Spring time in Indian village: Life can be good

Asim Boral — Spring is coming! Sitting under a tree in a village, watching dead leaves falling in different direction; people walking past tree-shaded roads; chirping of beautiful unknown birds and melodious Koel continuously kuing kuing; sun rays fall on small drops of dew in the morning, looking like Kohinoor diamond; an old man walking slowly with a stick in the mist; the young and bubbling, walking fast past the old man, not looking back .Cracking sound of bullock cart carrying all farming tools to the field. In the corner of the road near the banyan tree, people gather, chatting, laughing tossing mind with future and the present. Children are walking miles for school daily. The sound of train coming from distance – tik tik tik. The village dogs barking, crows cawing; amazing feeling; perhaps this is life. Watching everything sitting on the banks of the river passing the village where there is green, green, and green only. I wish I remain in such green for rest of my life, but cannot as I have more unfinished work than I had 20 years ago.

Perhaps this the real picture of Rural India still languishing without any facilities of proper schools, roads, or other infrastructure, basic health, food security, and so many opportunities a villager should have so that migration to the cities does not take place. At the same time, cities are beaming with most modern developments at present in the world. India is progressing rapidly for the city development only and Rural sectors remain untapped. Imagine if 76% of the country’s 1.2 billion people living in rural India become developed, then how much demand in economy will be brought about.

This is the age of a welfare economy and capitalist economy is becoming obsolete day by day; and all developed countries like USA, UK, Japan are trying to shun war budget and start a welfare economy to combat the serious recession the world is facing at the moment, perhaps the worst since the 1929 US recession. India as practicing welfare economy has come of age since 1991’s economic liberalization undertook by the late PM P V NarSimha Rao and the present PM Dr. Manmohan Singh (who was the Foreign Minister in those days ). India, once a loan taker in 1991, is now giving loans to even developed countries.

India needs to change rapidly in its rural part as India needs 5000 developed villages with all kind of facilities a city have – turning them into a modern village without compromising the environment; and it is possible that if India takes some solid measures on rural entrepreneurship, we can dig goldmines in villages of India, if properly dig. So many village industries can generate millions of employment opportunities there without people migrating to cities.

About the Author

Asim Boral, a science graduate from Calcutta University of West Bengal, India, is a retired Senior Marketing Manager of the largest Steel Company in India. After retirement, he joined the Indian National Congress and started writing regular articles in Times of India, a national English daily, on various issues from politics to social causes. He is now engaged for service to a big NGO – Bharat Sevashram Sangha – which serves worldwide, from USA to Fiji. Now 64, he lives in a Mega city Ahmedabad, Gujarat state of India and enjoys practicing his expertise in rain water harvesting and biodynamic farming system.