Abstract: India has achieved a remarkable sustainable socio-economic development since Independence. Unfortunately, this development has not been shared equitably by all. Some sections of the society have been left out and some areas like rural, tribal and remote areas, could not keep pace with the urban areas in development. If vast sections of society and areas are left out, it breeds unrest and is not conducive to a sustainable development of the country. Communication strategies of various types have been developed and used for motivating people and increase their participation in the pathway for rural development. The R&D organizations interested in accelerating the process of social change through communication of innovations have their goal in which the participatory process is expected to make the rural audience the makers of their own destiny. ‘Participation’ and ‘empowerment’ have thus gained wide currency in recent development literature, as if the ideas that “people” at the grass roots level are the real flag bearers have been discovered only today. People do ‘act’, it is for us to appreciate it and materialize it for participatory people- centric movements. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, as a development actor emerged long ago in the vision and action at Wardha. Gandhi being a national political leader had basically relied on mobilization of the masses and their economic uplift through the development of cottage and small scale industries. This Gandhian concept of Panchayati Raj (not to be equated with the present system of Panchayati Raj) was to be a communitarian habitat merging the individual self in a collective life- experience and forming the basis of a gradually expanding circle of supra-local existences. Participation, in the Gandhian sense, was an organic and technical concept and not something artificially created on the prescription of higher level authorities, as is in today’s scenario. To quote Gandhi, “In this structure composed of innumerable villages, there will be ever widening, never ascending circles. Life will not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom.”
Although, Mahatma Gandhi was not a development economist, yet his theory is important to development. The Gandhian theory of development is based on the ideologies of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi's ideas on development are embedded in his philosophy of life. The body of Gandhian thought on development is as follows:
(i) the Gandhian philosophy of economic concepts that are related to development (ii) Gandhian principles of self-sufficiency (iii) the Gandhian theory of balanced growth (iv) the Gandhian doctrine of trusteeship (v) Gandhian model of sustainable development (vi) the Gandhian sarvodaya plan (vii) Gandhian concepts of austerity and abstinence.
This paper highlights the role of Gandhian communication as part and parcel of human life, articulating their grievances on local problems. It attempts to explore the Gandhian model of development and examines the relevance or irrelevance of the same in the New World Order.
Keywords: Participatory Communication, Rural Development, Gandhian World Order, Localization and Globalization.
Title: Exploring Gandhian Communication for Sustainable Rural Development in India
Author: Adhrit Chandra Pati Tripathi, Prof. (Dr.) K.V. Nagaraj
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3164 (online), ISSN 2348-3156 (Print)
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