Opinion Village life

Disputes over property have increased,both within and between families. The age-old system of dispute settlement locally,under the wise guidance village elders has almost broken down. Respect for elders has weakened within families and,more so,at the village level. With the craze for easy money rising,honesty and scruples are vanishing. ‘Muh mein Ram,bagal mein churi’ (A honeyed tongue,but a hand ready to stab in the back)—such conduct is not uncommon. Ostentatious lifestyle is driving away happiness from wealthy families. Then,in an observation that recalled to my mind Bhutan’s concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH),which counters India’s current one-sided obsession with GDP growth,my cousin said,“In the past,our people were poorer but happier. Prosperity has come at the cost of our traditional ethos of cooperation,mutual care and tolerance.”

The get-rich-quick tendency is most pronounced among government employees. For example,after the devastating floods in Satti and other nearby riverfront villages in 2005,the government sanctioned a big relief package. But most of the aid,in money and in kind,was stolen by employees of the revenue department. “How is NREGA functioning?.” I ask. “Corruption is rampant. Authorities in charge of the scheme put fake thumb prints and pocket the money.”

Satti has five qualified doctors—only one,attached to the local PHC,is an MBBS graduate; the rest are Ayurvedic degree-holders. However,it has as many as eight non-qualified doctors. This shows that the National Rural Health Mission,and also our medical education system,must attach a higher priority to the Indian systems of medicine. Non-qualified healthcare providers must be trained and brought into the mainstream,instead of being dismissed as ‘quacks’. The newly arrived prosperity in Satti has one welcome feature. It can be seen even among the Scheduled Castes,who are slowly becoming a part of the social mainstream. Untouchability is now history. Sadly,economic growth has a very weak alignment with social development. Satti’s 13,000 people have at least 2,000 motor-cycles and 6,000-7,000 mobile phones. Still,open defecation is common since only about 20 per cent households have toilets—a microcosmic reality that validates the shaming finding of a recent UN study that far more Indians have access to a mobile phone than to a toilet. “Civic sense in our village has become weak,” my cousin said. “In the past,it was common for families to keep the street in front of their homes clean. Now people are shy of being seen with a broom in their hands. ‘Street-cleaning is the panchayat’s job. Why should we do it?’ Such is their mentality now.”

My cousin placed the most blame at the doorsteps of educated and nouveau riche families. “They are the most individualistic and least cooperative. Their young men show less respect to womenfolk and elders,which was unthinkable in the past. Their language is lewd,and their behaviour arrogant. They have less samskaar (good upbringing). In contrast,the uneducated are more humane,honest,helpful and unselfish. Also,Muslims have less vices because they are more strictly religious-minded.” I don’t know how or why,my cousin bemoaned,“but I find that our education system has brought darkness and disintegration into our village life.”

I try to understand Padmanabh’s last comment in the light of Joseph Lelyveld’s superbly written new book Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India,which I am currently reading. The book has received publicity for wrong reasons. Its chief message,which holds immense relevance for the ongoing debate on the nature of our national development,is contained in that part of its title which alludes to the Mahatma’s ‘struggle with India.’ Much of what Gandhiji stood for—economic growth with ethics and simplicity,politics with probity,governance as service,value-based education,dignity of labour,constructive activities with focus on people’s basic needs such as sanitation…in short,India’s civilisational renaissance—has been rejected or neglected by the current mode of ‘development’. We have stopped paying even lip service to the ‘Father of the Nation’. The message I read in my cousin’s account of my village,and in Lelyveld’s account of Gandhiji,is that India is doomed unless it re-rediscovers its Mahatma.