In Past many prominent thinkers have expressed their views regarding city and

village and relation which existed between them. Through their writing they have
tried to carve out the role played by village in shaping the future of Indian society.
Thinkers like Tagore, Gandhi, Ambedkar ,Lohia had different views regarding this
issue .Tagore in his essay City and Village talks about changing dynamics between
city and village in modern time .He considers village as base of society upon which
superstructure of cities are formed .Gandhi sees village as a self- sustaining entity
from where an independent Indian society will evolve. The views of Gandhi and
Tagore are similar in some sense, on the other hand views of Ambedkar relating to
this issue is opposite to both of them. According to him village have never been and
never will be a place from where a just society can evolve. He considers village to
be most exploitative place.
Through his writing (City and village) states that role played by village in shaping of
Indian society has always been pivotal and earlier the relationship between the
duos used to be very harmonious and symbiotic in nature. Village used to satisfy the
need of cities through its natural resources and would get back something
.However cities were more dependent on villages for their subsistence. He argues
that in changing time values of people have also changed ,in modern civilization
they have become more materialistic and their desire have become insatiable which
is very difficult to be fulfilled with present resources .Modern civilization have
become materialistic and is being guided by self-gain therefore affecting the
relationship between the city and village. Tagore considers village as permanent
entity, therefore he says people have their home in village and office in city .He
also says that village are closer to nature than cities and have capacities to fulfill
the basic needs required by every one . In his view village is like a women which
fulfill the demand of society and nurture them like their family.
Tagore shows a great concern about
changing values of modern society, according to him modern civilization completely
ignores the moral values which existed in society and considered to be basis of any
society .Cities in present time have emerged as a major consumer of the resource
which it basically draws from rural area but villages are getting nothing in return.
The consumption pattern of resources by cites which Tagore talks about is
somewhat similar to Hub and Satellite model, in this model hub draws resources
from Satellite countries and prosper upon their cost and makes satellite countries
totally dependable upon them for their subsistence .To elaborate it further he uses a
metaphor from Hindu mythologies He states that Goddess Lakshmi signifies
wealth with morality and stand for prosperity for all whereas ugly looking Kuber
signifies wealth with immorality. Tagore says that in modern time people have
started worshiping Kuber and idea of self-sacrifices and co-operation have
vanished from society. As the cities are growing bigger and bigger without spirit of
unity the mutual relationship between cities and village is dying. He mentions that
Mother Earth has enough for the real needs of all her children but she has not
nearly enough for a whole generation of greedy children who knows no limit to their
desires which means that nature/earth have ample amount of resources to fulfill
need of society but not uncontrolled desire .The exploitation of cities by village is
consequence of this immoral desire of cities. In his imagination an ideal city would

be like one which is described in Kalidsas play Meghadutam describing love and
hope of man. Tagore to describe exploitative nature of human uses Science fiction in
which he describes that life might have originated on moon before earth but
humans because of their excessive desire would have exploited all resources and
ended life over there.
Tagore believed that it is duty of people living in cities to rescue villages from the
situation of hopelessness therefore he states If we could free even one village from
the shackles of helplessness and ignorance, an ideal for the whole of India would be
established. He talked about establishment of one model village which can be
replicated all over country. Tagore was a man with modern thinking, in his village
charter he talks about how the condition of village can be enhanced. In that charter
he talks about communal harmony, proper education, enhancement of
entrepreneurial skill by amalgamating science and technology, promotion of modern
agricultural practice etc. He also suggested that each village should have a
community center where people can discuss and debate their future course of
action towards betterment and village should have a community grange which can
be utilized during famine. Keeping these points in mind he established institution
like Sriniketan where blend of Scientific and Traditional knowledge were provided
to enhance the value of traditional items which will increase their demand in market
hence helping villagers to improve their life. Other institution like Shantiniketan
and Vishwabharti universities were located in midst of village but student
studying there were from urban area main objective behind establishment of these
institutions were to provide holistic education so that students so that they can
have better understanding of the situation.
The central issue of discussion in Tagores essay is that village are dominated by
cities and have established a hegemonic relation, this argument is valid in present
context also but a major critic of Tagores understanding in this context is that he
himself belonged to a family possessing great deal of fortune therefore his ideas
about village is very simplistic and romanticized, he sees people of village like
subjects and he never talks about internal factors such as caste ,class in village
which is actually hindering growth and development of village. Another major critic
of Tagores thinking is that institutes established by him did not serve the motive for
which it was established, Students studying in these institutes generally belonged
to urban area high class society and has great desire for learning different forms of
arts but after getting education they never returned to vicinity where the institute
was established thus failing the whole idea of holistic education. (These point has
been taken from class room discussion)
Gandhi believed in decentralized governance and considers village as the origin
point of this process. He says that if India wants independence in real term then we
must revive our village from this perished condition. He believed in notion of gram
swaraj which means each village should be independent and self -sustaining and
should be capable of fulfilling their own demand .Like Tagore Gandhi also believed
that poor condition of village which is persisting today is due to over exploitation of
resources by the cities. Gandhi in his essay (constructive program) says that half
dozen cities in India and Great Britain is living on exploitation and ruin of 7, 00,000

Indian villages of India. He says that well established village industries have been
deliberately destroyed by the British and situation of village is like an ill-treated
cattle. He sees khadi as a tool for reviving village economy. He says every farmer
should grow cotton at least the amount his family needs and instead of sending it to
mill for further process it should be processed at village level so that they neednt to
depend upon others. This process requires participation from every villagers .Khadi
has great potential in reviving village economy but it is not sufficient to attain total
economic independence others demand should be met through production at village
level otherwise concept of Gram swaraj will be of no use .Education of villagers is
another important aspect that Gandhi talks about he says that most of the villagers
does not have knowledge of outer world and their knowledge is confined to their
village only and they do not about rest of the counties and evils of foreign rule so
there is need of providing basic education. Both education of children and adults are
equally important. He is also concerned about sanitation of village, he says that
level of sanitation in Indian village is very low therefore there is need of intervention
in this area, people should be made aware about its benefit. Though the idea of
Gandhi and Tagore regarding the state of village is similar but remedy proposed by
them towards uplift of village are different .Tagore advocates an intervention from
outside whereas Gandhi seeks their revival on their own with little intervention from
outside.
Ambedkar views village and cities from different aspects he sees them through the
lens of social arrangement about which Tagore and Gandhi did not speak much. He
blames that Indian intellectuals have romanticized the image of village ignoring
the fact that this is the place where highest degree of inequality persists .He says
that social arrangement in village promotes social hierarchy, people at the lower
strata of that hierarchy always faces discrimination .In his words What is a village
but a sink of localism, a den of ignorance, narrow mindedness and communalism.
He considers cities as place where institution of cast system weakens and everyone
gets an equal opportunities as both Dalits and upper casts lived together and shares
same basic amenities therefore he appeals Dalits to move towards cities. In village
Dalits lives in separate hamlets as they are segregated on the basis of their social
status and they are denied of their basic human rights .They are faced to constant
discrimination and exploitation ,they are not allowed to use basic amenities that are
need to sustain life. They do not have equality of opportunities due to
untouchability they are not allowed to take up certain occupations like selling
vegetables, milks, butter etc. When depressed class ask for their rights they are
penalized heavily and even boycotted from village. Main argument of Ambedkar is
that level of inequality in village is so high that it cannot form basis of a just society.
It is very hard to bridge this gap only with the help of electoral laws, people needs
to change their mindset work together towards eradicating this social evil. People
belonging to lower casts needs to be educated, and should be well informed about
their rights and they should agitate against their exploitation .Ambedkars point
regarding these issue are totally valid but seems it has been observed through only
one lens ,he completely ignores the other aspects that how cities are exploiting
villages for their own vested interest.

Concerned shown by Tagore, Gandhi and Ambedakar in context of city and village
relationship hold valid position today also. The gap between cities and villages are
increasing day by day and condition of village is continuously deteriorating. If we try
to find solution to this problem based on any one idea, it would not solve the
problem from root as these idea individually does not cover every aspects of the
problem. For a complete and effective solution we need to develop a holistic
approach which can make a village self-sufficient and free from social inequality,
and city can act as driver for the change.