est. But the present liberation struggle which also involves a mighty social revolution has awakened our people to an unprecedented degree.
The people are wide awake today. They are no longer the passive objects of policy but its main driving forces. Acutely anxious inquiry has moved from the question “who are the poor?” to the fundamental question “why are they poor?” There is no getting away from answering this fundamental question. The problem of poverty is not a problem of individual character and its waywardness, but a problem of economic and industrial policy and organisation. The issue has to be tackled first at its source, and only secondly in its manifestation.
The villages, as already stated, are the appropriate centers to put into effect the socialist cconomic order based on democratic values. The task of bringing about a social and economic revolution through democratic process must begin in the villages where 94.8 percent of the people live. The Community Development and National Extension projects are the effective means of bringing about the social and economic transformation of the village communities. The community development projects have, therefore, a place of capital significance in those sectors of our national life, which bear most closely upon the welfare of the rural population.
The Community Development Projects have three important aspects. First, the community development projects and the national extension services are intended to be the areas of intensive effort in which development agencies of the government work together as a team in programmes which are planned and co-ordinate in advanced. The activitics comprised within the community development and national extension projects must be regarded as an integral part of the programme for improving all aspects of rural life. Second, the essence of the programme is that the villagers who are actually conscious of their miseries come together for bringing about social changes, that is, building a new life for themselves and participate with increasing awareness and responsibility in the planning and implementation of projects, which are material to their well-being. The programmes provided them with new opportunities, and. in turn, through their active participation in planning and execution; they give them a distinctive quality and enlarge their scope and influence. Self-help and co-operation are the basic principles on which the movement rests. Its main purpose is to provide opportunities for leadership lo grow from within. In essence it is a movement for social development, which will embrace all sections of the rural communities. Third, the movement should bring within its scope the entire rural communities and enable them to take their place in the co-operative movement and other spheres in their own right. It will develop the initiative and add to theoreativity and inventiveness of our people. It is on account of thesc, fcatures that the community development projects are regarded as the normal pattern of a socialist economy based on democracy in action.
Community development means voluntary self-help by the village communitics. It purpose is to transform the social and economic life of the village. The basic philosophy underlying the programme is that the social and economic development will not be sustained unless the village people are convinced of the need for such development and participate actively and enthusiastically in the work. The basic problems are to be solved
