Category: Rural India

Farmers are agitating over their farm lands being taken over by big companies.With the active or passive collusion of the state governments. India is set to see radical changes in its rural landscape.The new national highways are all already changing the  contours of the countryside.Even in Bengal where the current agitations  against  takeover of the…

Rural India is still a holy cow! There is no unemployment in the villages! Rural realities no one speaks out! We live in the village. We are engaged in farming. Is this enough to convey the truths about Indian villages as they are evolving today? It seems rural India is a holy cow! Yes, when…

Our own insurance companies haven’t risen up to current demands! It is a question of leadership at the top. The government has announced in April a national rural health ` mission. Fine. But then the status of healthcare, the allocations in the budget, the share in the GDP are scandalously low. Now, what are the…

They talk of rural India. We listen! This government is seen progressively as groping in the dark for policies. To tackle several important segment of issues. one is rural India. Agriculture and rural India’s development are interlinked. So too, the many new institutions, Panchayat Raj in particular for rural India’s transformation. So, what have we…

Let us work for a new Indian rural heritage! Our age-old countryside needs a new vision. Copious rains this time! Two tractors are ploughing! There are now enough tractors in the neighbourhood. Why, our farm manager is now sporting a mobile phone! So, prosperity is back in the villages? Yes, such is the  more optimistic…

Time to have some candid criticisms! Govts, banks can succeed in villages only working through NGOs,SHGs and even panchayats. NGOs are very much part of any development. More so in India with its myriad problems. Even more pointedly society development where a host of intractable problems persist and defy easy solutions. Poverty, illiteracy, healthcare, social…

What defines rural India? An invitation from my English hostess is waiting for me to pay a visit to her country house in northern England of Cumberland country. This is very much near the Lake District made famous by Wordsworth. My hostess, Mrs.Dikcenson, had been our family friend ever since I was a student at…

In 10 years India will have the best mass health programme Mr.Devi Shetty, Founder, Narayana Hrudayalaya says “If I had a choice, I would only treat poor patients, but economic realities do not permit that. But here is Dr.Sudarshan, using his place in the policy-making process to harness available resources for productive, effective delivery of…