India is rightly called the country of villages. Its economy is based on agriculture. Condition of people living in villages is very poor. Gandhiji said that the real India lives in villages. India cannot make progress unless the rural areas are fully developed. He used to lay much emphasis on rural upliftment which meant development of villages. There are many things which differentiate rural life from town life.
Most important thing is that financial condition of village people is not good. Main source of their livelihood is agriculture. They also earn some money by selling dairy products and doing some other work. They are mainly dependent on agriculture hence for many months in a year they don’t have any work to do. In villages another big problem is of education. In villages there are only a few schools and colleges. These educational institutes are not good enough to meet their educational requirements. These schools do not provide quality education to the students. For higher education they have to rush to different cities. It is not affordable for everybody. Sanitation is also a big problem in villages. There people are not much aware of cleanliness and hygiene. Many of the diseases in India are due to insanitary conditions of our villages. Unless people are healthy, no real progress is possible. A lot of our national energy is wasted on account of sickness which we should try to prevent.
Through the town life is not absolutely flawless but still people live better life in towns. There people are sound financially. Despite of the problem of unemployment there are more opportunities for employment. In towns people have better options for education and career. There is large number of educational institutes. In towns people are aware enough of sanitation. Hence they fall less ill. They lay emphasis on developmental programs. Children, adults and old, everybody has big scope for various activities. They have entertainment and other facilities. Their behavior patterns, life style, dresses and activities are different from those of rural life. There are better options for career oriented programs.
A very distinguishing feature of town life is that here people are not orthodox. They believe in change. They are always willing to take up new things. They are not always sticky to the by-gone things. In towns people are changing their thinking or approach way fast. One more important thing about town life is that social attitude towards women is becoming positive. In families girls and boys are brought up equally, given equal educations and even equal career option.
Rural life and town life are the two different sides of the same coin. Nothing is perfect or flawless. Each of the two has its own merits and demerits. Rural life is calm and serene while town life is full of chaos and tension. In rural areas environment is not as much polluted as in towns. In rural areas people live in natural way. In towns people are getting much crazy about fast food while in rural areas people take simple food which is good for our health. In fact, development of both rural as well as town areas is equally important and necessary for the real development of our nation.