Question

Explain the following concept with examples:

Rural Community

Answer 1

• The rural community is one that is agrarian in nature and is dependent on natural resources. The definition of a Rural Community is “A village community or rural community is a cluster of people living within a narrow territorial radius who share a common way of life”.
• Rural society is one in which there is a low ratio of inhabitants to open land and in which the most important economic activities are the production of foodstuffs, fibres and raw materials. 
• The rural community has a long history of its own. Rural life has preceded urban life. In spite of the growth of cities, the population of the world is largely rural. According to the 2011 Census, 68.84% of the Indian population lives in rural areas. There are around 6.4 lakh villages in India having varied population strengths.
• The Characteristics of a Rural Community are Community living in villages, Small size, Dominance of agriculture, Primary relations, Social homogeneity, Significance of family, Status of women, Religiosity, and Dominance of the caste system.
• It is true that Indian villages are undergoing rapid changes now. These changes have not always brought positive results in all spheres of village life. There are a large number of villages which suffer from major problems such as poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, indebtedness, superstition and the like.
• After Independence, the Community Development Programme (CDP) was started in 1952. It was an initiative meant for the all-round development of villages. The aim of CDP was to facilitate the involvement and participation of the village community for its own welfare. Later on, in 1957, Panchayati Raj (Local Self Government) was started. The Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) replaced the CDP in 1979.
• The Indian rural community has undergone considerable changes, particularly since Independence, as a result of a series of land reform legislations that have accelerated the pace of this change.
• Rural and urban communities have continuous interaction among them due to interdependence. For example, the dependence of city people on the farming community for agricultural produce. Likewise, the rural community is dependent on urban areas for new technology, to enhance agricultural production.
• Gradually, some sense of heterogeneity becomes imminent in rural characteristics. Thus, the term, rural-urban continuum (i.e. continuous interaction). The construction of roads and transportation has brought about a lot of social and economic changes e.g. weakening of the caste system.