Table of Contents
A Humble Villager of BirbhumBirbhum is located in West Bengal, India
HarijanHarijan was the name of a weekly newspaper that Gandhi founded in India. Gandhi was living at Sevagram Ashram at the time that he wrote this essay, and he regularly published articles in his Harijan newspaper encouraging readers to undertake the sort of village constructive work that he and his coresidents were then doing at Sevagram Ashram.Harijan was one of the weekly newspapers founded by Gandhi in India January 9, 1937'A Humble Villager of Birbhum' living in SantiniketanSantiniketan (also spelled Shantiniketan, meaning "abode of peace") was a residential community that was founded in West Bengal by Debendranath Tagore and later expanded by his son, Rabindranath Tagore. sends me through Deenabandhu Andrews"Deenabandhu" Andrews refers to Rev. C. F. Andrews, a missionary who served in India and was a friend of Gandhi's. "Deenabandhu" means "friend of the downtrodden" and was a nickname Gandhi gave to Andrews. the following questions:
"1. What is an ideal Indian village in your esteemed opinion and how far is it practicable to reconstruct a village on the basis of an 'Ideal Village' in the present social and political situation of India?
2. Which of the village problems should a worker try to solve first of all and how should he proceed?
3. What should be the special theme of village exhibitions and museums in a miniature form? How should such exhibitions be best utilized for the reconstruction of villages?"
1. An ideal Indian village will be so constructed as to lend itself to perfect sanitation. It will have cottages with sufficient light and ventilation built of a material obtainable within a radius of five miles of it. The cottages will have courtyards enabling householders to plant vegetables for domestic use and to house their cattle. The village lanes and streets will be free of all avoidable dust. It will have wells according to its needs and accessible to all. It will have houses of worship for all; also a common meeting place, a village common for grazing its cattle, a co-operative dairy, primary and secondary schools in which industrial education will be the central fact, and it will have panchayatsPanchayat = a village council, typically with five members. for settling disputes. It will produce its own grains, vegetables and fruit, and its own khadiKhadi = homespun cotton cloth.. This is roughly my idea of a model village. In the present circumstances its cottages will remain what they are with slight improvements. Given a good zamindarZamindar = land owner., where there is one, or co-operation among the people, almost the whole of the programme other than model cottages can be worked out at an expenditure within the means of the villagers including the zamindar or zamindars, without Government assistance. With that assistance there is no limit to the possibility of village reconstruction. But my task just now is to discover what the villagers can do to help themselves if they have mutual co-operation and contribute voluntary labour for the common good. I am convinced that they can, under intelligent guidance, double the village income as distinguished from individual income. There are in our villages inexhaustible resources not for commercial purposes in every case but certainly for local purposes in almost every case. The greatest tragedy is the hopeless unwillingness of the villagers to better their lot.
2. The very first problem the village worker will solve is its sanitation. It is the most neglected of all the problems that baffle workers and that undermine physical well-being and breed disease. If the worker became a voluntary BhangiBhangi = a Dalit (or "untouchable") sub-caste whose hereditary occupation was sanitation., he would begin by collecting night-soil and turning it into manure and sweeping village streets. He will tell people how and where they should perform daily functions and speak to them on the value of sanitation and the great injury caused by the neglect. The worker will continue to do the work whether the villagers listen to him or no.
3. The spinning-wheel should be the central theme of all such village exhibitions and the industries suited to the particular locality should revolve round it. An exhibition thus arranged would naturally become an object-lesson for the villagers and an educational treat when it is accompanied by demonstrations, lectures and leaflets.