Santiniketan attempted to produce a culture, which was Bengali/Indian in its construction and approach yet significant to the modern world. In 1912, Rabindranath established an institution called Ashram-Sammilani. It was a body of elected students with teachers in-charge to look after the functioning of the school. Students’ Unions are primarily concerned with student interests; they or any other union, for that matter formed to protect their rights against the authority’s misuse of power. There was a court run by the elected student body. Whenever there was a complaint of any serious offence, the court had its session with the accused on some quiet place after dinner. The Sammilani met twice a month-once on new-moon nights, the other on full-moon nights. During Rabindranath’s long stay at Silaidaha among the villagers he realised not only self-sufficiency, self-rule and self-respect could cure rural population from their weakness, poverty and sense of inferiority; that it was society that should rule, not the state imported from Europe. Sriniketan-Visva-Bharati’s rural development/reconstruction programme started in 1922. Rabindranath applied the principles of the co-operative movement to Sriniketan; and as known he applied it everywhere-equal respect for everybody, equal participation, equal distribution of material and spiritual wealth.
Main aim of Santiniketan can be stated as :
