Current Public Administration Magazine (February - 2014) - "Rural Development Programmes"

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Rural Development Programmes

ROLE AND FUNCTIONS OF THE DISTRICT RURAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (DRDA)

If effective programme design is critical to successful implementation of rural development programmes, so is an effective delivery agency. None of the anti-poverty programmes can have impact unless they are implemented with a clarity of purpose and a commitment to the task. It is here that the DRDAs play a critical role. The DRDAs are not the implementing agencies, but can be very effective in enhancing the quality of implementation through overseeing the implementation of different programmes and ensuring that necessary linkages are provided. To this extent the DRDAs is a supporting and a facilitating organisation and needs to play a very effective role as a catalyst in development process.

The District Rural Development Agency is visualised as a specialised and a professional agency capable of managing the anti-poverty programms of the Ministry of Rural Development on the one hand and to effectively relate these to the overall effort of poverty eradication in the District. In other words, while the DRDA will continue to watch over the implmention of RD Programme to ensure effective utilisation of the funds intended for antipoverty programmes, it will need to develop a far greater understanding of the processes necessary for poverty alleviation/eradication. It will also need to develop the capacity to build synergies among different agencies involved for the most effective results. It will therefore need to develop distinctive capabilities rather than perform tasks that are legitimately in the domain of the PRIs or the line departments. The role of the DRDA will therefore be distinct from all the other agencies, including the Zilla Parishad.

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DRDAs must themselves be more professional and should be able to interact effectively with various other agencies. They are expected to coordinate with the line departments, the Panchayati Raj Institutions, the banks and other financial institutions, the NGOs as well as the technical institutions, with a view to gathering the support and resources required for poverty reduction effort in the district. It shall be their endeavour and objective to secure inter-sectoral and inter-departmental coordination and coorperation for reducing poverty in the district. It is their ability to coordinate and bring about a convergence of approach
among different agencies for poverty alleviation that would set them apart.

The DRDAs are expected to coordinate effectively with the Panchayati Raj Institutions. Under no circumstances will they perform the functions of PRIs.

The DRDAs will maintain their separate identity but will function under the chairmanship of the Chairman of the Zilla Parishad. They are expected to be a facilitating and supporting organisation to the Zilla Parishad, providing necessary executive and technical support in respect of poverty reduction efforts. Wherever the Zilla Parishads are not in existence or are not functional, the DRDAs would function under the Collector/District Magistrate/Deputy Commissioner, as the case may be.