The Gurgaon Experiment

Mr. Brayne was posted as Deputy Commissioner of Gurgaon district in 1920. He was moved
at the uncertainty of rainfall, abject poverty, filthy dwellings, ill-health, ignorance,
illiteracy of the rural people. With a view to improve the living conditions of the rural people
living in Gurgaon district he ivolved a new technique of village development called the
"Gurgaon Scheme." This was, in other words the practical application of the principle that
the central figure, viz., the villager himself must be made to take greater interest in himself
and in his village before any results can be achieved ; and the Government agencies should
do more to combine and co-ordinate their activities in order to assist, help and guide him.
The Gurgaon Scheme claimed to deal with the whole life and the activity of the peasant and
the family and to present the complete remedy from the terrible conditions in which he
lived.

Development work under Gurgaon Scheme

Institutional Social-Health Association-Women's Institution

Sanitation Latrine, Urinals, Drinking Water

Agricultural Development Model farms-improved seeds and implements-

preventive measures-co- -operative farming

Education School Teacher as the centre of activity

Co-operation Co-operation in all activities

Social Reforms Prohibition of child marriages-education of girls-thrift-

reducing litigation, combining indebtedness.

According to Mr. Brayne, "our object in Gurgaon has been to jerk the villager out of his old
groove, convince him that improvement is possible, and kill his fatalism by demonstrating
that both climate, disease and pests can be successfully fought. He must be laughed out of
his uneconomic and unhealthy customs, and taught better ways of living and farming.
Further the secrets of our success were to deal with the whole of village life, to take the
whole district as the field of operations and to deluge the areas with every form of
propaganda and publicity that we could devise of adopt or afford. Uplift is a mass
movement, a combined assault, and no area, no part of the life and no method of attack
can be neglected."

The developmental work was taken up under Gurgaon scheme under these sub-heads:

1. Institutional work comprised in the setting up of:

a. School of rural economy to train guides for the rural uplift-The school managed a farm
of 51 acres on long lease for the purpose of providing practical training to the students. The
curriculum of the studies including scouting, co-operation, practical agriculture, first aid,
infant welfare, public health, domestic hygiene and sanitation, stock breeding and
elementary veterinary training. The students were exposed to qualify in the examination in
first aid, and co-operation and special test in all the other subjects. Those who qualified in
this test were appointed as village guides. The village guides were entrusted with these
duties:

i. Development of co-operation

ii. Public health work, collecting list for, preparing people for vaccinators' visit
iii. Cleaning of villages by digging of manure pits, putting in of windows, ventilators etc. in
the houses

iv. Agricultural demonstration and sale of improved ploughs and other implements,
improved seeds, Persian wheel etc.

b. Domestic school of Economics to uplift village women. The curriculum of studies in the
domestic school included reading and writing up to primary standard, in the case of illiterate
women, and some instructions in sewing, knitting and making clothes, embroidery work, toy
making, cooking, hygiene, sanitation, first aid and child welfare, etc.

c. Health Association to promote public health

d. Women's Institution to manage the ladies' garden in Gurgaon and also to organize games
and magic lantern shows for the women and first-aid classes.

2. Rural Sanitation Work: with a view to improve living conditions in the villages by using
manure pits as latrines and preserving sweepings, rubbish and dung in properly dug pits.
Efforts were also initiated to fight epidemics like small-pox, plague and cholera.

3. Agricultural Development Programme: The programme was launched to exhort farmers

to set up model farms, use improved seeds, adopt Gurgaon plough and other iproved
implements; use preventive measures against crop pest, killing of field rats and monkeys
and drawing out other harmful insects by keeping lanterns in the fields. The programme also
emphasized on the consolidation of fragmented land holding on co-operative basis. The
principal objective of this programme aimed at increasing yield per hectare, so that the
farmer gets a fair return on his efforts.

4. Education: Under the scheme, the school teacher was mad the center of all development
activities in the village. Mr. Brayne emphatically stated "The village school teacher with his
school library, his night school and his scouts must be the center of uplift and culture and
he must be so trained that he can solve all the simple problems of the villager, whether
they are of agriculture, social or moral or relate to public health."

5. Co-operation: Co-operation was given special thrust as the cornerstone of reconstruction

of rural areas. Everyone will extend whole-heartedly co-operation in the development of
the village economy.

6. Social Reforms: Mr. Brayne had also realized that any process of economic development
should run concurrent with speedy social reformers, social reformers were aimed at:

a. Prohibition of child marriages

b. Education of girls in the mixed schools

c. Abolition of Veil system

d. Curtailment of ceremonial expenditure

e. Introduction of marriage registers by which litigation in family disputes is very much less
ended

f. Propaganda against injuries litigation

g. Combating indebtedness

The Gurgaon scheme may be described as a judicious combination of the villagers' own
efforts with the activities of the nation building departments. It marked a definite departure
in the technique of village improvement. The programme at Gurgaon awaken the people
and the Government to the vital problem of village reconstruction.

Mr. Brayne himself realized that "Good Work, excellent work is going on all over the Punjab.
You can travel all day and find nothing that offends either eyes or nose. Village after village
and zail after zail have been turn into models of new life. Marvelous changes have been
made and there is a feeling of life and movement in the air. Have we found the incentive
the? Will this work last and spread? Alhas no ! This work is not being done by villagers
determined to leave a better life but by villagers determine to please their district officers.
A good enough motive in its way but not the motto we are looking for. There is no
permanence about this kind of work. What if the district officer's attention is diverted
elsewhere, or he want something different does, or in a different series of villages? "