Villages and Cities in India L😊L
VILLAGES, CITIES AND THEIR TRANSFORMATION
The well-known sociologist Dipankar Gupta considers the economic and cultural changes
taking place in the Indian village after the turn of the century. He notes the declining hold of
the caste system in the villages and the increasing tendency of villagers to move out of the
village and go to urban areas in search of jobs.
Dipankar Gupta notes that the Indian village has been depicted as a static, unchanging entity
for a long time, from the time of British administrators who described Indian villages as ‘self-
sufficient village republics’. This notion has been challenged by many social scientists in
recent times. The stereotypical idea of Indian villages was also taken up by Gandhi who
extolled the virtues of ‘gram swarajya’ and wanted the decentralization of power to villages
which he considered as where ‘the soul of India’ resided. At the same time Ambedkar
pointed to the negative sides of the village structure, highlighting the oppressions which
were hidden beneath the apparently placid life of villages. This included the exploitation of
lower castes and women. Most people continued under such a system because they did not
see any other option, not because there was something great in village life per se.
Dipankar Gupta notes that “it is not urbanization that is always the critical factor that is
impacting the village from the outside.” (Gupta 2005: 751) He looks at the changes in the
field of agriculture and the changes in the caste system in order to understand the changes
taking place in the sociological reality of villages in India. With the caste system and
agriculture both weakening, the village itself is facing a “cultural implosion” according to
Gupta.
The lack of productivity in agriculture is seen as a major issue. Indian agriculture is moving
from crisis to crisis. One reason is the lack of application of modern agricultural techniques
and the continuing dependence on the unstable monsoons. Climate change has further
made agriculture very vulnerable. The infrastructure for agriculture is also very poor without
adequate means for irrigation, storage, transportation and processing in many places. The
Green Revolution had increased the agricultural productivity in the states of north-western
India where it was first introduced, but it has also left behind fields with increased salinity
and decreased fertility which has begun to affect the productivity of these areas decades
after the Green Revolution was initiated. The fragmented nature of land holdings in rural
areas has also meant that individual farmers are not able to take adequate measures to
revive agricultural productivity. Against this backdrop, we can analyse the initiative of
various ‘padasekhara samitis’ and cooperative farming endeavours in different parts of
Kerala which are bringing the efforts of different people together to bring fallow land under
cultivation again.
Gupta notes the increasing trend in Rural Non-Farm Employment (RNFE) which shows the
extent to which villagers have become separated from agriculture. Governments have tried
to address the issues of rural areas through interventions like the Mahatma Gandhi National
1
, Villages and Cities in India L😊L
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme or what is called ‘thozhilurappu padhathi’ in order to
provide rural people adequate means of employment within their own villages while also
developing assets for the village community.
With regard to caste, Dipankar Gupta observes that the lower castes are showing a greater
interest in leaving the village to pursue jobs elsewhere if possible. In many places, lower
castes have also gained political and economic power which has enabled them to assert
their identities in a stronger fashion. Though social hierarchies in villages are not as strong
as earlier, they still remain in many places, and therefore the lower castes wish to escape
from the casteist forms of domination which still exist in villages in the country. If provided
alternative employment they therefore prefer to move away from the feudal ties existing
within the agrarian system.
Democratic politics has also provided some lower castes a means to political power, which is
also something mentioned by the sociologist Andre Beteille. At the same time, the politics of
modern India has not given much voice to the needs of rural areas. Early decades after
independence saw some agitations for land reforms and for the rights of the landless
labourers. But the major agrarian movements of the 1980s and 1990s were those of the
landed owner cultivators. In recent periods, there have been greater concerns regarding the
opening up of the Indian farming sector to the global market, which would make Indian
agriculture subject to further fluctuation and competition. The trend of farmer suicides in
various states of India in the past decade – including in places like Wayanad, Vidarbha,
Telengana, Punjab, etc. can be linked to this globalized nature of Indian agriculture in recent
times. In the past few months we have seen a major agitation against the proposed farm
laws put forward by the Narendra Modi government, with farmers from Punjab and
Haryana staging an epic protest which has been going on for months. This includes
proposals which can lead to the creation of a corporatized form of agriculture which will
lead to various monopolies which may benefit large capital but may drive smaller
landowners out of agriculture forever.
Thus in many ways, the pillars of ‘the Indian village’ are being broken down. Agriculture is in
crisis and the rural economy is in distress. The caste system has loosened its hold in many
places. Social and political equations within villages are being changed. All these together
have led to a great cultural transformation in the Indian villages according to Dipankar
Gupta, and our conceptual understanding of villages also needs to change accordingly.
Reference
Gupta, Dipankar. 2005. ‘Whither the Indian Village: Culture and Agriculture in ‘Rural’ India
Economic and Political Weekly 19 February 2005, pp. 751-758
2
VILLAGES, CITIES AND THEIR TRANSFORMATION
The well-known sociologist Dipankar Gupta considers the economic and cultural changes
taking place in the Indian village after the turn of the century. He notes the declining hold of
the caste system in the villages and the increasing tendency of villagers to move out of the
village and go to urban areas in search of jobs.
Dipankar Gupta notes that the Indian village has been depicted as a static, unchanging entity
for a long time, from the time of British administrators who described Indian villages as ‘self-
sufficient village republics’. This notion has been challenged by many social scientists in
recent times. The stereotypical idea of Indian villages was also taken up by Gandhi who
extolled the virtues of ‘gram swarajya’ and wanted the decentralization of power to villages
which he considered as where ‘the soul of India’ resided. At the same time Ambedkar
pointed to the negative sides of the village structure, highlighting the oppressions which
were hidden beneath the apparently placid life of villages. This included the exploitation of
lower castes and women. Most people continued under such a system because they did not
see any other option, not because there was something great in village life per se.
Dipankar Gupta notes that “it is not urbanization that is always the critical factor that is
impacting the village from the outside.” (Gupta 2005: 751) He looks at the changes in the
field of agriculture and the changes in the caste system in order to understand the changes
taking place in the sociological reality of villages in India. With the caste system and
agriculture both weakening, the village itself is facing a “cultural implosion” according to
Gupta.
The lack of productivity in agriculture is seen as a major issue. Indian agriculture is moving
from crisis to crisis. One reason is the lack of application of modern agricultural techniques
and the continuing dependence on the unstable monsoons. Climate change has further
made agriculture very vulnerable. The infrastructure for agriculture is also very poor without
adequate means for irrigation, storage, transportation and processing in many places. The
Green Revolution had increased the agricultural productivity in the states of north-western
India where it was first introduced, but it has also left behind fields with increased salinity
and decreased fertility which has begun to affect the productivity of these areas decades
after the Green Revolution was initiated. The fragmented nature of land holdings in rural
areas has also meant that individual farmers are not able to take adequate measures to
revive agricultural productivity. Against this backdrop, we can analyse the initiative of
various ‘padasekhara samitis’ and cooperative farming endeavours in different parts of
Kerala which are bringing the efforts of different people together to bring fallow land under
cultivation again.
Gupta notes the increasing trend in Rural Non-Farm Employment (RNFE) which shows the
extent to which villagers have become separated from agriculture. Governments have tried
to address the issues of rural areas through interventions like the Mahatma Gandhi National
1
, Villages and Cities in India L😊L
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme or what is called ‘thozhilurappu padhathi’ in order to
provide rural people adequate means of employment within their own villages while also
developing assets for the village community.
With regard to caste, Dipankar Gupta observes that the lower castes are showing a greater
interest in leaving the village to pursue jobs elsewhere if possible. In many places, lower
castes have also gained political and economic power which has enabled them to assert
their identities in a stronger fashion. Though social hierarchies in villages are not as strong
as earlier, they still remain in many places, and therefore the lower castes wish to escape
from the casteist forms of domination which still exist in villages in the country. If provided
alternative employment they therefore prefer to move away from the feudal ties existing
within the agrarian system.
Democratic politics has also provided some lower castes a means to political power, which is
also something mentioned by the sociologist Andre Beteille. At the same time, the politics of
modern India has not given much voice to the needs of rural areas. Early decades after
independence saw some agitations for land reforms and for the rights of the landless
labourers. But the major agrarian movements of the 1980s and 1990s were those of the
landed owner cultivators. In recent periods, there have been greater concerns regarding the
opening up of the Indian farming sector to the global market, which would make Indian
agriculture subject to further fluctuation and competition. The trend of farmer suicides in
various states of India in the past decade – including in places like Wayanad, Vidarbha,
Telengana, Punjab, etc. can be linked to this globalized nature of Indian agriculture in recent
times. In the past few months we have seen a major agitation against the proposed farm
laws put forward by the Narendra Modi government, with farmers from Punjab and
Haryana staging an epic protest which has been going on for months. This includes
proposals which can lead to the creation of a corporatized form of agriculture which will
lead to various monopolies which may benefit large capital but may drive smaller
landowners out of agriculture forever.
Thus in many ways, the pillars of ‘the Indian village’ are being broken down. Agriculture is in
crisis and the rural economy is in distress. The caste system has loosened its hold in many
places. Social and political equations within villages are being changed. All these together
have led to a great cultural transformation in the Indian villages according to Dipankar
Gupta, and our conceptual understanding of villages also needs to change accordingly.
Reference
Gupta, Dipankar. 2005. ‘Whither the Indian Village: Culture and Agriculture in ‘Rural’ India
Economic and Political Weekly 19 February 2005, pp. 751-758
2
