The rural sectors comprise of around 70% in our country, and no mater how many reforms and re- reforms made, there still are no substantial improvement in these sectors while their people’s voice remain unheard, their basic rights remain unheeded, there are no high schools, no private schools, inadequate primary health sub-centers, and no NGOs. Roads, water supply, drainage and communication network are inadequate to augment economic development. Fragmented land holdings are not conducive to commercial farming. Child labor is rampant in these socially backward areas. Population statistics of our country clearly indicate that quality education is out of the reach of the poor and marginalized irrespective of their innate potential. Women are often exploited by their communities. They have very little voice and no knowledge or means of improving their social and economic status. Although many efforts have been made, but they need to focus on the kind of people the rural sector has and theoretical and practical implementations are two opposite contingencies.
One of the popular schemes employed by several NGOs, and supported by some international and bilateral agencies, is the so-called "micro-finance" or small loans that usually range up to Rs. 5,000 per woman to start some form of business. Notable successes have been recorded, and the program has received considerable world attention. However poor women, especially from backward communities and lower castes, are mostly illiterate, untrained, and have very little social and economic status. In India, there are over 350 million such people, mainly in rural areas. The unemployed are nearly 200 million people, a great majority of them belonging to these deprived sections of the society. Without meaningful skills, social status, and economic power, they are unable to do any business on their own even with financial assistance. These rural sectors need to learn few fundamentals like:
o Adequate training in an area where the women have natural abilities and understanding (for example, farming and cattle rearing)
o Use of superior technology to obtain better output and higher profits (modern farming techniques, such as use of proper fertilizers, deep ploughing, drip irrigation, etc.)
o Creation of financial assets through savings (from profits generated from sale of produce, over and above wages received)
o Ownership of physical assets (use of financial assets to purchase cultivable land - ½ acre per family)
o Sharing of resources such as wells, tractor, etc. among several farmers
o Provide a support system that addresses concerns, difficulties, know-how, etc.
o Access to information and markets (knowing what high-value crop to grow and when, which markets offer higher prices on a given day, tie up export contracts, etc.)
In the villages, the caste system is deeply entrenched. The lower caste colonies are ostracized and basic facilities are denied to them. Female infanticide is a common practice and women are punished socially for bearing girl children. Gender biases are very evident in the preferential treatment given to the male child. The average family income level is below the poverty line.
One of the major concerns in these rural sectors is the chauvinism that is still so predominant. While women do all their duties without a single complaint, they are all treated as slaves and there is no basic respect given to them and while the males continue to abuse and treat their wives like some maid whom they have authority to hit, and do anything they want. While women commit suicide due to dowry related issues, torture by in- laws, husbands creating a menace and the list can just go on, there seems to be no improvement as they were, are and will continue to be taken for granted if this problem is not addressed correctly. The first step for this is Education which again is a predominantly neglected issue in villages.
It is shameful to see teachers in villages abusing the students in slangs, they themselves believe in the Dowry system, caste system, what do we expect the students to learn from them and while the teachers are busy sleeping in classes, what knowledge will be imparted to those students? This is not the case in just a few villages, but other than a handful of teachers in the whole of our country, the rest are all stamped by such ridiculous traits.
The educational sector needs to be paid attention in the following manners:
• Educational support to the village schools through donations of library books, school bags and slates
• Monetary donations to construct library rooms in government schools.
• Monetary donations targeting existing government schools for teacher orientation and development.
• Assign additional private teachers to complement government teachers, and monitor school performance.
These changes also demand inculcation of good moral values, and training of teachers who believe in spreading education not only teaching the chapters, but the real education of how to behave responsibly- this lacks in all the schools in the villages. This liberation can be the real liberation as an individual who is “educated.”
Education is the roots to any reform or any revolution for a good cause and once people in the rural sectors educate, the social issues and complications will definitely decrease while everyone lives in harmony and unity, working on the empowerment, on improving the standards and lifestyle than having the politicians breaking their unity and fooling them with fake promises.
When the villagers break the taboo of caste system focusing on staying together irrespective of religion, gender difference and work together, everyone can raise a voice and demand for a better sewage system, street lights, educational standards, communication, and hospitals with cheaper treatment, there should be avenues for alternate sources of income too and employment.
The social issues are the strongest issues since it can’t be solved by just fighting against the society and the evils have been there since ages that just cant be disposed by just one person’s will, but the basic fundamental remains in being open to learning and believing in what is right and this will come only by Education!
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