Nobody can deny that with the growth of cities the villages have
been considerably neglected. Ever since the light of Western civilisation
came into our country we have been developing a craze for city life. In the
beginning of the British rule in undivided India most of the people used to
be employed in the cities for various jobs but now-a-days the people are
attracted to the cities for the comforts and luxuries of life which they
cannot enjoy in their village homes. So what was a necessity in the
beginning is now a luxury but we have formed such a habit of our sense of
comfort and ease that it is difficult for us now to go back to our old ways
of life. Under these circumstances we must try to improve our villages.
The importance of the movement known as “Village Uplift’ or
Rural Reconstruction’ cannot be over-rated, considering that Pakistan is
an agricultural country and four-fifths of its population lives in villages.
Many economists and politicians are of the opinion that Pakistan should
concentrate upon reforming its villages before striving for achieving self-
government. They are no doubt, right: for the happiness of the villagers is
obviously “the happiness of the greatest number”. Their interests are
inseparably bound with the interests of townsmen – they rise and sink
together.
In the Punjab, Mr. F.L. Brayne was the first official to think of
village uplift. While acting as the Deputy Commissioner of Gurgaon, he
studied villages at first hand, was grieved and shocked by the deplorable
conditions obtaining in them; and set about earnestly to reconstruct them.
He brought home to the people of that district the importance of sanitation,
education and of scientific agricultural implements. His experiment met
with a great success and within a short period Gurgaon-made an amazing
progress. Mr. Brayne embodied his instructions in a book called “Socrates
in an Indian Village”. This book can be aptly described as the Bible of
village uplift. It consists of short, easy dialogues on topics concerning
villagers, and contains excellent suggestions and proposals. Put briefly,
Mr. Brayne’s programme touches four things.
Firs of all, he emphasises the value of education. According to
him, ignorance, more than anything else, is responsible for the backwardness of the Indian peasant. Steeped in age-old ignorance, the
peasant does not know his own interest. If he ignores the laws of health
and sanitation, runs into enormous debts, or follows ancient methods of
agriculture, it is because he lacks enlightenment. The remedy suggested is
that primary education should be made compulsory for both boys and
girls. Adults should be educated through such modern devices as the radio,
the cinema and the magic lantern. The villager should be acquainted with
the latest methods of agriculture, with the evils of litigation, drinking or
smoking and should be taught the value of thrift. The principle underlying
this suggestion is that when the villager will be educated, he will be able
to ‘see reason’ for himself and, instead of opposing reform or innovation,
he will become its warm supporter. The peasant, in other words, is to be
instructed in the principle of “self help”. He is to be told that unless he
saves himself, nothing else can save him.
The second item on the programme is health and sanitation. The
villager is content with passing his days in unhealthy surroundings. He
does not care much if streets of his village are dirty or if houses have no
arrangement for fresh air. He allows dirty water to collect in pits and
ponds situated in an about the village, with the result that they attract
mosquitoes who spread malaria and trouble. Thus the villager is to be
exhorted to keep his houses and streets clean by throwing the dung hills
and rubbish into pits, (meant for this purpose and situated at a sufficient
distance from the village.) He is to be warned against the harm that
mosquitoes do and is to be advised to use quinine and cheap mosquito
nets. He is also to be asked to visit the free dispensary whenever he or
members of his family fall ill. Lastly, he is to be told to use ventilators,
not to tether cattle in his sleeping room and to get his children vaccinated
before they fall a prey to smallpox.
The third thing that a peasant is required to do is to improve his
agriculture. Agriculture is the main profession of the industry in the
village; and, of late, it has fallen into a rut. The peasants can make it a
paying profession by using scientific implements, by importing bulls of
excellent breed, by using better seeds, manures, and ploughs,. They can
increase their income by combining agriculture with such industries as
dairying, poultry, gardening, and sugaring the pests, and diseases of
plants, and make their crops yield better produce by destroying harmful
insects and weeds that are dangerous parasites on crops. Lastly, the peasants are advised to shake off a number of social
evils from which they suffer. It is seen that they spend money lavishly on
marriages and births and are prone to be extravagant when they come by
money. In some districts they are excessively given to drinking. Almost
everywhere they are enamoured of smoking and idling away their time.
They are over-fond of litigation. They commit murders over trifles; and
resort to the court so often that they pay the best part of their income to
the lawyers. They make their children wear heavy ornaments, oppose
female education with the fury of a fanatic; and incur debts which they
know not how to clear. The peasant, thus, is to be advised to get rid of all
these evils. He is to be instructed to benefit himself from such institutions
as the Co-operative Credit Societies, and the Panchayat System. He is told
not to run into unnecessary debts, not to go to the court for the settlement
of petty quarrels, and not to kill his neighbour over a land dispute.
There is no doubt, that if the peasant acts upon these suggestions,
he is bound to prosper. He would be able to lead an infinitely better life, if
he makes whole-hearted attempts to improve his home and his farm. Only
in that case the village will deserve the description given to it in the
proverb, “God made the country and man made the town.”