Tagore's View On Rural Development

And Its Applicability In Today’s World

Introduction

Tagore once said, his father was “a poet who was an indefatigable man of action” and “his
greatest poem is the life he has lived”. Rural reconstruction work that Rabindranath
considered as his ‘life’s work.

Rabindranath Tagore’s unique venture on rural reconstruction at Silaidaha-Patisar

and at Sriniketan was a pioneering work carried out by him with the motto of the
wholesome development of the community life of village people through education,
training, healthcare, sanitation, modern and scientific agricultural production, revival
of traditional arts and crafts and organizing fairs and festivities in daily life.
Tagore’s Vision

★ During Tagore’s lifetime, rural India was far more backward.

★ Acc. to Tagore - Rural development should be the starting point of development in India.

★ He started his development programme from within the rural Bengal.

★ His economic thought was originated from Raja Rammohan Roy(founder of Brahma Samaj),

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Prem Chand Lal, and Leonard K. Elmhirst,etc.

★ The primary objective of Tagore was to make that village self-sufficient in the proper sense of

the term which would establish itself as a model village.

★ According to him, each and every human being possesses strength, power, courage and

capabilities. It is only necessary to revive and reconstruct them.

★ He drew up a complete plan of rural reconstruction and gave it a practical trial initially at

Shelaidaha and later at the neighbouring villages of Bolpur.

Relevance In Current Era

As Rabindranath Tagore used to think -

★ Education, employment and self-sufficiency will carry us towards advancement.

★ And one day this rural lifestyle will merge into the integrated process of
development with their own characteristic features along with their acquired
modern and scientific techniques.
★ In many ways, the rural areas have benefited from the developments in science and
technology indirectly as well as directly.
★ Technology for rural areas is usually aimed at -
○ creating gainful employment
○ recycling wastes to create value-added products
○ human welfare through better housing
○ drinking water, sanitation
○ elimination of drudgery
○ promotion of non-conventional energy and decentralised techno-economic systems
particularly for remote areas.
★ Community participation is also critical, for -
○ achieving rural growth and progress in communication, education and health
○ transforming socioeconomic life through sustainable rural development in India, through a
process of integral cultural change
○ sensitizing communities about the environment, sustainable rural development, and building
capacities for preservation and conservation of environment
○ creating awareness and support infrastructure to tackle pollution, wastewater management,
water management, and soil health
Conclusion

Tagore’s model of rural reconstruction is the torch-bearer of so many projects in

independent India.

He believed that - through self-help, self-initiation and self-reliance, village

people will be able to help each other in their cooperative living and become able
to prepare the groundwork for building the nation as an independent country in
the true sense.