Integrated Rural Development Programmes | Geography Optional for UPSC (Notes) PDF Download

Integrated Rural Development

• The concept of Integrated Area Development is difficult to define. It has different meanings and interpretations at different points of time. In fact, it is difficult to decide what type of integration should be sought and what ways should be adopted to accomplish it. In general, four aspects of integration can be differentiated.
• Sectoral-cum-Temporal Integration
  • This is to ascertain what activities/sectors (such as education, health, agriculture, etc.) have to be developed when they should be developed, and what should be the pace and intensity of their development keeping in view the underlying linkages among various activities. They can be designated as sectoral-cum-temporal integration.
• Spatial integration
  • As there are linkages between various economic activities spatially (over the areas) such as there are certain areas that supply raw materials and certain areas which are the center of production.
  • Similarly, there are linkages between different places which determine the pattern of flow of raw materials, people, and goods in different areas. This integration of economic flow is called spatial integration.
• Integration of development of individuals and group of people
  • It has been found that the fruits of development tend to get concentrated in the hands of a few while a considerable majority of people continue to lead a miserably poor life.
  • It is the task of integrated development to ensure that the benefits of development are conferred more on such poorer sections of society, so that inter-personal disparities of income can be considerably brought down.
• Integration of the conflicting goals of socio-economic and environmental development
  • In a country like ours in which about 37 percent of the total population is below the poverty line, and most of the people still have a low standard of living, the basic aim of development should be to develop the human resource by providing food, clothing, shelter, education, health facilities, and employment to all.
  • While achieving these goals, the resources, ecology, and environment should be kept in a healthy condition to sustain the present population and to protect the interest of future generations.

Integrated rural development programme (IRDP)

• The Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) was launched by the Janta government in 1978-79, by bringing together the Community Area Development programme (CADP), Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP), Small Farmer Development Agency (SFDA), and Marginal Farmers and Agricultural Labourers Agency (MFALA).
• Integrated rural development is one of the important tasks before the Government of India.
• The National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) of the central government reiterates the cardinal importance of villages to the overall development of the country and commits to working towards the development of rural areas. The main objective of integrated rural development is to eradicate poverty, hunger, and unemployment from rural India.
• The integrated rural development programme was confined in the initial phase to 2000 blocks out of the then 5004 development blocks in the country.
• The aims of the programme are:
  • To provide assistance in self-employment opportunities.
  • To give assistance to a target group of rural poor, belonging to the families below the poverty line, in the form of subsidy. The target group under IRDP includes labourers, artisans, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, sharecroppers, and marginal and small farmers.
  • To take up measures for livestock and poultry development, fishery, and social forestry in the village (sectoral integration)
  • To promote cottage industries in the village to enhance the per capita income of the targeted group and to raise the standard of living of weaker sections of the rural population.
• The main elements of the programme during the sixth five-year plan period were proposed to be as under:
  • A five year development profile will be drawn up for each district, disaggregated into blocks, based on practical (achievable) possibilities of development in agriculture and allied sectors. This will from the ‘framework of action’ for the relevant scheme of development in these sectors.
  • A specific operational programme will be drawn up by the extension agency to provide guidance on a systematic basis to the small and marginal farmer’s families.
  • A special programme of assistance to the poorest of the rural households will be drawn up to raise the level of specific households so identified, above the poverty line.
  • A blueprint for exploiting the available potential in the secondary and tertiary sectors, which also spells out linkages for training and marketing, will be prepared for each block, and families from among the target group identified for assistance based on such blueprint.
• The IRDP has been conceived essentially as an anti-poverty programme. This objective is proposed to be achieved by enabling the poorest families to acquire productive assets, technology, and skills as would make their economic activities viable. These families will also need support from social services such as health, education, and housing.
• The IRDP is implemented through District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) and Block Level Agencies at the grass-root level. The governing body of DRDAs includes local MPs, MLAs, chairman of Zila-Parishad, heads of district development departments, representatives of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, and women.
• Some of the important programmes integrated rural development programmes include the national Rural Development Programme (NRDP), Minimum Needs Programme (MNP), Training of Rural Youth for Self-Employment (TRYSEM, 1979), Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA, 1982), and Indira Awaas Yojna (IAY, 1985), etc.
• In 1999, the government of India launched a restructured poverty alleviation programme for rural areas which replaced the IRDP and its allied schemes by the Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna (SGSY).
• The programme was implemented through the Panchayat Samitis.
• The main objectives of the Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna are as under:
  • A holistic programme covering all the aspects of self employment such as organisation of the poor into Self Help Groups and provisions for credit, training, technology, infrastructure, and marketing.
  • To make every assisted family rise above the poverty line in three years.
  • The income of the assisted families should be more than two thousand per month.
• More than six lakh people (Swarozgaris) have been assisted till date, of which 30% were from scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, 33% women, and one percent handicapped.

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