SERICUL TURE AND THE PROCESS OF CHANGE - Institute for ...

to the rural society, in particular. The changes became much more rapid
since Independence. With most Indian population living in villages, rural
development assumed immense significance right from the time of
Independence. A policy of deliberate socio-economic development
began with vast consequences in village India (Ishwaran 1970b: 1). An
attempt is made here to identifY the various factors that have been
operating in the change processes of rural India, especially in the post
Independent era. The nature of changes is also looked into by locating
the various aspects of change. In the process, the emerging theoretical
perspective of change comes into focus, forming the basis for the present
research.
Factors of Change: The rapid changes in rural India could be
attributed to many factors, which have been associated with the
deliberate development measures of the Government. Some of the
development measures that have been initiated in the past few decades
concern the following:
• land refonns and green revolution;
• labour intensive and labour distributive enterprises like animal husbandry
and cottage and agro industries;
• extensive networks of transport and communication;
• welfare services including education, health and sanitation, family planning
and housing, and
• special welfare programmes, for the weaker sections including women,
SCs, STs and the backward classes.
The new revenue system, introduced by the British India,
superseded the traditional right of the village coastes over the village
land. It led to the transformation of land relations. After independence,
the Indian government has been initiating a series of land reform
measures. The objective of the government land policy has been to
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