Though much time has passed since independence, yet the village life is still very backward in our country. The chief evil of our village life is the condition of utter poverty. Many people in the villages get only seasonal employment.
The evil of disease and insanitation keeps them backward physically, mentally and spiritually. They also suffer from the social evils of untouchability, intoxication, child marriage and numerous superstitions. More than three-fourths of Indian population is rural inhabited. Gandhiji was right in saying real India lives in villages.
It is unfortunate that the rural inhabitants are still living in backward and penurial conditions. National progress can have firm foundation only on the bases of villages. A pragmatic programme of rural reconstruction and rural uplift is necessary to make a really progressive India.
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Hygiene is another important aspect in improving the social condition of the rural people. It is essential to keep the villages neat and clean. Adequate medical aid should be made available to the villagers. Primary health centers should be in accessible places. Dedicated team of doctors and para medical staff can help the rural mass live hale and hearty.
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Education for all is a welcome step, and it can be fruitful if every village has a basic school for the boys and girls, which should strive to achieve cent per cent attendance, lest the children should turn to labour as farmhands and char workers. Adult education should be stressed upon and every illiterate adult should be persuaded to attend evening or night schools.
Today, agriculture has become absolutely a seasonal occupation. No one is occupied throughout the year tending the lands and cultivating or a major part of the year these agricultural workers remain idle. The idleness pushes them to be inebriated which leads to their abject poverty. Developing cottage industries in the rural areas will weed out this malady and keep the unemployed and idle people occupied. No doubt, this will also help their economy rise up. Cottage industries can provide these people employment in such manner.
Social reforms are much needed. Every villager should be made debtless, because the life in debt is the sole cause of the poverty of villagers. To free the villager from this life, he should be counselled to abstain from intoxicants. This can be achieved only by persuasion and not by enacting any cognisant law. Also it is essential to bring the rustic folk out of their superstitions.