Shaping India's Future

...The ethnic and social diversity of the country makes it almost certain that development projects useful in one region will be undesirable in the others...

...In such places, the authorities are finding it very difficult to persuade the people to take advantage of the development schemes...

...No project, however precise and rational it may be, can succeed if the people are not ready to accept it...

...The book reveals a simple but startling fact, that in India the most penetrating and far-reaching development projects have left almost no impact upon the individuals and communities involved...

...Kusum Nair's The Blossom in the Dust is an important effort in this direction...

...Such events present a dramatic account of the attitudes and philosophies of the villagers...

...of "blossoms in the dust," who remain undefeated by the poverty surrounding them, and are confident that out of a broken past they can carve out a new future...

...It points out some of the problems inherent in a democratic society, and reminds us that in any development scheme the human element is the most important...

...and they are ready to tolerate its fancies...

...I had no set questionnaire...

...On the other hand, there are those, who although familiar with the new projects, such as the irrigation system, are not inclined to use them...

...In each State, she chose three or four, sometimes more districts (the basic unit of civil administration...

...In most cases," Mrs...

...Mrs...

...We have heard of the Congress...

...Everyone talks of it.' " 'But,' pauses Kania, gravely puckering his bushy eyebrows, 'but now that you mention it, we do not know whether Congress is a man or woman...

...This clear and convincing narrative is exciting reading all the way, and is valuable both for Indian and Western leaders and scholars...

...There is Pritaram, for instance," she says, "in a small village near Phillaur...

...But there is a danger that those who desire to assume the responsibility of giving life and reality to the so-called revolutionary "expectations" may overlook or sim plify certain problems...

...In Western countries, the phrase, "revolution of rising expectations" has suddenly become very popular in regard to newly emerging countries in Africa and Asia...

...It is good that people who are eager to help be aware of the needs of these nations...

...Nair says, "I went into a village without any previous intimation, introduced myself and explained the purpose of my visit, and then settled down to a long talk in groups or singly...

...and in each district she chose a number of villages, taking into account such factors as the physical situation of the unit selected, and size and composition of population...

...In several cases, those who naturally live where the dams are under construction, are totally unconcerned with the whole scheme...

...In some remote villages, the new citizens of India haven't even heard of the 5-year plans, or of the gigantic power installation schemes...

...This approach has produced excellent results...

...To them, primarily, it is a whim of the government...

...Even within a single region, the people's attitude to work and life, influenced by tradition, culture and religion, can make the fulfillment of the schemes difficult...

...He is a refugee from Lyallpur district...

...But this is only one side of the picture...

...Nair does not omit the stories of those enterprising villagers who form a majority of the Indian agricultural society...

...Here, each citizen is an actor in the drama of new developments, and yet at the same time, he is also a living image in a shadow-play involving centuries-old ideals, patterns and viewpoints...

...In Bhoola, a Bhil village in Sirohi district, the villagers admit: 'Yes, we have heard of the Congress...

...His father was an illiterate landless agricultural laborer, but 'we were so hard up after partition that I decided to go away to England.' He says it casually, as if England were next door, or at least nearer than Delhi...

...More absorbing than fiction, this verbatim record presents a picture of the mind of the unpretentious villager in his own words...

...Therefore, the task of responsible people is not only to initiate social and economic "revolution" by democratic means, but is also to educate and motivate the people to improve their lot as individuals and as a society...

...Aware of this problem, thoughtful Indian writers have been trying to probe into the minds of the people so as to bring their ideas and attitudes to the leaders and planners...

...After reading this book, I think, any reader will feel convinced that this story of an "Unfinished Revolution" is composed of the tears, problems, and laughter of young men and women...

...There are the stories of other men like Pritaram, who now own factories in which laborers who never had any proper training are engaged in selftaught skilled labor, and who plan to send their children for higher studies to England or the United States...

...I would allow the conversation to develop naturally, giving it only a minimum of direction to keep it more or less on the subject of the dominant development project or problem of the locality...

...On the last page, the author has an important sentence: "I can clearly assert that the experience of my travels and contacts with the village communities has not given me any sense of pessimism or defeatism...

...In their zeal they may not consider the fact that this "revolution" may be limited to a few intellectuals and leaders...

...In the village of Budelpali," says Kusum Nair, "the local extension officer had to go on hunger strike—he lay down in the village temple and refused to take any food—before he could persuade the peasantry to sow for a second irrigated winter crop of paddy...

...To collect the material for this book, the author spent a year walking around in the villages, from extreme North to the far South...

...The danger is certainly strong in regard to India...