The Rural-Urban Unite

For long we have debated the rural urban divide that exists in our nation and how this might bring the nation to collapse. But this repeated conditioning of our mind has veiled the unity that exists between the cities and the mofussils. There are threads that bind the two together and the sufferings are similar on both sides. This union can be seen as a very attractive segment by marketeers and politicians alike. It is important that we start looking at people beyond differences in castes, language or geographies.

India might be a land of great diversities but the pain and sorrow of the poor is fairly constant everywhere. Pain can be a much stronger uniting factor than any other. This common thread of sorrow and despair among the poor was the major factor responsible for catapulting an year old party to power. The party looked at urban and rural poor with the same eye. The problems in the life of poor in the country are same irrespective of their place of residence. There is really no basis to distinguish between the people except their social class.

Similarly, the solutions too are equally applicable. A subsidy on food is equally appreciated by the urban as well as the rural poor. This is where I think a universal Public Distribution System (PDS) is a more over-arching and definitive solution than several other targeted schemes looking to benefit a very selective target segment. The process of selecting the right target in itself is flawed and corrupt. The process should rather be that of rejection, which rejects the most obvious undeserving upper class united in riches. Rest everyone whether in cities or villages should have access to equal support from the government.

While geographies are a great divide, suffering is a greater uniting factor which should never be overlooked. The policy design should not restrict itself by boundaries but look at more comprehensive solutions. The rural-urban unite is the new "vote bank" of  the Indian politics but this kind of vote bank would lead to a much better politics that looks beyond caste and religion.

“We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.”