RURALISATION: A STEP TOWARDS BALANCED GROWTH

Abstract

Though much of Indian society is understood through village studies, like institutions, structures and functioning patterns, much of the studies have been towards urban related issues. Even though, much of the urban process is the replica of urbanization in the already developed or western societies, answers for our social problems are not being seen from the Indian structural point of view. The diversity, vastness and numerical strength has reside in villages with voluminous knowledge systems rural studies in India have not gone beyond descriptive understanding. All disciplines have gone from macro to micro, but sociological understanding has not gone beyond in case of Rural Studies. Sustainable Ruralisation is the manthra for the balanced growth. The key of rapid urbanization in the country are basic amenities and livelihood opportunities. In one hand amenities and livelihood boosted urban settlement, on the other hand lack of livelihood opportunities in the country side changed the picture of rural as well as urban settlement. The rural population decreased from 72.19% to 68.84% between 2001 and 2011 censes. The Country needs ruralisation not only for the sake of equality but also for the sustainable development. If all urban amenities are provided to the rural area, the rural scenario could be different. Lack of livelihood opportunities at villages are the major force of rural-urban migration. A good amount of Sociologists studied rural to urban migration. But we have failed to focus on reverse order i.e. Urban To Rural Migration?. Villages are having enough opportunities to showcase themselves and attract urban people. Eco-Tourism, Agri-Tourism, Rural-Tourism etc. which exist in western countries are the few examples. If villages in western countries can attract urban people, why can?t Indian villages? This is an exploratory study of my PhD proposal and the ideas are still in the infant stage. The article is not only going to focus on realistic rural scenario but also tries to focus on Ruralisation? in a different way