KARNATAKA: There are many reasons why rural Karnataka is moving to cities. Lack of basic facilities and opportunities are just some of them. And in this shift, traditional knowledge found in abundance in villages have lost their relevance.
With all this in mind, a discussion was organised last week at Sringeri Shankar Mutt in Siddapur in Uttara Kannada district.
The mutt's authorities - Dhathri Pustaka Prakashana of Bangalore and Suvarna Sahyadri of Sirsi - jointly held the event.
Writer and environmentalist Shivananda Kalave was the one to initiate the debate. According to him, villagers - made desperate by urbanisation - have prepared themselves for defeat. Instead, they should search for alternative ways to win the situation, he said.
Chairman of Karnataka Organic Farming Mission Anand had an experience to share.
At a programme he attended a month ago in Thagarse village near Baindur, a newlydeveloped transplantation machine was being demonstrated.
A couple - agriculture graduates - who settled in the village were also felicitated on the occasion.
Anand said while speakers praised the couple for their decision to move to a village and the new transplantation machine, one old farmer had a question.
"Do the organisers have a magic wand to bring my children back to
the village from the city?" Anand quoted the farmer.Anand said both sons of the farmer were settled in Bangalore and had refused to return to the village.
The farmer's reason for wanting them to return was because he felt that there was life and love in the village. But for his children, earning good money was important and it was possible only in the city.
Diwakar Hegde Kerehonda, another speaker at the event, told the story of Malleshappa, a farmer in Dharwad district.
Malleshappa had over 100 skills in agriculture. In his small piece of land, he grew everything he needed. He has a comfortable and healthy life in the village. But his knowledge and skills in farming must die with him. His son, who migrated to the city for work, has refused to return.
Many more similar lives were discussed at the meeting, which wanted to find a way to revive the villages and protect the traditional knowledge and skill against the onslaught of urbanisation.
Participants in the Siddapur
Programme agreed that villagers were looking to cities for their role models.According to them, reversing the trend was important.
People should be made to discuss urban problems and the negative aspects of city life. Villagers should develop a sense of confidence and love for their skills and traditional knowledge, they said.