In his article, “Developing model village clusters” (Sept. 18), Ramgopal Agarwala appears to be advocating a paradigm shift from Gandhian philosophy where “if a village perishes, India will perish too….” There will be wastage of natural resources if “model villages” are developed instead of “village clusters.” There will also be major roadblocks while developing these village clusters, the first impediment being land acquisition. The second is a lack of proper road connectivity in rural areas. Another problem lies in creating varied employment in village clusters. One must also remember that a majority of Indians are employed in agriculture and allied activities. The largest problem in India is a lack of basic facilities that should be within reach of the rural poor. It is this that must be addressed first.
Balaji Akiri,Hyderabad
