NEW DELHI: At a time when his birthday party colleagues are busy campaigning for the state elections, defending BJP bastions in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Varun Gandhi has taken a very other route to rediscover rural India. The Sultanpur MP, who has been out of his birthday party's list of campaigners for a while now, spent two and a half years to complete an 870-page e book on India's rural society and financial system.
With 'A Rural Manifesto: Realising India's Future Through Her Villages', Varun seems to be following in the footsteps of his great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru whose works 'Discovery of India' and 'Glimpses of World History' are nonetheless very important reading.
In his e book, Varun explores the feasibility of an Indian village as an independent socio-economic entity, capable of sustaining itself with out external linkages. He delves into the lives of rural Indians via analysing agrarian stipulations, provision for healthcare and training, non-farm earning and labour stipulations in villages.
"The idea of writing a dense synthesis of facts, forecasts and, at times, personal anecdotes came from my travels in India's dusty hinterland," Varun informed TOI, picking up the line from the preface. "Working on the book has been a great learning experience and will help me function better, especially as a people's representative in Lok Sabha," he added.
While BJP is busy addressing farmers in poll-bound states, Varun's e book says the "number of farmer suicides in 2015 was three times more than 2014 and that NCRB stopped publishing records of the suicides since then". He examined the relation between farmer suicides, indebtedness and rural misery in the e book .
Asked why he wrote this e book, since now not many in his constituency would even read it, Varun stated, "Firstly, it is quite disappointing to think that an MP's job is only limited to minor civic works, remaining range-bound in terms of issues within the constituency. I am a firm believer in Edmund Burke's idea which holds that a Parliament is not a congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests, but a deliberative assembly of one nation, with national interest in mind."
With 'A Rural Manifesto: Realising India's Future Through Her Villages', Varun seems to be following in the footsteps of his great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru whose works 'Discovery of India' and 'Glimpses of World History' are nonetheless very important reading.
In his e book, Varun explores the feasibility of an Indian village as an independent socio-economic entity, capable of sustaining itself with out external linkages. He delves into the lives of rural Indians via analysing agrarian stipulations, provision for healthcare and training, non-farm earning and labour stipulations in villages.
"The idea of writing a dense synthesis of facts, forecasts and, at times, personal anecdotes came from my travels in India's dusty hinterland," Varun informed TOI, picking up the line from the preface. "Working on the book has been a great learning experience and will help me function better, especially as a people's representative in Lok Sabha," he added.
While BJP is busy addressing farmers in poll-bound states, Varun's e book says the "number of farmer suicides in 2015 was three times more than 2014 and that NCRB stopped publishing records of the suicides since then". He examined the relation between farmer suicides, indebtedness and rural misery in the e book .
Asked why he wrote this e book, since now not many in his constituency would even read it, Varun stated, "Firstly, it is quite disappointing to think that an MP's job is only limited to minor civic works, remaining range-bound in terms of issues within the constituency. I am a firm believer in Edmund Burke's idea which holds that a Parliament is not a congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests, but a deliberative assembly of one nation, with national interest in mind."
Out of campaign, Varun Gandhi pens 'rediscovery of rural India'
![Out of campaign, Varun Gandhi pens 'rediscovery of rural India']()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
November 27, 2018
Rating:
