obtaining people’s participation in the development process. But this objective of the CDP was not materialised. To ensure the involvement of the people in the development of villages, the Government of India appointed a committee headed by Balwant Rai Mehta in January 1957. Consequent upon the recommendation of the committee, the Panchayati Raj through the organization of Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad received special attention of the committee.
Panchayati Raj has been viewed as an attempt to implement the process of democratic decentralization. This has broken the long-standing practice of centralised authority. The system has made an average citizen more conscious of his rights than before. He has become a significant determinant of Indian politics today.
So far as the administrative implication of the Panchayati Raj system is concerned, it has bridged the gulf between the bureaucratic elite and the people. Socially the Panchayati Raj system has generated a new leadership having a modern and pro-social outlook. Finally, viewed from the developmental angle, the Panchayati Raj system has enabled the ruralites to cultivate a progressive outlook.
Several reports have hinted at the lack of effectiveness of the Panchayati Raj Institutions. The important reasons attributed to its ineffectiveness are the structural inadequacy of the institutions, administrative inefficiency and corruption at the level of bureaucracy, the absence of conceptual clarity and lack of political will.
Despite these shortcomings, it cannot be gainsaid that the Panchayati Raj Institutions have administered enormous economic funds and resources to accelerate the process of rural development.
Green revolution denotes the well-marked improvement in the agricultural production in a short period and the sustenance of a high level of agricultural production over a fairly long period of time. But viewed from the angle of crops, green revolution has been confined largely to wheat. Hence, it is often referred to as “wheat revolution” rather than the green revolution. The success of the green revolution, for the most part, depends upon adequate irrigation facilities.
But in the Indian context, a large proportion of the agricultural land is without irrigation facilities. This vast area naturally falls outside the orbit of the green revolution. So far as the dry areas are concerned, the applicability of the new agricultural strategy is simply out of question. Furthermore, the adoption of new technology is confined only to some developed areas like Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh.
The states of the Eastern region covering West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa have not been benefitted by such HYV technology. The other parts of the country have remained untouched by the new agricultural strategy. Some important commercial crops like sugarcane, oilseeds and pulses have not been covered by the new technology. Only the large farmers and landlords have been immensely benefitted by adopting a green revolution.
There is hardly any appreciable development in the economic condition of the small and marginal farmers as they have no capacity to adopt NAT. Despite these limitations, it cannot be gainsaid that the green revolution has brought in its wake some beneficial effects for the Indian agricultural setting.
Increase in agricultural production, the decline in import of food-grains generation of more employment opportunities in the agricultural and non-agricultural sector, expansion of agro-based industries, increased standard of living of the farmers constitute the positive aspects of the green revolution.
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