Sriniketan Project (1914)
a rural setting. During 1914 he established a rural reconstruction institute at Sriniketan involving
youth from a group of 8 villages. It maintained a demonstration farm, a dairy and poultry unit,
an outdoor clinic, a department of cottage industries and a village school. These agencies were
to treat the villages as their laboratory to identify problems and test their ideas. The villages
were expected to approach these agencies through the village workers to obtain solution of their
more pressing problems. These social workers lived in the villages and worked with the people.
At Sriniketan centre, agriculture, dairy and poultry were the foremost activities. Scheme
of land development and tree plantation were given due importance. Experiment on paddy,
sugarcane and cotton were undertaken. Improved seeds, vegetable seedlings, fruit grafts and
saplings were distributed. New breeds of cattle were introduced. Local artisans were trained in
cottage industries. Other activities were village scout movement, village developmental council,
health, cooperatives, circulating library and village fairs.
Drawbacks
1. This institute could not get Government help and support.
2. It could not do research work and hence the programmes remained limited to those
8 villages only.
Economic Conference of Mysore
This programme was operated in Mysore state of the present Karnataka in the year 1914-
1918. The objectives were: 1) achieve all round progress, 2) bringing related economic development, and 3) give first priority to agriculture. District and taluk comittees with the
respective revenue officers were the officials responsible with a chairman. The officers of the
development departments and the selected non-officials were members.
The committee surveyed the needs and possibilities, listed them, fixed the priorities and
suggested the means for attaining them. But this programme was discontinued due to the
immense work load to the officials and non-involvement of the people in the programme.
