India is an emerging world leader making every possible effort to identify its key resources. Strategies aimed at optimum utilization of every resource are being formulated. The visionary Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, set a unique goal for the people - development and sustainable growth through comprehensive development and growth of villages.
The architect of Indian Constitution, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, successfully managed to incorporate all necessary provisions for the purpose in the preamble of our Constitution, Sardar Vallabhai Patel molded the required territorial fabric, and our first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, set the country well on the desired track. India is confidently marching towards the coveted goal.
India’s effective management of the ongoing global financial crisis has been admirable and as a result, its inbuilt strength and depth of democracy has acquired international acclaim. Having learnt lessons from within India and elsewhere, it shall be our endeavor to identify and enrich all our resources so as to address any sort of emerging challenges. Nature’s gifts for us are unparalleled. No stone shall be left unturned to identify the resources in a systematically planned and effectively coordinated manner. It should be targeted at enabling and empowering the rural folk to progress up to, on par with and even faster than, those in other countries.
Our system of education was not originally engraved in the backdrop of Indian realities. Had it been indigenously shaped, India would have already been placed first among nations. Here we find the need for tools to enlighten, strengthen and guide rural India and the nation at large, instituting grass root-oriented rural universities. Using education as an instrument of social as well as economic advancement, rural India has to be strengthened in a holistic manner.
The lifeline of Indian democracy and economy is in rural India. There we find ample virgin resources, both human and material. Universities should come in to being, targeting at giving an academic face to all socio-cultural-economic grass-root level programmes and projects, ongoing as also emerging. The living conditions and general welfare of the poor, particularly tribal, those who are financially, physically, socially and educationally backward etc, deserve immediate attention. The focus has to be on bridging the gap between the haves and have-nots. Quality, productivity, and living standards of all, with a thrust to those belonging to the lowest strata of the society, need early upgradation.
A rural university can legitimately overcome the built-in barriers of conservative education system. Its areas of operation are not confined to class rooms or lab-based studies and researches. Research and documentation for upgrading the ground realities, facilitating involvement of real-time beneficiaries, has to be taken up. All the local skills and other resources should be systematically identified and properly documented. It needs to be creatively analyzed, pragmatically classified and scientifically codified by experts. Enrichment of villages, not disturbing the tranquility and healthy co-existence, should be set as a goal.
Knowledge and training should be imparted so as to pave the way for having certified skills at different levels. The university should produce certified carpenters, certified masons, certified plumbers, certified electricians, certified bee-keepers, certified agricultural workers, certified farmers, certified entrepreneurs and the like. There could have supervisory level certificate/ diploma/ degree programs for senior level personnel as well. Research programs could be taken up at the highest level so as to guide and enlighten the whole scenario. The farmers and other skilled laborers in respective fields could be assisted by professors and other co-researchers to streamline, document and publicize their findings, based on ground experiences.
The unique customs and practices of the rural people in the region could be traced out and preserved or improved upon, in the ultimate interests of the Nation. The exceptional knowledge with the doyens in the tribes and Illoms (ancestral houses of Acharyas or Gurus) could be traced out and codified or modified. The different species of plants, herbs, wild life, birds and insects, as well as rich natural resources here, not identified or seen in any other part of the world could be subjected to in-depth studies and researches.
This could help the Nation in protecting the interests of patenting of our own resources, produces, products and practices. Rural universities can go a long way in the quick transformation of the rural India in to a role model for the entire world.
Probable Partners for such Rural Universities could include:
Cochin University of Science and Technology, Agricultural Universities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Central Social Welfare Board, Ministry of Science and Technology, Department of Science And Technology, Co-operative Development Foundation, Council for Advancement of Peoples Action and Rural Technology, Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), Department of Forestry, Department of Rural Development, District Rural Development Agencies, Gandhi Gram Trust, Housing and Urban Development Co-operation, Hunger Project India, Indian Council for Agricultural Research, Indian Council for Social Sciences Research, M.S. Swami Nathan Research Foundation, Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, National Commission for Women, National Council for Rural Institutes, National Waste Land Development Board, United Nations International Children Emergency Fund, United Nations Fund for Population Activities, Commission for Backward Classes, Women’s Commission, Commissions for Persons With Disabilities, ,Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Biotechnology, Agency for Development of Aqua Culture (ADAK), Agency for Non Conventional Energy And Rural Technology, Hill Area Development Societies, Centre for Development Studies, Centre for Earth Science Studies, Centre for Water Resources Development and Management, Energy Management Centre, Institute of Land Management, Council for Historical Research, Folklore Academy, Institute of Labor and Employment, Rural Development and Marketing Societies, Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agencies, State Social Welfare Advisory Boards, State Youth Welfare Boards, Sports Authority of India, State Sports Councils, Peoples’ Action for Development, State Councils for Education Research and Training, State Institutes for Rural Development, Botanical gardens, Agro Industries Co-operations, Forest Development Corporations, Land Development Corporations, Livestock Development Boards, Backward Classes Development Corporations, Development Corporation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, State Horticultural Products Development Corporations, State Handicapped Persons Welfare Corporations, and Tourism Development Corporations.
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—About our writer:
Joseph has been a journalist since 1967. He has worked with a Malayalam daily, an English daily, an International News Agency, All India Radio and Doordarsan. He is also a columnist, academic planner/ administrator, consultant for professional colleges, founder/administrator of several projects including HIV/AIDS projects, teen-age care projects and more.
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