Essay on “Can Technology Help Indian Villages?” Complete Essay for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Can Technology Help Indian Villages?

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Technology and Rural Life

Essay No. 01

“Go rural”. This is the ‘in’ phrase in the current culture of economic planning and development. The magical code words open many a door of perception but the success in translating the phrase into action depends upon the efficiency of an the strategy to be adopted by the Government. The present effort of decision-makers to give a rural-reorientation to national planning is meant to neutralize the negative impact of large-scale industrialization on the rural sector and promote a healthy self-sustaining village economy. In another sense it means that all our development plans while creating populous cities and giant industrial complexes have not only pauperized a great mass of people but have also conferred benefits to a mere 20 percent of the population.

“Go rural”: That is what the corporate sector too, of late wants to do. It wants to make its weighty contribution to end rural poverty. Not that they are setting up industries in villages. Many of the companies, including a few multinationals, have adopted villages to help them in the construction of roads, getting power supply, digging up wells, providing basic technical facilities, etc. The industrial houses are also scheduled to arrange training in cottage and small industries, farm methods, fertilizer use, dairying, breeding and marketing. A welcome change, indeed, it is in the social attitude of hitherto profit oriented business houses. But they have inducement too to take to rural development.

That as many as nearly 90 companies have become highly interested in the uplift of the rural folks shows that the inducement is substantial, under section 35 CC of the Income Tax Act of 1961. The income tax concession is related not to physical performance but to actual expenditure. An analysis of the programmes of private undertakings in the adopted villages shows that most of them are mainly engaged in laying out roads, digging up wells, training in farming methods, instructing and promoting health care and education. What is urgently required is a permanent system of transferring appropriate technology to the village artisans in order to raise their productivity and production so that a self-sustained economy can be brought about.

But then all companies have a limited role in going rural. The income tax concession is after all for actual expenditure and not for physical performance. At the administrative level, to restore to health the nascent village economy, create employment, end poverty and promote tiny industries, a number of measures, fiscal, financial and operational have been set in motion. In this context it has created only pockets of prosperity in urban centres, the green revolution has benefited a few sections of the people in the rural sector thereby widening the area of socio-economic disparities. The connecting link between the two sectors of affluence is the unity in the adoption of improved technology.

The need of urban industrialization has forced up the demand for marketable surplus of food and other farm produce such as cotton, oil seeds, sugarcane, jute, etc. As a result, both agricultural and rural industries did receive stimulus through flow of credit, irrigation and other technological and economic infrastructures. The improved cultivation of agricultural raw materials through technological innovations while improving the lot of those who could utilize the credit and other fiscal facilities as well as other inputs has helped the peasants and artisans, stepping up the growth rate of the jobless. The rural areas are being used as a hinterland, a source of supply of industrial raw materials and manpower and a market for finished products manufactured in the urban sector.

The ethos of planning so far has been (a) to create some organization of production, distribution and administrative machinery, staff them with urban middle class, and (b) to provide infrastructure such as banking, electricity, irrigation, supply of seeds and fertilizers; all of which cater to the need of the rural upper class. Even the financing of rural industries is in favour of a privileged few. Hence the rural power structure is such that the rich peasantry is in a position to bargain for cheaper inputs higher prices for their produce and monopolise the benefits of improved technology. To what extent technology is a critical factor for rural industrialization and how best it can free the rural landless and artisans from the present conditions to become productive?

The adoption of such technologies will be able to help in providing the rural poor with shelter, clothing, education and health facilities which ultimately will generate labour-intensive self-employment among the village artisans and craftsmen. The idea of transfer of technology to rural artisans means that it should embrace all spheres of rural crafts and trades and take into account not only the level of existing skills, availability of capital, but also the questions relating to cost of production, and geographical and time considerations.

This will mean that the application of appropriate technology to rural crafts and industries must accept the primacy of the needs of the people, pattern of culture, availability of local resources, and human potential. Consequently, the utilization of technology may have to differ from region to region. Though it is true that when technological innovations are introduced in a village the standard of living of the people generally improves, there are several backward areas where the assimilation of modern technology is very slow and gets bogged down. This is in keeping with the distorted nature of national development. So a comprehensive programme to bring about social and economic changes in rural India becomes imperative.

Without input mobilization ability of a larger section of people, modern technology cannot be assimilated. Transfer of appropriate technology cannot be done without any drastic social transformation, for many modern technology inputs require community action. On another level the adoption of appropriate technology should interact with farm production and management and play an important role in spreading the technical know-how to larger areas in order to utilize their average skills. Consequently such a planned effort will have multiplier effects. The whole aim of introduction and development of technology in the rural sector is not only to free the productive forces in the rural sector but also to accelerate the pace of economic development.

Essay No. 02

In What Ways Can Modern Technology Transform Life in Indian Villages?

Villages have always been considered the “Heart and Soul” of India. No wonder, seventy-five per cent of India’s population still lives in villages. But the past few decades have witnessed a radical change—transformation in the scene of an Indian village—in some ways for the better; in other ways for the worse. The main catalyst responsible for this change has been the fast and speedy advent of modern technology in our country. Today, modern technology holds an important place in India in all the developmental fields, viz., scientific, industrial and, of course, agricultural. When we speak of agricultural field, it pertains to Indian villages on the whole. The effect of modern technology on Indian villages has been felt in a very remarkable manner in different spheres of life. Let us see how.

First and foremost, farming is the backbone of Indian villages. Because of modern technology, the methods of farming have been revolutionised. Outdated and obsolete methods of farming have been discarded and new and innovative methods are being widely adopted. The use of tractors and other modern agricultural implements has perfected the art of farming and, in the process, commercialised it to a large extent. The standard of living of an average Indian farmer has risen, and as more and more machines are taking the place of manual work, farmers are encouraged to take up subsidiary occupations, like cattle-breeding, poultry-farming, etc., which are an additional source of income for them. Extensive and intensive cultivation of crops, hybridisation of crops, rotation of crops and the greatly successful “Green Revolution” have presented a better picture of Indian villages to the world.

 Previously, sowing seeds and reaping harvests used to be a labourious task for the Indian farmer. He was entirely at the mercy of nature for rain for his crops. But today modern technology has discovered artificial irrigation methods like tube wells, canals, dams, etc., which prove a boon to the farmers in times of crises. Also, better quality seeds and fertilisers are yet another result of modern technology which have successfully led India on the path of self-sufficiency in foodgrains. India today is proud exporter of foodgrains in contrast to being an importer country when she attained freedom in 1947. These seeds and fertilisers yield crops in greater quantity and the government sees to it that they are produced on mass scale and are sold at reasonable rates so that a majority of villagers can be the beneficiaries and can procure them to obtain a good harvest and income.

Darkness ruled supreme in villages until a few decades ago. But with modern inventions and low production costs, electricity has been provided to many villages. Electronic goods were a far-off dream in Indian villages. Today some of the Indian villages have Television Transmission Relay Centers. Communication, too, has touched new heights in Indian villages. Roadways have improved many villages. Most of them are now linked directly with cities and towns by means of railways. In olden times, an Indian villager was satisfied with bullock-cart as the sole means of transport. But with the passing of time, Indian villages have been exposed to the outside world and today it is a common sight to see sophisticated means of transport, like buses, trucks and even cars plying on village roads. Post and Telegraph system too has, acquired new dimensions in villages.

But there are certain aspects of modern technology which have had adverse effects on the life of people in Indian villages: Modern technology has given birth to machine-operated jobs in cities which offer attractive remuneration and other facilities. So most of the male population of villages has fast increased in cities and their family ties with members of their families back in the villages are fast losing ground. A typical Indian village is no longer a self-sufficient unit. This is largely due to modern inventions, and innovations and production of modern sophisticated macilines which manufacture from the smallest sewing needle to the giant-size fighter-aeroplane in our own country. As a result, the craftsmen and artisans in villages are thrown out of employment. Also in some villages, modern implements of farming are beyond the reach of many poor farmers, which leads to an inequitable distribution of wealth, even in villages.

Nevertheless, when we weigh the pros and cons of influence of modern technology on Indian villages, we find that it has definitely transformed life in Indian villages. Greater and diverse horizons of modern technology have helped to put Indian villages on a strong footing–economically, socially and politically. An Indian villager today has greater hopes and aspirations in life, as he is more educated than his counterpart in older generations. Literacy has taken roots in many villages which makes them eager to experiment with new and contemporary methods of farming and other occupations.

 India is a land of villages, and she is proud to be one because no stone has been left unturned to herald and usher in new realms of modern technology in Indian villages to transform rural life for betterment and upliftment of masses. No doubt, the Indian villager of the 20th century is much better-off than his counterpart in the 17th or the 18th centuries.