Rural Society and Development -An Epistemological Reflection; Revealing the Traditional Theoretical Interpretation in Rural Societal Development

According to 2001 Census, 72.22 per cent of Indians live in about 6,38,691 villages. You know that in 1901, 89.2 % of Indians resided in villages and by 1961 this percentage had reduced to 82.03. It shows a declining trend which is bound to continue. There is, however, no doubt that even today a significant proportion of Indians lives in and derives livelihood from villages. Thus, ‘rural society’ assumes a considerable significance in any form of discussion on development. Bureau of the Census of the United States defines a rural community on the basis of the size and the density of population at a particular place. In India, on the other hand, the term ‘rural’ is defined in terms of revenue: the village means the ‘revenue village’. It might be one large village or a cluster of small villages. According to the Census Commission of India, a village is an entity identified by its name and a definite boundary. You may have observed that the Indian villages exhibit a great deal of diversity. Different states in India have different numbers of villages. According to the Census of India – 1991, the largest number of villages (1,12,566) is found in undivided Uttar Pradesh, followed by undivided Madhya Pradesh (71,352), undivided Bihar (67,546), Orissa (46,553), and Maharashtra (39,354). The smallest villages having the smallest populations are in the states of Sikkim (440) and Nagaland (1,112).据2001年印度全国人口普查数据显示，72.22%的印度民众居住于约638691个村落中。众所周知，1901年时有89.2%的印度民众居住在村落内，至1961年这一占比已降至82.03%，呈现持续下滑的趋势且该态势预计仍将延续。但毋庸置疑的是，直至今日仍有相当比例的印度民众以村落为居所，并依靠乡村获取生计来源。因此，‘乡村社会’在各类发展议题的探讨中均具有举足轻重的地位。美国人口普查局（Bureau of the Census of the United States）以特定区域的人口规模与人口密度为依据，对乡村社区进行界定。而在印度，‘乡村’这一概念则以税收行政区划为标准：村落即指‘税收村落’，其既可为单个大型村落，也可由若干小型村落集群组成。据印度人口普查委员会（Census Commission of India）的定义，村落是拥有专属名称与明确边界的行政实体。不难发现，印度各村落间存在显著的多样性差异，各邦的村落数量亦各不相同。据1991年印度全国人口普查数据，村落数量最多的为未拆分的北方邦（112566个），其后依次为未拆分的中央邦（71352个）、未拆分的比哈尔邦（67546个）、奥里萨邦（46553个）以及马哈拉施特拉邦（39354个）；村落数量最少的两个邦则为锡金邦（440个）与那加兰邦（1112个）。