Discussion on rural health and Agricultural problem on the third day of faculty enhancement workshop - Faculty Enhancement Workshop – DAY: 3
Wardha, 21 March 2018
Wardha: Discussion on
rural health and Agricultural problem on the third day of faculty enhancement
workshop
The first discussion
session of the third day of the Faculty Enhancement Workshop in seven-day rural
participation under the joint working of Mahatma Gandhi Fuji Guruji Social Work
Study Center and National Rural Institute Council, Hyderabad, Mahatma Gandhi
International Hindi University Gandhi Gram Rural Institute on the topic 'Need
of Linking' Professor of Agroindus, Wardha, T. Karunakaran, Vice Chancellor of
Chitrakoot University, Linandu, Uttar Pradesh. T. Karunakaran said that there
is a deep interrelation between education and society. The present system of
education has become bookish. In our ancient India, like Nalanda University, the
world of education, used to be famous. In the Gurukul method of old time self
education was given in the proximity of Guru of education. The University of
Nalanda had a serious connection to the society and the university was
dependent on society.
Rabindranath Tagore made the Santiniketan University during the independence movement;
there was Sriniketan, which was connected to the rural community. Who is very
disciple, Ramchandran had further developed as 'Gandhi Gram Rural University'.
He said that the existing universities of the country are going through a very
bad phase. The university is the center of knowledge this knowledge should have
a role in the development of society-change.
Tagore and Gandhi tried
to establish a synergy between education and society. Gandhi's basic education
system is the best model of education. Education should be both practical and
experimental. Proper synergy between theory and practice is essential.
He discussed Tagore, Gandhi as well as the education model of Chitrakoot
University of Uttar Pradesh. He also underlined the need for synergy between
idealism and behaviorism. He emphasized that the education should be the role
of the schools in changing the current situation. He said that there are
millions of Gram Panchayats in India. But people of Gram Panchayats do not have
any proper information. There is no arrangement for training Panchayat
representatives. Universities can have a role in this work. Universities can be
a major contributor in liberalizing the society from criminalization and
meaningful solutions to social challenges. He said that teachers must move
towards creative work.
At the end of the session, the participants also kept their curiosity, which
was resolved by the subject specialist. The session was conducted by Dr.
Mithilesh Kumar and thanks to the NCN's D.N. Das did.
Mahatma Gandhi
Institute of Medical Science, Department of Medicine, Prof. Addressing the
discussion session on 'Community Empowerment: System and Techniques', Pradip
Deshmukh said that community empowerment is the most popular word. Community
empowerment can be done only by establishing an interconnection with the
community. While identifying the needs of the community, it must be resolved on
priority basis. The goal of community empowerment can be reached through
meaningful engagement with the community. In the process of community
empowerment, it is important to keep in mind that all types of powers are
essentially transferred to the community. They also discussed a wide range of
PRA procedures.
In the discussion
session on the third day after the lunch, Dr. Vikas Jambhallar, Assistant
Professor of Political Science Department of National Saint Tukdoji Maharaj
University, Nagpur, while speaking about the topic 'Policy Planning in India',
said that urban and rural planning in India is different, bureaucracy has a
prime role in the whole process of planning, and there is a different way of
thinking about bureaucracy. In planning, the university has become a center for
preparing workers as per market needs.
He said that the Prime Minister's Housing Scheme is going on since 2016.
Earlier, the Indira Awaas Yojana was on the scheme. For the rural area, the
amount of Rs.1,20,000 is being given for housing. One lakh thirty thousand
rupees are given for inaccessible area. In this scheme, there is a plan to
provide training to the artisans who make 20 thousand houses by 2022.
Similarly, for the year 2017-18, a provision of 48 thousand crore has been made
in MNREGA scheme. Under the scheme, concrete roads have been constructed, the
village has been linked to the nearest main road. The government has also
started an app called 'My road' which can be filed on the complaint. He has
given a detailed discussion of the many important plans being run at the national
level, his fixed target, the amount allocated for the plan, etc. He said that
only 83 thousand people could be tested against 2 lakh targets of Deendayal
Upadhyaya Rural Skill Development Scheme. And only 40,000 of these jobs have
been given jobs. He also discussed the politics behind the creation of the
schemes and said that the target group is not a representation in the
construction of the schemes, it is a huge reduction.
In the last discussion
session of the third day, the talk of agricultural change in India by Avinash
Kakade, the farmer movement of Vidarbha and the renowned farmer leader Avinash
Kakra, associated with the Sarva Seva Sangh. He said that the agricultural
change will have to be seen at a higher level. We have to understand the attitude
of society to see agriculture. The process of Indian agriculture has affected
the caste, class, and globalization of today. The task of bringing the problems
of the Indian agricultural system to the government was first organized by
Jyotiba Phule in the 18th century. The problems that he had told in his book,
'Kisan Ka Koda', are still unanswered.
There has not been any significant changes in agriculture since 1930. At that
time, the production of agricultural production was done on the basis of the
same year, the year in which the crop was good. Agrarian issues were associated
with movements, such as the movement of Neil Farming. The special role of many
such issues has been in the freedom movement. He further said that during the
British period, the British had created a class like Patil, Kulkarni and
Deshpande for their arrangement but after the independence, the 'Lagaan' system
was closed after which the farmers were given 50% share to the government.
He further said that 99% out of hundred farmers are ignorant of their
profession in the peasants. Because of this, they have been exploited largely.
Following Independence governments carried out the following activities for
agricultural reform- Landmark eradication law, sealing law, efforts to increase
agricultural production in the country, etc. Several important works were done.
The central and state governments did many things about all these issues, but
things like population control were spared. As much as we are producing today,
it would have been enough if we had focused on basic things like education. As
a result, the burden of such a large population started falling on agriculture
and the land started splitting in small pieces. 80 percent of the cultivators
became transformed into other land holders. A survey of 2011 shows that 39 per
cent of the villages have no land left. After independence, we took 4 per cent
of the irrigation to 40 per cent. 8 million hectares of irrigation and large
dams and 12 million hectares of land can be cultivated but for safe farming,
there should be at least 50 to 60 percent irrigated. In this way, our goal
should be to expanded to the Arrival Area. Arrivals of 75 lakh hectares of land
were targeted by the central government and only 10-12 lakh hectares have been
reached.
In the end, he said
that when we think that who is responsible for it then we have to look at
ourselves. Farmers of no education will not understand what we have to do.
What's going on with us? Only proper education can awaken their conscience. Only
then they will be aware of their rights. He said that India's development is
not possible without the development of agriculture. India's first two – five year
plans have been related to agriculture. Prior to the '80s, people preferred
over farming. But today the situation is becoming such that people are ready to
work for peonies by selling the farm. He mentioned the movement of farmers in
India before Independence. They discussed the contributions of Mahatma Phule,
Mahatma Gandhi and other leaders. He also elaborated the steps taken in the
interest of the farmers after independence. After the independence farmers'
wages were waived. In the past, the British used to levy rent from the farmers
on a large scale. He said that the farmers are still illiterate about their
business, the market. Farmers are drowning in debt today. Even in the East,
farmers used to lose their land after drowning in debt of Mahajan. Today they
are constrained to commit suicide.
He said that the land should be of the same as the work of agriculture. Vinoba received
42 lakh acres of land, but more than half of it was not cultivated. Only 12
lakh acres of land has been distributed. The government made the sealing act;
the fajil land from sealing could be distributed to the farmers only to a
certain extent. The absence of necessary irrigation system for agriculture in
India remains the same. Most of the farming here is dependent on monsoon. 1200
lakh hectares of land is uneven, whereas the target of the government is to
irrigate only 75 lakh hectares, which is less than 10 percent. This session was
conducted by Dr. Mukesh Kumar and the memorandum was given by Dr. Mithilesh
Kumar.