ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses Tagore’s approach to social reform via rural reconstruction and progressive education, comparing it to the Village Swaraj of Gandhi, the establishment of rural industries by Leonard Elmhirst and the “place, work, folk” of sociologist and planner Patrick Geddes. Around the world today there are many localisation initiatives which resemble those earlier approaches, and some of them challenge and mitigate to some extent the adverse effects of the world having followed the dehumanising and exploitative nationalist path. It is argued here that the world needs to be reminded of Tagore’s warnings and his insistence on the need for an alternative path for India and the world.
