It is my considered view that the adoption of five villages under Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA) 2.0, a flagship program of Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India has been the most apposite step on community engagement Cotton University has assumed so far though not the first one in this respect. Earlier, in the year of 2015, the erstwhile Cotton College got sincerely engaged with such rural commitment providing opportunities to the faculty and students for immersion in rural realities through various campaigns and missions. The campaign called ‘Save village, save culture,’ first ever of its kind, succeeds to accomplish the college-village rapport of mutual reliance and recognition which offered an opportunity to the institution to claim its first ‘sister village’ namely Nankar Bhoira under Nalbari district of Assam. Now this feat turns handy since UGC has initiated a move to introduce a compulsory course for undergraduate and post-graduate students across all disciplines with an objective to help new generation students learn about rural challenges and develop understanding of ‘rural wisdom and life-style in a respectful manner.’ The campaign, on behalf of the University (Erstwhile College) student journal Cottonian (2015-16), was launched with the objective to create understanding among masses to bring forward the process of development in rural areas in Assam not by means of rampant urbanization but with the proper plan and protocol to keep our Assamese cultural heritage intake and protected. The campaign tends to make people aware about the fact that striding out with the industrial modernization the development in multiple levels in the present time is bound to take place in rural areas and the rural people should facilitate with the most symptomatic modern amenities already being enjoyed by the urban people but not at the cost of their aged old traditions and cultural heritage. Culture provides one’s identity to individual or community either. Culture should not be left uncared leaving on the threshold of extinction. Culture also cannot be separated from economic production. Our village culture and traditional values are firmly embedded in land and agriculture. It is a common phenomenon that in a village of an unindustrialized province like Assam, culture usually gets mingled with agriculture because towards the stereotype of rural mindset in Assamese society agriculture is not only an industry but also a way of life. It is a great income generating resource that keeps rural economy vibrant and thus keeps promoting the mainstream economy of the nation. Hence Mahatma Gandhi rightfully said, “The soul of India lives in its village”. Besides, innumerable components of indigenous culture with localism are deeply associated with agriculture. As for example, the community festival of Assam ‘Bihu’ would lose its basics without prompt participation of village folk in agriculture.
talchikur assam
As seen in the current years the shrink of paddy fields due to mushrooming growth of habitats and industries in the name of urbanization has created hiccup in promoting this primitive practice of rural people that leads the community to losing some basic elements of cultural bequest. Here the campaign aims to transmit an adage against unwanted and unnecessary development in rural areas across the state. Adding the surge of such ethical praxis, the campaign negotiates a harmony between the progress and preservation. The notion of promoting and protecting village may also affix an idea of preventing nature from the jaw of environmental degradation and biodiversity hazards. In this context we can quote a beautiful dictum that gestates relationship between human beings and nature- God made the village and men made the towns.
The tracks that we had worked on to reach goal are: to create awareness to value green fields for more farming and less housing; to motivate individuals to challenge the ‘consistent inconsistency’ of the planning process by persuading village people, government and media; to instill localism so as to work with the typical diverse characters of villages and to initiate an active consultation with concerned stakeholders pertaining the issue to ensure our villages can grow at the measured pace of local need to ensure future generations still have a rich rural heritage. Initially four significant villages of Lower Assam had been visited for field studies namely Nankar Bhoira (District-Nalbari), Sorthebari (District-Barpeta), Barpeta Atasbaji Gaon (Crackers’ Village at Barpeta District) and Hajongbori (District-Kamrup). During this survey we came across few common traits revealed in the outlook of village people who do not want to lose indigenous characters of their habitations. There is need of initiating a strategic plan for ‘village model’ that would keep up promoting rural economy, tourism etc. without wiping away its original flavour. Economic development through setting up some industries in rural areas at present is the priority, but this should be done putting preference to the traditional and cultural resources and practices. Every village requires a separate strategic plan for proper exploit of its resources. For instance, the brass and bell metal industry of Sarthebari has been a vibrant economic resource that needs to be enhanced for further employment generation as well as recognition in broader precinct. Similarly, in the recent years the fishery industry in Nankar Bhoira has moved up with giant strides that would certainly change the mindset regarding prospects and status of the rural economy. This also needs a little attention as well. Hundred years old crackers’ village of Barpeta has shown new dawn to those who are interested in earning livelihood making crackers for generations together. The village people of Hajongbori weigh everything upon traditional values that has prompted them to instill a spirit of assimilation and fellow feeling. This has helped the two communities- Bodos and Karbis living peacefully and collectively in the village since many decades. These villagers do not drop agrarian value at any cost; rather claim for a certain set of policy prescriptions that would centralize agriculture.
Developed countries like England had started such mission around thirty years back and have now started achieving goals resulted from the negotiation of harmony between progress and preservation. In England, the campaign like ‘Save the village’ has eventually made people alert against any development that goes against the spirit of humanity. In India we hardly see such rural commitment either from government agencies or from non-government organizations although Indian villages cover around 70% of its total population. The central and state governments in India have meanwhile declared some policies regarding development of rural areas under different headings like ‘digital village,’ ‘smart village’ etc. But this should not be done arbitrarily. If it is not obliged to retain legacy of Assamese village culture in terms of its viable uniqueness and stereotypes, only technological advancement for the sack of modernization would lead to uproot of traditional and cultural values and would categorically invite crisis on identity quest in the Assamese society.
