DISTRICT RURAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY

The District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) has traditionally been the principal organ at the District level to oversee the implementation of different anti poverty programmes. In the context of the requests from the States to review the administrative costs admissible to the DRDAs, an inter-Ministerial Committee was constituted in February, 1997, under the Chairmanship of Shri M. Shankar, Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor of the erstwhile Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment to review the support for administrative costs permitted under various programmes of the Ministry. On the basis of the recommendations of this Committee, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for strengthening of DRDA Administration was launched w.e.f. 1.4.99. With this, a separate provision has been made to meet the administrative expenses of the DRDAs.

 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:
  • Wage employment Wing:
  • Watershed Wing:
  • Engineering Wing:
  • Accounts Wing:
  • Monitoring and Evaluation Wing: and
  • General Administration Wing:

ADMINISTRATIVE COST:

  • Category B District (6-10 blocks) Rs.57lakhs
  • Category C District (11-15 blocks) Rs.65lakhs
  • Category D District (>15 blocks) Rs.67lakhs
    The above limits are applicable from the year 1999-2000. This ceiling will be raised every year, on a compounding basis, up to 5% to set off the increases due to inflation, etc. While the States follow their own salary structure, the ceiling indicated above would be strictly adhered to. Any increase over and above the ceiling would be met entirely by the State Government concerned.