The Government on Tuesday announced dissolving the three-decade-old District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) — an organisation responsible for overseeing implementation of anti-poverty programmes of Union Rural Development Ministry.
The agency will now be rechristened and will perform its role under zila parishads, local elected bodies at district level. Announcing the decision, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said that the DRDAs, which were set up as independent societies in 1980, would be attached and will function as part of the zilla parishads.
“... There is the overwhelming view is that the DRDAs should now function as professional units, professional cells and divisions of the zilla parishads and not have a separate independent, autonomous existence through the Society’s Act,” he said in his concluding remarks at the National Conference of Project Directors of DRDAs.
“As of April 1, 2014, the DRDAs as constituted today under the Society’s Act will not exist,” he said, adding there would be State rural development agencies to deal with the issues like staffing and functioning of the
district rural development planning units.
The decision to disband the DRDA was taken on the recommendation of a committee constituted under the chairmanship of V Ramchandran, Chairmen — Emeritus, Centre for Management Development, Thiruvananthapuram with the objective of strengthening and professionalising DRDA to meet the challenge of rural development in the present context.
Ramesh said the new name for the DRDAs that exist today has not been finalised and these can be called as the District Rural Development Units or District Rural Development Planning Units.
Ramachandran-led panel which had submitted its report in March 2012 noted that over the years, the institution of DRDA has fallen short in realizing its objective due
to enormous increase in the number of schemes, quantum of funds placed at its disposal and challenges in operationalising different new generation programmes which required a high order of professional competence.
In the context of emergence of Panchyati Raj Institutions, a need for integration of DRDA with Zilla Panchayat has also been felt, the panel had said.