ABSTRACT:
Five years back, Shri Warna co-operative sugar factory entered into the silver jubilee year. The year naturally was the year of rejoicing and celebration But it was also the year of introspection. In a span of 25 years, Herculean efforts have been made to change the face of the villagers. Hence !he review is necessary to determine the further action plan for a backward area already moving forward to a new future. In this article an attempt is made to ascertain how far the people in the village-Talsande are politically conscious. This village is located within the radius of six miles from the Warna co-operative sugar factory. The factory being co-operative, the villages around it always witness a hum of elections every five years.' They have to elect their candidates from the panel set for the elections. Naturally the factory elections, village panchayat elections and the national elections have made the people to get acquainted with the procedure of elections,1formatlon of the government and the vigilance of Iha voters. Hence an attempt was made to see whether the villagers of Talasande were politically conscious or not. In this article. therefore, the following factors while constitute the political consciousness are taken into consideration. ( 1) The interest of lhe villagers in elections and electioneering, their discussion and the attendance at meeting disclosing their susceptibility to matters political (2) Their membership of parties, trade union and their participation showing their proper sites and involvement in active politics and thus providing their alignment (3) The reading habits revealing their knowledge not only of day-to-day happenings in the nation and in the world but also of the ideologies and programmes pursued by the parties. The question related to. these factors were incorporateti in the questionnaire designed to screen their political aptitude and aspirations and their knowledge about the national and international matters. The answers given by the villagers to these questions enable us to arrive at certain general sections regarding their views through which one gets a measure of their political consciousness.