ABSTRACT
On the eve of sixty-eighth independence day, on 15 August 2014, the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, announced the introduction of SAGY also known as Member of Parliament Model Village Scheme to replace the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gaon Yojana (PMAGY; Prime Minister’s Model Village Programme). Therefore, once again the question of village has been occupying centre page in the media, discussions among academic circles, policy makers and implementers. That is why it is the right occasion to raise the questions about the village/model village. What is meant by village in the historical context of India? What is the need to launch an MP’s model village scheme after more than six decades of planned development in the representative liberal democracy? What are the models that are available about the model villages? And to what extent the model village scheme will resolve the existing crisis in the rural India?
