District Rural Development Agency

Coimbatore District

DISTRICT RURAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY

Development of rural areas and the rural people has been the primary concern of the economic planning and development process of the country. In the wake of economic liberalization and structural adjustments and in order to provide a safety net, especially for the rural poor, top priority has been accorded to rural development through introduction of new programmes and restructuring of the existing ones. The Ministry of Rural Development is committed to eradicating poverty and hungry from the rural India and to usher in all round development of rural masses. As such there has been a paradigm shift in the policy of rural development, as the rural poor are treated as resource who form an integral part of the development strategy. Accordingly, the Ministry of Rural Development is implementing a number of schemes which aim at:

  • Bridging the rural – urban divide – In order to ensure rapid development in rural areas, the budgetary support for implementing the various rural development schemes have been increased many folds over the years.
  • Guaranteeing wage employment and ensuring food security – This is sought to be achieved through the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana.
  • Making rural people the arbiter of their own destiny and to provide for economic upliftment by self employment – for the development to be in consonance with the people’s wishes and aspirations, emphasis is put on participation of people as also social mobilization of rural poor through Self- Help Groups and Panchayat Raj Institutions.

List of Blocks

List of Town Panchayats

ADMINISTRATION:

          District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) is a principal organ at the District level to manage and oversee the implementation of different anti-poverty programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development. Since its inception the administrative cost of the DRDAs was met by setting apart a certain percentage of the allocation from each programme. However, keeping in view the need for an effective agency at the District Level to co-ordinate the anti-poverty programmes, a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme for strengthening the DRDAs was introduced w.e.f  1st April 1999. Under this scheme, the staff costs of DRDA establishments are met by the Central and State Government in the ratio of 75:25.

OBJECTIVES:

          The primary objective of the Scheme of DRDA Administration is to professionalise the DRDA  so that they are able to effectively manage the anti-poverty programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development and interact effectively with other agencies. The DRDAs are expected to coordinate effectively with the line departments, the Panchayat Raj institutions, the banks and other financial institutions, the NGOs as well as technical institutions with a view to gathering support and resources required for poverty reduction effort in the district.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE:

  • The DRDA would be headed by a Project Director, who should be of the rank of an Additional District Magistrate, in respect of such States where DRDA does not have a separate identity, a cell will be created in the Zilla Parishad to maintain a separate account so that these are capable of being audited separately
  • Role of DRDA will be to facilitate the implementation of the Programmes, to supervise/oversee and monitor the progress, to receive and send progress report and maintaining accounts of funds received for various rural development programmes.
  • DRDAs also need to develop synergies among different agencies for the most effective results.
  • The DRDAs are expected to deal only with the anti-poverty programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development. If DRDAs are entrusted with programmes of other Ministries or those of the State governments, it should be ensured that these have a definite anti-poverty focus.
  • The Chairman Zilla Parishad would be the chairman of the Governing Body of the DRDA. The DRDA shall also have an Executive Committee.

STAFFING PATTERN:

  • The Staffing structure of the DRDAs includes positons for planning for poverty alleviation, project formulation, social organization and capacity building, gender concerns, engineering supervision and quality control, project monitoring, accounting and audit functions as well as evaluation and impact studies.

DRDA have the following wings:

  • Self – employment Wing:
  • Women’s Wing:
  • Wages and Employment Wing:
  • Watershed Wing:
  • Engineering Wing:
  • Accounts Wing:
  • Monitoring and Evaluation Wing: and
  • General Administration Wing:
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