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Village Community: Evolution, Features and Growth of Village Community!
The Village Community:
The earliest human communities were perhaps the loosely organised aggregations of a few families who carried on mutually interdependent activities in gathering food and defending themselves against their enemies. These primitive bands were migratory communities. Gradually man acquired skill and knowledge in agriculture.
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With the development of agriculture and the consequent stabilization of the source of food, the people began to lead a settled life and human communities became more stationary. The village emerged which signified that man has passed from nomadic mode of collective life to the settled one.
It is difficult to form a precise definition of the term ‘village’. Generally it is understood to mean a small area with small population which follows agriculture not only as an occupation but also as a way of life.
The village is the oldest permanent community of man. Kropotkin writes, “We do not know one single human race or one single nation which has not had its period of village communities.” Human Society”, as Bogardus says, “has been cradled in the rural group.” The most impressive of the villages said to have existed five thousand or more years ago, are the lake dwellings of Switzerland and nearby sections of Germany, France, Italy and Austria.
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The houses were built on platforms supported by piles driven into the lake bottom. Bridges connected these houses with the shore where fields and pasture lay. Today, a variant type of these houses may be seen in Kashmir where these are built on boats supported by ropes driven into the Dal lake bottom. These houses are called ‘House-boats’ magnificently furnished and decorated and are hired out to visitors to Kashmir valley.
Evolution of Village Community:
The village community has passed through the following stages:
(i) Primitive Village Community:
There are two peculiar features of the primitive village community; first, the part played by kinship and, second, its collectivist basis. The ancient village community was a very small group of ten or twenty families. Owing to smallness of size everybody knew each other.
The feeling of familiarity was so great that if a child wandered off from the home, the parents had nothing to worry because there were numerous “elatives in that village who would keep an eye on him. Since due to lack of means of communication and transport the members of the village community were separated from other communities by a great distance, considerable inbreeding occurred, so that a large part of the members were related by kinship.
In primitive village community land was the common property. All the members jointly tilled it. Always it was a group trust. The village was organised on a collectivist basis, so far as land was concerned. The bond of kinship and close ties of the inhabitants with the land developed a high sense of community feeling in the primitive village community.
(ii) Medieval Village Community:
The primitive village community underwent a fundamental change by the time of the middle Ages. Neither kinship any longer played a prominent part in binding the people nor did the land belong to the group as a whole. Instead, feudal system came into existence. The land now belonged to a lord of some sort, to the king, to a member of the nobility or to an ecclesiastical chief.
It was tilled by tenants who were the vassals of their feudal lords. Their relation with the feudal lords was that of slave and master. There were, however, certain factors which bound the rural folk. One of these was their common subjection, their serfdom; the other was their occupational unity.
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(iii) Modern Village Community:
With the rise of industrialism in modern times the rural group began to lose its importance. Now urban group began to dominate civilization. However, in spite of growth of urbanism it is a fact that even at the present time a large proportion of population lives in villages. In India, about 75 per cent of the population lives in villages.
The modern village community stands in sharp contrast to the primitive one. Urbanization, the dominant feature of the modern age has made its impact on the village community. The modern city has set the pattern of the rural way of life. Rural social forms have been changing. The rural people have taken over the urban forms of life.
The kinship bond, a peculiar feature of the primitive village community, has been broken due to the increased size and mobility of population. The land is no longer owned collectively or cultivated jointly. Even the methods of working the land have taken on urban characteristics.
Thus, the two factors that made an individual to identify himself with his village community have ceased to exist.
What the residents have in common today is a set of traditions, habits and activities which do not produce such a complete identification with the village community as was produced in primitive times. They continue to work the land but then try to live in the mode of the city. In short, the rural social forms have changed under the impact of urbanisation. By and large the rural’ way of life has been withering away.
Features of Village Community:
The village community is marked by several features. The important ones are the following:
(i) Community Consciousness:
The village dwellers have a sense of unity. The relations between the village people are intimate. They personally know each other. Their customs, conventions and culture are common. They jointly take part in religious celebrations. Structurally and functionally the village is a unit.
(ii) Role of Neighbourhood:
In a village neighbourhood is of great importance. There is not enough of individuality and speed in the life of the village to disable one from paying attention to his neighbour—his sorrow, and joys. In the village people assist each other and thus they have closest neighbourhood relations.
(iii) Joint Family:
Though in the cities the joint family system is breaking down, yet in the villages it still retains its hold. The agricultural occupation requires the cooperation of all the family members. The men plough the field, the women harvest the crops and the children graze the cattle.
(iv) Faith in Religion:
The people in the villages have deep faith in religion and deities. Their main occupation is agriculture which largely depends upon the vagaries of nature. The farmer acquires an attitude of fear and awe towards natural forces and starts worshipping them.
(v) Simplicity:
The village people lead a simple life. It is not ostentatious. They are far away from the evils of modern civilization. They are a simple and plain people believing in God. They do not show pretensions. Their behaviour is natural and not artificial. They live a peaceful life. They are free from mental conflicts. They do not suffer heart strokes. They are sincere, hospitable and hardworking. The level of morality is high. Social crimes are very rare. Their life is governed by norms.
In this way, the village is a community whose members have a sense of unity, close neighbourhood relations, faith in religion, and a simple life in a joint family.
Growth of Village Community:
The growth of village community depends upon the following factors:
(i) Topographical Factors:
Among the topographical factors are included land, water and climate. It is obvious that these factors influence the growth of village community. Land is the most important topographical factor. People would like to settle at a place where land is fertile and plain.
It is difficult to carry agriculture on land which is rocky and uneven. If the land is not fertile and is sandy the villages cannot develop there. In the rocky areas and in deserts habitation is scarce. On the other hand, in the plain and fertile lands of Punjab one can observe villages at every two or three miles. The villages settled on fertile lands are more developed and prosperous. The villages in the mountainous areas are not so prosperous.
The facility of water also contributes to the growth and prosperity of villages. Water is required not only for drinking, bathing, cooking, etc., but also for irrigating the lands. If water is not easily available, much use cannot be made even of fertile and plain lands. Where water is not easily available as in the case of deserts the villages are far and scattered. The villages situated on the banks of canal or having tube wells are in a much prosperous condition than those which are seeking out a miserable existence in the deserts and hills.
A temperate climate is most favourable to the growth of village community. Man cannot lead a natural and prosperous life in areas of extreme climate. Hence village communities inhabiting the Equator and the Polar regions are undeveloped. In too hot climate, people become lazy. The hot climate of India is one of the operative factors for the poor living standard of the village folk.
(ii) Economic Factors:
Among the economic factors we may include the condition of agriculture, rural economy and cottage industries.
Agriculture is the mainstay of the village community. As such the growth of village community depends upon the condition of agriculture. If farming yields a good crop, the economic condition of the village people will be better. If, on the other hand, they have to exert themselves to the point of exhaustion just to get enough for two meals a day, their economic and social condition will not be better.
In those countries where scientific inventions and favourable natural conditions have increased the agricultural production the village communities are in an advanced stage of development. In India, the village communities are poor because of low agricultural production.
The village economy also is an important factor in the growth of village community. The farmer must be in a position to procure animals of good breed, good seeds, good manure and scientific implements. There should be cooperative societies for supplying capital, good seeds, implements and to arrange the sale of agricultural produce at reasonable prices.
Cottage industries play an important part in the development of village community. While cottage industries provide a means of livelihood to landless people, they also offer means of u utilization of the farmers and female labour in productive activities
(iii) Social Factors:
Among the social factors went include peace, security, cooperation and intelligence etc. For the development of the village community it is essential that there must be peace in the village. Besides peace, the village people must be guaranteed security—security from disease, and in agriculture. They also need security against natural calamities. Agriculture Insurance can give them this sense of security.
Community development is not possible without cooperation. In the village there are many activities which depend upon cooperation of the whole community. Such activities, for example, are public health and sanitation, peace and order, proper use of public amenities, education and recreation, etc. Through cooperation the village people can bring about their development and put the village community on the way to prosperity.
Ultimately, the growth of the village community depends upon the intelligence of the villagers. Lacking intelligence they cannot raise the agricultural output nor profit by the scientific discoveries. The village communities in the west are prosperous because they are intelligent. In India the villages are in a backward state because the village people lack intelligence to make use of scientific discoveries.