Social problems of Indian villages are as follows:
a. Illiteracy: Illiteracy is a major social problem in Indian villages. Lack of educational institutions and poor quality education, coupled with high dropout rates has aggravated the situation. Majority of the educational institutions are suffering from lack of educational infrastructures like adequate buildings, libraries and reading rooms, sports grounds, etc. There is a great disparity among rural and urban regions of our society regarding educational opportunities. Further, basic facilities like drinking water, sanitation facilities, transport and communications facilities are not up to the mark.
b. Rural ****: On the basis of an empirical study in seven districts in Rajasthan in 1996 sponsored by the World Bank it has identified the following causes for in rural areas: Inadequate and ineffective implementation of anti-*** programmes, Low percentage of population engaged in nonagricuitural pursuits. Non-availability of irrigational facilities and erratic rainfall. Dependence on traditional methods of cultivation and inadequate modem skills. Non-availability of electricity for agriculture, Poor quality of livestock.
Imperfect and exploited credit CLI market, communication facilities and markets, Low level of education. Absence of dynamic community leadership. ** to seek ’ cooperation in developmental activities and associating them with planned programmes. Inter-caste conflicts and rivalries. Spending a large percentage of annual earnings on social ceremonies like festivals, marriages, feast, etc., People unwilling to discard expensive customs.
c. Health Problems: About 74% of the doctors are in urban areas, when it 70% of the total population living in villages, the extent to which provision of skilled medical care is lacking in the villages becomes quite obvious. Fertility and Birth rate as well as ***** rates are very high in villages.
Infant mortality and maternal mortality are also high. The problems of malnutrition, the sporadic outbreak of epidemic **** like Cholera, Malaria. Plague, Dengue and other communicable **** are quite common. The housings are very much unsanitary while the addiction to alcohol and nicotine drugs makes the state of health condition even worse. Pesticides like Endosulfan also have caused much health hazard in rural areas.
There are more than 5000 people affected by endosulfan in Uttara Kannada District alone. At the same time soil has been degraded rendering it infertile due to excessive use of chemicals and fertilisers and it affects not only the yield but also the health of the agriculturists.
