Report of the Committee on Restructuring DRDA. - Ministry of Rural ...

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Infrastructure: A building to house <strong>the</strong> District Planning <strong>Committee</strong> Secretariat with adequate space for <strong>the</strong> <strong>of</strong>fice <strong>of</strong> Chairperson, Secretariat headed by <strong>the</strong> Secretary <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> District Planning <strong>Committee</strong>, <strong>of</strong>ficials <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> District Planning Unit (DPU) and supporting staff. The <strong>of</strong>fices must be fully equipped with IT facilities. Access to conference rooms with adequate facilities for holding large meetings and smaller working group meetings is also necessary. Secretary <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> District Planning <strong>Committee</strong>: At present, ei<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong> District Collector or <strong>the</strong> CEO <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Zila Parishad functions as Member Secretary. However, District Collectors usually have about seven to eight years <strong>of</strong> experience and for CEOs <strong>of</strong> Zila Parishads, if <strong>the</strong>y are from <strong>the</strong> Indian Administrative Service (IAS), this may only be four to five years. On <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand, line department <strong>of</strong>ficers such as Conservator <strong>of</strong> Forests, <strong>the</strong> Superintending Engineer for PWD and Public Health, CMOs, Deputy/Joint Director (Agriculture), have at least 15-16 years <strong>of</strong> service behind <strong>the</strong>m. District Collectors are <strong>of</strong>ten preoccupied with regulatory responsibilities concerning law and order, elections, revenue administration and protocol duties, leaving <strong>the</strong>m precious little time for development work. Their leadership in coordinating planning and monitoring district development work has been eroded with time. This results in compartmentalised working by line departments and consequent sub-optimal utilization <strong>of</strong> financial and o<strong>the</strong>r resources. It is, <strong>the</strong>refore, necessary that <strong>the</strong> Secretary <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> District Planning <strong>Committee</strong> works on a full-time basis and be equipped to lead <strong>the</strong> planning process in <strong>the</strong> district. It is suggested that an IAS <strong>of</strong>ficer with at least 15-16 years <strong>of</strong> service, or an <strong>of</strong>ficer from <strong>the</strong> Indian Economic Service (IES) or Indian Statistical Service (ISS) or technocrats, with <strong>the</strong> same years <strong>of</strong> service be posted as Secretary <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> District Planning <strong>Committee</strong>. Adequate budgetary resources must be provided to <strong>the</strong> District Planning <strong>Committee</strong>: To meet expenditure on its regular staff as well as to hire experts, outsource work, facilitate <strong>the</strong> envisioning workshops, PRA exercises, exposure visits etc., funds are required. Capacity-building <strong>of</strong> elected representatives and staff <strong>of</strong> line departments related to <strong>the</strong> planning process must also be funded through <strong>the</strong> District Planning <strong>Committee</strong>. The District Planning <strong>Committee</strong>s could, in turn, work out <strong>the</strong>ir training programmes and schedules in consultation with <strong>the</strong> state SIRDs, or any o<strong>the</strong>r nodal agency that is entrusted <strong>the</strong> task <strong>of</strong> training <strong>of</strong> elected representatives”. 45
7.6 The <strong>Committee</strong> endorses <strong>the</strong>se recommendations. The <strong>Committee</strong> strongly feels that it is desirable that <strong>the</strong> DPC is chaired by <strong>the</strong> elected head <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Zila Parishad. Also DPC needs to be provided high quality staff. As suggested by <strong>the</strong> Working Group on District Planning headed by Dr. C.H. Hanumantha Rao way back in 1984, <strong>the</strong> District Planning set-up should have experts from various disciplines like economics, statistics, agronomy, cartography / economic geography, engineering, sociology, banking, etc., as well as from sectors like agriculture, animal husbandry, horticulture and so on – <strong>the</strong> actual composition and number being decided on <strong>the</strong> basis <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> local situation. The <strong>Committee</strong> considers district planning to be a critical activity going beyond schemes and sectors and covering <strong>the</strong> whole gamut <strong>of</strong> development. The DPCs have to be fully equipped for this complex task. At <strong>the</strong> same time integrated planning for poverty reduction is <strong>the</strong> most important subset <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> district planning function and needs to be immediately operationalised. In fact, this could be <strong>the</strong> entry point which could make <strong>the</strong> DPCs functional and enable <strong>the</strong>m to gain experience and develop capacity on <strong>the</strong> job. Accordingly, <strong>the</strong> following suggestions are made: i) The DPCs may be empowered through amendments to <strong>the</strong> relevant guidelines <strong>of</strong> Centrally Sponsored Schemes (as was done in <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong> BRGF) and given <strong>the</strong> nodal role in coordinating <strong>the</strong> preparation <strong>of</strong> district plans, approving and monitoring <strong>the</strong>m, in respect <strong>of</strong> NRLM, MGNREGS, IAY, TSC, NRDWP, PMGSY, NRHM, ICDS, SSA/RMSA and IWMP. ii) For performing <strong>the</strong> above role <strong>the</strong> services <strong>of</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>essional support teams in place in respect <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se schemes may be seconded to <strong>the</strong> DPCs. iii) The District Collector or CEO <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Zila Parishad could coordinate on behalf <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> DPC. iv) Within <strong>the</strong> broad ambit <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se schemes and such State and local level schemes as <strong>the</strong> State may wish to specify. DPCs may be given <strong>the</strong> responsibility <strong>of</strong> preparing an Anti-Poverty Sub Plan for <strong>the</strong> district as a whole. For this purpose <strong>the</strong> DPCs should be empowered to converge available resources <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> above mentioned schemes to meet <strong>the</strong> requirements <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> integrated plan for poverty reduction. For this, a pr<strong>of</strong>essional support group needs to work for <strong>the</strong> DPCs. 46
Page 1:
T. Vijay Kumar Joint Secretary (RL)
Page 4 and 5: Preface The Ministry of</st
Page 6 and 7: IAY Indira Awas Yojana ICDS Integra
Page 8 and 9: Contents Chapter Page No. Chapter 1
Page 10 and 11: 1.1 Background Chapter -1 Introduct
Page 12 and 13: 1.3 Methodology followed by <strong
Page 14 and 15: Chapter - 2 Background and Evolutio
Page 16 and 17: i) JRY / IJRY 2% of</strong
Page 18 and 19: financial and administrative powers
Page 20 and 21: Chapter - 3 Present Status
Page 22 and 23: (1) (2) (3) (4) 12. Maharashtra SGS
Page 24 and 25: (1) (2) (3) 10. Maharashtra Rajiv G
Page 26 and 27: (viii) Discussions with state secre
Page 28 and 29: Functional shortcomings i) Poor cap
Page 30 and 31: g) National Rural Livelihoods Missi
Page 32 and 33: 4.3 The strategies and programmes w
Page 34 and 35: iv) Economic development focusing o
Page 36 and 37: Chapter - 5 Organisations o
Page 38 and 39: ii. Organisations of</stron
Page 40 and 41: a sustainable manner. For this to h
Page 42 and 43: ii) Programme specific groups - The
Page 44 and 45: momentum. But, in the</stro
Page 46 and 47: iii) Incorporate such organisations
Page 48 and 49: Chapter - 6 DRDA and PRIs 6.1 DRDAs
Page 50 and 51: iii) They challenge the</st
Page 52 and 53: 7.4 The Task Force set up by <stron
Page 56 and 57: Chapter - 8 New Institutional Arran
Page 58 and 59: operate in silos. This has severely
Page 60 and 61: For achieving this, it needs to be
Page 62 and 63: 8.8 The Committee
Page 64 and 65: 8.15.2 To achieve the</stro
Page 66 and 67: Documenting Best Practices i. Ident
Page 68: staff should not be discriminated i
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Report of the Committee on Restructuring DRDA. - Ministry of Rural ...

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