Dynamic Changes of Indian Villages under Rural Development Programmes

The objective of the paper is to make clear the recent changes of the less-developed rural areas and the low income villagers under the Drought Prone Area Programme and related rural development projects. The field research was conducted from 1989 to 1991 in Rajusthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra by the members of the geographical research team of Hiroshima University leaded by the author. Main emphasis of research method was laid on intensive survey on 6 sample villages which were selected from the viewpoint of the natural environment and the socio-economic diversity. The results obtained is as follows. (1) As the developmental policy measures have frequently tended to be changed by political situation of the central government, the authorities of DRDAS and BD0 levels could not follow its socio-political significances and consequences. (2) Government loans and financial schemes have been sanctioned on a basis of self -innovative efforts of villagers, however infrastructure of village economy have not still been fully fledged enough to pot spurt on repercussive development processes. (3) Most villagers have been becoming very sensitive to economic situations and much more market-oriented than ever before. On the other hand, they have tended to go into debtness on an alarming level. (4) As most farmers are now improving their socio--economic status, time-honoured traditional social-organization are becoming rapidly disintegrated in recent years. (5) As villagers in less-developed areas, sharing severe environmental conditions compete with each others to utilize land and water resources, devastation of land ecosystem is now rapidly under way.<特集> インド干ばつ常習地域の村落変