Guide to community development

This book has been written on behalf of our village people. It attempts to interpret the mind and heartbeat of villagers to the servants of government who, through the Community Development and National Extension programmes, are seeking to help village people understand the significance of India's new-won freedom and the responsibilities and oppor tunities of free people in a democracy for working together in the rebuild ing of each of our 5,58,000 villages.

This book presents, for the officials and non-officials in Community Development and National Extension movement, and the block staff in particular, the objectives, philosophy and methods of the Community Development and National Extension programmes. Unless the staff understands the programme's objectives and is effective in the use of ex tension and group methods for introducing village people to change unless the staff is successful in helping village people accept and apply the tested and proven findings of science to their daily ways of living and their means of livelihood-unless the non-officials are clear about the important role they must play-the rate of change in the villages will be slow, and as a result village people will lose faith in themselves, in their government, and in democratic methods.

This book has been written for all the people of India, in the belief that the future of India lies in its villages and that government servants and persons outside of government must work together in helping village people improve their level of living.

This book may be of use also in other countries whose economies are under-developed and whose leaders are looking to, experimenting with and adopting community development as the method of improving agri culture, health, education and village cultural practices, and of lifting out of poverty the masses who till the soil and bring forth the harvest which sustains the nations of the world.