IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY IN TRANSFORMING RURAL LIFE IN PUNJAB

A RESEARCH PROPOSAL

SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

INSOCIOLOGY

Supervisor Submitted by:

Dr. Rani Mehta Arvind

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGYPANJAB UNIVERSITY,

CHANDIGARH

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INTRODUCTION:-

Many thinkers have highlighted that the technological invention

or innovation is a primary factor in affecting social and Cultural

Change. It is a well known fact that the wheel, the pot, the

compass, gunpowder, the printing press, the steam engine, the

telephone, the motor car, the steam engine, the telephone ,

the motor car, the radio, the aero plane and the atom bomb

have certainly brought about many changes in the social

life of the people. For example, the radio sets out a common

standard of speech and thus, brings about uniformity in speech

in the various sections of the society .

In the field of agriculture technology, there have been

immense changes in the last 75 Years. Advances in biology have

resulted in the propagation of new varieties of seeds, high

yielding on the one hand and disease resisting on the other.

There have been developments in the construction of new

mechanical and labour saving devices.

There have also been treatment advances in the control of

flood water of rivers by dams and irrigation channels. All these

developments have increased the quantity and improved

quality of agricultural production.

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Another important area in which great technological

improvement has taken place and has contributed to significant

changes in social life is that of transportation and communication.

The present study shall focus on the transformation of the

rural life in the Punjab due to increased use of technology in

agriculture, household activities etc.

CONCEPT OF TECHNOLOGY

Technology alters human life -style to its existential roots.

Technology is, therefore, considered a primary determinant of

social change. Virtually, all segments of human life are touched

by technological growth. The present scenario is totally based on

advancement in technology.

David M. Freeman (1974; 12) describes the impact of

technology (systematic knowledge, tools and machines) involved

in production of goods and services by compressing it into a time

frame.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNIQUES

Montagur Yudlman et al for instance regard technology

as the application of knowledge in the production process that

involves the use of new resources while techniques refer to

application of knowledge in the production process without 2

use of new resources. Shigeru Ishikawa offers that “a

technology is a system of technical knowledge combining certain

specific factors and inputs in production in a specific knowledge

pertaining to individual components of the technology.”

(Freeman, D, 1979)

Material technology refers to knowledge of how to make

and use things or artifacts.

Social technology is the knowledge about how to establish,

maintain and operate the technical devices for the betterment of

the society.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INVENTION AND INNOVATION

Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter made a

fundamental distinction between invention, which is the

discovery of new techniques and innovation, which consist of the

practical application of an invention in production for the market.

Invention is performed by the inventor while innovation is the

task of an entrepreneur. (Bimal Jalan, 2002)

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SOCIAL CHANGE AND INNOVATION

An innovation is any idea, practices or material artifact

perceived to be new by the relevant unit of adoption. The

innovation is the hange object. On the other hand, a change is

the alteration in the structure of a system that requires or could

be required by relearning on the part of the actor (s) in

response to a given situation.

The requirement of the situation often involves a response

to an innovation. Often, too, appropriate response to a new

requirement is an inventive process producing an innovation,

also, all innovations imply change, but not all change involves

innovations (Gerald Zaltman and Robert Duncan, 1977).

SOCIAL CHANGE THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

Marx succinctly captured the materialistic perspective on

mechanism of change in his well known saying that the wind

gives your society the feudal lord, the steam mill gives your

society the industrial capitalist

Veblen said social order is crucially shaped by technology.

The machine process pervades the modern life and dominates it

in a mechanical sense. The machine has become the master of

man who works with it as an arbiter in the cultural format of 4

community whose life it has entered. The machine is a leveler, a

vulgarizer whose end seems to be the root out of all that is

respectable, noble and dignified in human intercourse and

ideals. He is concerned with the effects of technology on the

pattern of thought and behaviour. He argued that human

beliefs and conduct are primarily shaped by the way in which

one earns one’s living and gains one’s wealth which, in turn, is

a function of technology.

Ogburn gave primacy to technological development and

developed the famous idea that laid stress on the inevitable

adjustment of cultural factors vis-à-vis technology. (Foster, 1962)

IMPACT ON AGRICULTURE

Technology transfer in agriculture has mainly occurred in

three spheres: hydro-technology, bio-technology and mechanical

technology. Hydro-technology encompasses the technology used

in irrigation like use of diesel and electric pump sets, modern

inputs, namely chemical fertilizers and modern pest control

devices. Mechanical technology involves the use of power tillers,

disc-harrows, sprayers, dusters, threshers, etc, in agriculture

operations.

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Biotechnology has changed from Green Revolution to

Gene Revolution Genetically modified crops like Bt cotton have

brought a tremendous change in the life of the farmers.

Over the past 40 years production has increased

significantly for the cereals, pulses, oilseeds, cotton and

sugarcane.

In the last three decades, rural Punjab has witnessed

social progress and economic prosperity, based on an

enduring and increasingly prosperous agricultural economy

unsubordinated to the industrial sector.

CONCEPT OF RURAL LIFE

Village is a unit of the rural society. The emergence of the

village, of certain stage, in the evolution of the life of man and

its further growth and development in subsequent period of

human history showed varied structural changes it had

experienced and the rapid and basic transformation it had

undergone during thousands of years of its existence.

The rise of the villages integrated with the rise of

agricultural economy in history. Agricultural production was

raised by technology. The productivity of agricultural products

liberated people from the necessity of participating in the food 6

production. They could, therefore, concentrate on the secondary

things such as industrial and ideological activities. This gave

momentum to top growth of technology, arts, sciences and

philosophy. Thus, this further changed the rural social life.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RURAL AND URBAN

Rural is differentiated in terms of its geo physical

location, spatial difference of distribution of house holds based

on kinship family ties and close interaction between individuals

and families

In the rural setting , the occupational structure centers

around agriculture, the informal clientele system is formalized

through established tradition and institution, control and

authority is based on ascription and the belief system on faith

and conviction in religious ethics and themes (Mehta, 1984)

The families in the villages are more important as they

play a more significant role in the social life while in urban

setting the families get lesser importance and exercise

minimum influence on social life.

In a rural society, there is a good deal of co-operation and

“we” feeling while in urban society such a thing is not to be

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found. People are self- centered and are concerned with their

individual life.

PROFILE OF THE STATE OF PUNJAB

Punjab is a small state in North-West of India. Its population

is 24,358,999 according to 2001 census of India. It is well

irrigated with canals and wells. The state of Punjab covers only

1.5% of geographical area of the country but produced about

22% of wheat, 12% rice and 13% of cotton in the country during

2002-03. The state of Punjab produces 1% of rice and 2% of

wheat and cotton respectively in the world.

Brief Demographic profile of the state of Punjab is as follows:-

Area - 50,362 Sq.km.

Population - 24,358,999

Rural - 160.96 lakh

Urban - 8263 Lakh

Districts - 20

No. of towns - 143

No. of cities - 14

Government canal - 1134

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The State of Punjab consumes nearly 9% of the fertilizer

consumption in India.

The total “NPK” chemical fertilizer consumption 15.53 lakh

tones during 2004-05 (196 kg per hectare consumption).

The production of grain was 146.95 metric tones during the

same period. The economic growth of Punjab is currently 5.39%.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

In a study of Dharwad, Sarkar and Prahladachar (1966)

have found that tractors were used for about 130 days in

a year, including thirty –eight days of use on own farms. It

was natural, therefore, that instead of increasing the

cropping intensity and demand for labour, tractorization led

to a reduction in the work of labourers and animals.

According to Sharma (1974), the reduction in the use of

labourers was not much, as demand for them increased in

weeding, irrigation harvesting and threshing operations. His

unique finding is that the net return per acre was the

same for both tractor and bullock operated forms due to

the higher costs of mechanized farming.

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Mitra (1972) had found unemployment of artisans as a

result of adopting mechanized forming as they could not

repair the improved agricultural equipments with the use

of their of traditional skills.

Sharan and her associates (1974) have been more

concerned with the energy consumption aspect of farming.

They have found that tractor operated farms need more

energy than bullock operated farms.

In a study by Aslam (1981) in the border State

(Kashmir) of northern India he selected one agriculturally

more mechanised village (Dyalgam), and one traditional

village (Kamar), and analysed the impact of mechanized

farming on the size of land holding, religiosity, income,

educational and occupational aspiration of the households.

He found that religiosity, educational levels, income and size

of land holdings were higher in the mechanized village than

in the traditional one. He also found that as the level of

technology increased, the proportion of nuclear families

declined.

Compebell M.J. (1990) highlighted a study located in

Southern Indian State of Karnataka. Two villages were 10

selected from the taluka of Dharwad district by using the

indicator of farm mechanization. The selected two villages

were dependent entirely on rainfall for irrigation as they

are located very near to the western hill region. The rainfall

is adequate and dependable in this area. The soil is black

and reasonably fertile. The soil retains the moisture for a

longer time than does alluvial soil or red-sandy soil. It

requires deep ploughing before sowing and not multiple

ploughing as needed in the case of alluvial and red-sandy

soils. Given these agro-climatic condition, Marewada has got

more of large-size holdings as compared to Harobelawadi.

This initial situation seems to have provided an

advantage in the sense that the households having large

holdings could save and invest in mechanical and

agricultural equipment or could raise adequate loans to

purchase them. The HYV (high yielding variety) technology

is also used by the farmers of Marewada in the sense the

farmers have been using improved seeds in wheat and

cotton along with chemical fertilizers. This means that

mechanization of farming in Marewada is combined with

the use of HYV technology. Mechanization is mostly in the 11

form of tractorization, though some of the households have

gone in for modern agricultural equipment for harvesting

and threshing. Tractorizaiton has found favour with the

Marewada large farmers mainly because of the time factor

involved in ploughing the vast area of large-size holdings

and sowing them before the moisture content in the soil

disappears.

Tractorization has been used as a sort of time saving device

in Marewada agriculture. This has enabled the farmers to get

two crops in place of formerly one crop. This additional crop

is mostly a form of commercial crop such as potatoes,

onions, cotton and sunflowers.

In contrast, such mechanization has not taken place

on a large scale in the near by Harobelawadi village in spite

of similar agro-climatic situation, mainly because the size

of landholdings is small, which makes it difficult to raise

capital to purchase equipment like tractors. Also there is

lack of enthusiasm for using the tractors for ploughing

simply because it has proved uneconomic to do so on

such small plots. This is the main reason for Harobelawadi

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households lagging behind in mechanization of their

agriculture.

The direct impact of this mechanization has been on

the cropping intensity which has increased the output and

finally the income of the mechanized households.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

- To analyze the socio-economic profile of selected

respondents in the two selected villages of Punjab.

- To highlight the changes observed in the economic life of

the family households in the two selected villages as a

result of adoption of technological innovations.

- To delineate the changes observed in the life style of the

family households in the two selected villages as a

consequence of acceptance of technological devices.

- To study the changes in the socio-cultural life of the

family households in the two selected villages because of

introduction of technological inputs.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Study Design

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The research design formulated for this study will be

comparative. In this study, the impact of technology on the life

style and economic structure of people living in two different

villages of Ferozepur district of Punjab will be compared.

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METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION

UNIVERSE OR LOCALE OF THE STUDY

Depending on the problem and objectives of the proposed

research, it is decided to select Ferozepur district on the basis of

having highest irrigation (90%). About 585 lakh hectares of land

in Ferozepur district is under irrigation which is comparatively

higher than other districts of Punjab according to the Agricultural

Department of Punjab.

Two villages will be chosen on the basis of one having

higher irrigation, fertile land and the other having less irrigation

facilities and falling in semi arid land zone.

The underlying assumption is that a high irrigated area will

have greater technological inputs such as tractorization, use of

chemical fertilizers, pesticides etc. than unirrigated areas. As

such, it shall have some impact on the socio-cultural life of

people.

SELECTION OF SAMPLE AND DATA COLLECTION

In this proposed study, the random sampling will be used to

select the family households and head of the households who will

be the unit of investigation, after preparing a list of the

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households residing in the village. The sample size shall be

about 300 house holds.

The data will be collected from primary and secondary

sources. Secondary sources will be review of literature, census,

agriculture department of Punjab and Government of India.

Primary data will be collected from the field work by interviewing

the head of the family households.

TOOLS OF DATA COLLECTION

In this study, an interview schedule will be used having both

the close ended and open ended question. The same will be pre-

tested in the field before final investigation.

CODING AND ANALYSIS

After data collection a code design will be prepared by

building suitable categories of responses. Simple statistical

methods will be employed in the analysis.

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Change,” Behaviour Sciences and Rural Development, 3,

2 July.

Aslam, M., (1981) Social Implication of Technology in Rural

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Compbell M.J. (1990) (ed.) New Technology and rural

development: The social impact. Routledge London and

New York.

Dube, S.C. (1955) Indian Village, London, Routledge.

Dube, S.C. (1958) India’s Changing Villages: Human Factors in

community Development, IthacaCornell University Press.

Foster, George M., (1962) Traditional cultures and the Impact of

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assessment, conflict and choice, Chicago, Rand Mc Nally

College.

Jalan, Bimnal (2002), India’s Economy in the new millennium

selected Essay, Delhi UBSPD.

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Joe Bailey (1975) Social theory for Planning London Routledge

and Kegan Paul

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Pub.

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Economics, January –March.

Sharan, G., (1974) Characterization of the process of

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(monograph No. 45), (Ahmedabad: Indian Institute of

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http//www.goole.co.in

http//www.punjab.gov.com

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