Anthropology Optional (Paper 2 Section A) (Chromosomal Aberrations in man) by Sourabh Mishra Sir

Model Answer

Question #1. Discuss Impact of market economy on rural villages.

Approach:

• Introduce with historical arrangement of Indian villages
• Discuss the impact of market economy on indian villages
• Issues associated with the impact of market economy in indian villages

Hints:

Impact of Market Economy on Village

Indian villages have never been self-sufficient as contended by colonialist scholars; they were a part of a wider network of economic, political and religious matters.

The jajmani system provided caste-based services supported by an agricultural economy.

Cottage industries based on agricultural produce such as cotton, silk, jute and toys made from forest produce flourished in Indian villages. All these industries are of small scale that individual or joint families manage.

Weekly markets have been the characteristic feature of both caste and tribal villages, where goods - food grains, vegetables, cattle and others - are exchanged through barter systems since ancient times.

Even labour followed the same system in which payments were made in kind rather than cash, till the colonial regime when the monetized economy fast replaced the barter system.

Though coins of gold and other metals existed during pre-colonial India, barter system prevailed in villages.

Such markets are found throughout India even today despite the prevalence of organized and developed markets. India has been known for trade and business for ages.

Though villages depended mainly on agrarian economy and food crops grown were meant essentially for personal consumption, certain crops and spices grown on the west coast have attracted European and Arab traders since time immemorial.

Thus, India has been connected to international markets for a long time.

Urbanization, industrialization and democratization are breaking up the traditional structure of Indian villages in caste, economy and political organization etc.

There has been an economic change in village life from the expansion and spread of the market economy. The economic frontier has some important consequences on village organization. It is seen in several studies that the money economy has permitted some castes to move quickly up the status ladder and forced traditional high castes to move downwards.

The spread of money and new opportunities tend to reduce the role of large kinship and place more emphasis on smaller familial units.

Production of cash crops have reduced the nutritive value of food and reduced the connection between the farmer and his land. There is over exploitation of natural resources, resource disagreement and pressure politics to secure use of resources all that have affected the social organization of a village.

The market economy has brought changes in other ways like opening up consumer product markets in rural areas, service provision and other symbols of modernity that may not require land and hence are open to more people. This changes the social equation within the villages. The village organization is thus undergoing metamorphosis in the wake of its exposure to a highly competitive market economy.

Question #2. Describe the significant contributions of village studies in India to the understanding of social transformations.

Approach:

• Introduce with the reference to village life in India
• Quote the perspectives of thinkers
• Discuss the contributions of studies done by various scholars

Hints:

In one of his famous quotes, the most famous leader of 20th century India, Mahatma Gandhi said “India is not Calcutta and Bombay. India lives in her seven hundred thousand villages”. This is what forms a clue to the magnitude of importance the ‘village’ acquires in the socioeconomic sphere in India in particular & the world in general. The cosmopolitan cities of today, London, New York, Mumbai etc. have also had their genesis in being a village once upon a time, though quite long ago.

The studies of social structures of small groups of individuals residing in a hamlet or a small village constitute the first basis of studies of bigger groups e.g. towns & semi-urban areas.

According to Srinivas (1975): The social sciences are drawing too heavily on a small range of human experience, viz. the western–industrial, and equating it with the global. (Built into that equation is an ethno-centric assumption on the part of many westerners that all societies are travelling towards the ultimate goal of a western–industrial type of society.)

Lack of fieldwork in villages affected the growth and development of the social sciences by alienating them from grassroots reality, which in turn resulted in woeful ignorance about the complex interrelations between economic, political, and social forces at local levels.

According to Srinivas, the reason for the lack of a fieldwork tradition was the implicit assumption that people are like dough in the hands of planners and governments, and the illusion that, through “social engineering,” “directed social change,” and the like, governments could change the lives of the people.

Beteille (1972), focuses on constraints to fieldwork, and explains how these very constraints can serve as a source of insights into society and culture.

By contrast, Nehru never identified with the idea of the village as the site of future transformation. He considered the notion of “village republics” as characterized by various ills. He was critical of caste hierarchies and saw no virtue in reviving the traditional social order.

Ambedkar offered a radical critique of the Indian village. To him, the village is a sink of localism, a den of ignorance, narrow-mindedness, and communalism – marked by exclusion, exploitation, and untouchability. It was not representative of Indian civilisation.

In the villages of India, the residential quarters are often built based upon a strong caste system. The loyalty a caste/community group feels may not surpass the religious or economic boundaries & tensions may be created.

One example of this nature was Muzaffarnagar rioting in the year 2013 where, for the first time in the history of the district, large-scale rioting happened in rural areas. Such scenarios, if studied well by village visits, will produce ways to tackle & prevent the law & order situations well within time in other rural & semi-rural centres.

Similarly, the causes & impacts of gender-related unreported crimes, incidences of which are high in rural areas, can be studied by visiting the villages.

A Credit Suisse report, The Great Indian Equalization (2012) found that over the preceding six years, rural districts delivered higher economic output than cities. According to the report, 75% of new factories built in India in the last decade were located in rural areas, indicating the diminishing role of agriculture in rural livelihoods.

But to study the real impact of these developments on the economy of such villages and to study the impact of rural economy on Country as well as factors responsible for stagnated growth of agriculture, it is imperative for policy makers, academicians & administrators to go for comprehensive & year-on-year village visits.

To find sources & reasons for ineffective implementation of welfare schemes & other services under the indirect or direct supervision of Panchayats, it is necessary that village visits are undertaken.

In medical sciences also, it is important to carry out field studies to find out the ways & means to tackle a disease which may be specific to geographical locations.

The companies also undertake studies in villages to assess the markets as well as part of their social corporate responsibilities

The motive of the former studies is to find ways & means to enhance profits of the company or the business while the purpose of the latter studies is to carry out welfare measures for the community