Sriniketan Experiment Impact:
Rabindranath Tagore, a famous poet, witnessed the ● Introduced new farming techniques and skills.
poverty and hardship of farmers in East Bengal. He ● Promoted self-reliance and cooperation among
dreamt of improving their lives and making villages self- villagers.
sufficient and dignified. To achieve this, he started the ● Empowered women through education and
Sriniketan experiment in 1920, with the help of a British economic opportunities.
expert named Leonard Elmhirst.
Goals of Sriniketan Experiment: The Gurgaon Experiment
● Befriend villagers: Understand their problems
The Problem: In 1920, F.L. Brayne witnessed the
and work together to solve them.
struggles of rural communities in Gurgaon. People faced
● Learn by doing: Students got practical
poverty, poor health, and limited opportunities.
experience in farming, crafts, and other skills
needed to run a village. The Dream: Brayne envisioned a better future for these
● Science meets tradition: Combine modern villages – increased crop production, improved health,
knowledge with traditional practices for better and educated women.
results.
● Self-reliance: Train villagers to be self-sufficient The Plan (The Gurgaon Scheme):
in food, clothing, and other necessities.
● Cooperation: Encourage villagers to work ● Spreading Knowledge: Village guides were
together for the common good. trained to share information on better farming
methods, health practices, and women's
Key Activities: education.
● Demonstration farms: Showcased new farming ● Improved Farming: New seeds, tools, and
methods and trained villagers. techniques were introduced to boost harvests.
● Training in various crafts: Carpentry, weaving, ● Focus on Health: Health centers were
pottery, etc. to create additional income. established to provide medical care to villagers.
● Animal husbandry: Dairy, poultry, and ● Women's Empowerment: Training programs
beekeeping to improve nutrition and income. focused on women's education and skills
● Cooperative movement: "Dharmagola" - a development.
community rice bank where villagers could store
and borrow grain during tough times. Challenges:
● Women's empowerment: Mahila Samities
focused on women's education, health, and ● Limited Expertise: Village guides lacked
economic participation. technical knowledge, limiting the effectiveness of
the program.
Challenges: ● Lack of Ownership: Villagers weren't involved
in planning, so the project struggled to continue
● Limited government support hindered expansion. after Brayne's departure.
● Lack of research limited program development. ● Imposed Solutions: People weren't
encouraged to participate actively, hindering
long-term success. supported, making it difficult to sustain the
program.
The Marthandam Experiment
Baroda Experiment
When and Where: In 1921, Dr. Spencer Hatch, an
American expert, started a project in Marthandam, India,
Overview:
to improve village life.
● Year: 1932
The Goal: Make villages better in all aspects:
● Location: Baroda state (present day Vadodara,
● Spirituality: Strengthen religious values and Gujarat)
practices. ● Initiator: V.T. Krishnachari, Dewan of Baroda
● Mind: Improve education and knowledge. ● Goal: Rural reconstruction and development
● Body: Focus on health and well-being.
Key Aspects:
● Society: Build strong communities.
● Economy: Create better opportunities to earn a
● Comprehensive Approach: Aimed to improve
living.
various aspects of rural life, not just agriculture
(education, infrastructure, etc.).
What they did:
● Improved Living Standards: Uplifting the
● Model Center: Established a central location quality of life for villagers.
with: ● Self-Reliance: Encouraging villagers to be self-
○ Improved breeds of animals (cows, sufficient.
goats)
Implementation:
○ Beehives for honey production
○ Demonstration plots for better crops
● Pilot Project: Began in Kosamba villages.
○ Training in weaving and other crafts
● Development Committees: Village-level
○ Tools and equipment for learning new
committees with officials and villagers for
skills
planning and execution.
● Self-help and cooperation: Encouraged
● State Rural Welfare Board: Provided guidance
villagers to work together and solve problems on
and oversight at the state level.
their own.
Specific Initiatives:
Success Stories:
● Promoting Cottage Industries: Programs
● Egg-selling Club: Villagers formed a self-
focused on income generation through activities
governing club to sell eggs efficiently.
like gardening, poultry, beekeeping, spinning,
● Honey Cooperative: Learned modern
and weaving.
beekeeping methods and sold honey together.
● Revitalizing Panchayats: Strengthening
traditional village councils for better governance.
Challenges:
● Adult Education: Expanding educational
● Limited Money: The project didn't have opportunities for adults.
enough funding to continue long-term.
● No Government Support: The government
didn't provide much help.
● Reliance on one person: The project
depended heavily on Dr. Hatch's leadership.
● Volunteer Issue: Volunteers weren't financially
Firka Development Scheme Etawah Pilot Project
Origin: Origin (1948):
● Launched in 1946 by T. Prakasam in Madras ● Initiated by Albert Mayer (American engineer) in
state (present-day Tamil Nadu). Etawah district, Uttar Pradesh, India.
● Supported by the U.S. Point Four Program and
Goals: the Government of Uttar Pradesh.
● Comprehensive Rural Development: Address Goals:
various rural issues, not just agriculture.
(education, economy, sanitation) ● Develop methods for rural development to
● Self-Sufficiency: Make villages self-sufficient in improve living standards.
basic needs. (food, clothing, shelter) ● Promote self-reliance through cooperatives and
● Gram Swaraj: Aligned with Gandhi's vision of community participation.
village self-governance. ● Test the project's scalability for wider
application.
Implementation:
Key Features:
● Focus: Firkas (administrative divisions) served
as development units. ● Focus on local resources: Utilized existing
● Phased Rollout: Started in 34 Firkas, then resources and knowledge for development.
expanded to 50 more. ● Multi-purpose village workers (VLWs):
● Decentralized Management: Introduced village-level workers to provide on-
○ Collectors oversaw districts. ground guidance and support.
○ Gram Sewaks supervised village groups ● Practical solutions: Prioritized solutions that
within each Firka. villagers could readily implement and maintain.
○ Collaboration between officials and
non-governmental agencies.
Activities:
● Improved agricultural practices: Introduced
Key Areas:
better seeds, fertilizers, and implements.
● Infrastructure: Improved roads, ● Animal husbandry projects: Promoted livestock
communication, water supply. health and productivity.
● Governance: Strengthened Panchayats ● Infrastructure development: Improved roads,
(village councils). water supply, and drainage.
● Agriculture: Increased food production, ● Social development initiatives: Adult literacy
irrigation, livestock improvements. programs, farmer training, and community
● Cottage Industries: Promoted engagement activities.
self-employment through crafts like handloom
weaving. Impact:
● Increased agricultural production, particularly in
wheat.
● Improved living standards and infrastructure in
participating villages.
● Served as a model for India's Community
Development Programme.
Challenges: Approaches to Rural Community
Development
● Sustainability: Maintaining success after the
project's initial phase and Mayer's departure in
A. Gandhian Approach to Rural Community
1957 proved difficult.
Development
Core Principles:
Nilokheri Experiment ● Moral Values: Gandhian approach prioritizes
moral values like truth, non-violence, and justice
What Happened? as the foundation for rural development.
● Religion and Spirituality: It draws inspiration
● In 1948, after India's partition, many people from religious texts like Upanishads and Gita,
came from West Pakistan to live in India. aiming for a society based on spiritual well-
● S.K. Dey led a project to help these people by being.
building a new town called Nilokheri. ● Ideal Village: The village is the cornerstone.
Gandhi envisioned self-governing villages
Goals of Nilokheri: cooperating in a federation.
● New Homes & Jobs: Create a place where
Key Features:
people could live and work together.
● Be Self-Sufficient: Grow their own food, make ● Decentralization: Power is vested in elected
their own goods, and not rely on others. village Panchayats handling legislation,
● Learn New Skills: Get training in different execution, and justice.
crafts and trades. ● Self-Sufficiency: Villages aim to produce what
they need - food, clothing, shelter - reducing
What They Did: dependence on external sources.
● Village and Cottage Industries: Reviving
● Built houses and a marketplace for people to
traditional industries provides employment and
sell their goods.
supports self-sufficiency. Gandhi wasn't against
● Started a training center to teach people new
appropriate technology.
skills like farming, carpentry, and weaving.
● Trusteeship: Private property is acceptable, but
● Made the swampy land suitable for farming.
excess wealth should be held in trust for the
● Built a school, hospital, and other facilities for
benefit of the community.
the town.
Special Features:
● The project was called "Mazdoor Manzil", B. Tagore's Approach to Rural Community
which means "House of Labor" because Development
everyone worked together.
● Nilokheri was like a town and village combined, Tagore's Big Idea:
with everything people needed close by.
Rabindranath Tagore, a famous poet and thinker,
believed in solving problems in rural communities using
logic, science, and practical solutions. Here's what he
thought was important:
● Villagers Working Together: He encouraged
villagers to form cooperatives, where they could
help each other and become more independent. applied to their practical skills.
● Using Local Knowledge: Tagore felt it was ● A Spirit of Service: Encouraging students to
important to use the skills and knowledge that dedicate themselves to helping the villages
villagers already had. This would make solutions around them.
more effective and relevant to their culture. ● Self-Reliance and Dignity: Helping students
feel good about themselves and teaching them
Tagore's Rural Development Program: skills they needed to live well in their villages.
A. Seeing the Problems Firsthand (East Bengal D. Reviving Local Crafts (Rural Industries):
Experiment):
● Bringing Back Old Skills: Tagore believed it
● Life in Rural Bengal: Managing his estate in was important to revive traditional crafts and
East Bengal exposed Tagore to the difficulties train young people and artisans in using new
faced by villagers. This inspired him to work on techniques.
rural development. ● Shilpa Bhavana: He established Shilpa
● A Comprehensive Plan: His program included Bhavana at Santiniketan to achieve this goal.
improvements in health, education, crafts,
farming, fishing, and weaving. E. The Institute of Rural Reconstruction:
● Modernization Efforts: He introduced tractors
● Helping in Many Ways: The institute had
for farming, furnaces for pottery making, and
different units that focused on farming, raising
machines for husking rice. His goal was to create
animals, crafts, health, education, and village
well-developed villages that were self-
organization.
sufficient and confident.
● A Multifaceted Approach: Their work included
B. Fighting Exploitation (Rural Bank): research, teaching villagers new methods, and
providing education.
● The Cause of Poverty: Tagore saw unfair
treatment by landlords, middlemen, and money F. Making Knowledge Accessible (Rural Library
lenders as a major reason for poverty in villages. System):
● The Solution: He established Patisar Bank in
● The Importance of Reading: Tagore knew that
1905, offering loans with lower interest rates.
libraries were important for learning, so he
This helped villagers escape debt.
established a central library for research.
C. The Goals of Sriniketan Experiment: ● Local Libraries: There were also smaller
libraries in villages to serve the community and
● Building Trust: Gaining the trust and friendship encourage reading and learning.
of villagers by showing an interest in their lives ● Unique Feature: Mobile Library (1925): A
and helping them solve problems. special library with a village worker who
● Learning by Doing: Bringing village issues into delivered books door-to-door, making
classrooms and using the institute's farm to find knowledge accessible to everyone.
solutions.
● Practical Skills: Teaching students practical
skills like farming, raising animals, keeping
chickens, various crafts, keeping villages clean,
working together, and more.
● Science for Everyday Life: Providing students
with basic scientific knowledge that could be
