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Rural Awakening to Modern Technology

 

January 18, 2002

   The phenomenon of medical colleges, engineering colleges and arts colleges sprouting in thousands all over the country is one vast expression of the dynamics of the society, especially when we know there were two medical colleges and one engineering college for the entire 23 districts of the then Madras Presidency at the time of Independence. Almost in one year forty villages began to earn a lakh of rupees an acre from their previous Rs.1000 when they took to banana. To go to a village, give it all the modern farming facilities, new education and all the modern technology that can come to it up to the use of computer in all possible fields by identifying the most enterprising agriculture officer and putting out all the funds he needs is after all, a child's play today.

   The government can create one such model village which in a short period will see its present Rs.5000/- from an acre rise to Rs.50,000. The work has to be done on twenty or thirty fronts of tapping the water table, fertilizer use, pesticide use, fresh seeds, micronutrients, use of TV for educating the public, using computer to educate people with skills, etc. etc.  I hope that private initiative will be there as in education which will commercialise this process of development. Rural life needs modernization at about a hundred points of which agriculture demands about thirty. A private company going to a village with a programme of modernization has today no problem of funds as all the funds will come from the banks. A private company will be able to do for one or a few villages what they cannot do for themselves or would not do. The private company will be a miniature Food Corporation to the villages offering,

  • Modern farming technology for commercial crops;
  • The knowledge of the best prices and the places where they are available;
  • Refrigerated transport for their perishable produce;
  • To educate the village youth on vocational skills on computer;
  • To educate the dropouts enough so they go back to school;
  • To educate them on the computer about modern farming;
  • To educate them on various courses of lessons directly useful in their classes.
  • To run computer classes for the children in the schools.

The moment the commercial possibility is seen by a few of the villagers, it will catch on, like STD booths. This way, rural unemployment will be a thing of the past. Modernity will enter the villages and energise them to act on their own. If they can produce ten times the value and market it safely, what else do they need? They should see for themselves the potential of the computer to change the village into a town.



story | by Dr. Radut