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

Chapter - 8
New Institutional Arrangements for Decentralised
Planning with focus <strong>of</strong> Anti-poverty Programmes
8.1 In <strong>the</strong> light <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> discussions and analysis made in <strong>the</strong> earlier chapters,
it is obvious that most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> original objectives <strong>of</strong> setting up <strong>of</strong> DRDA have
not been realised. Now that large schemes for poverty reduction are in place
and <strong>the</strong>re are serious concerns regarding <strong>the</strong>ir effective convergent planning
and implementation, <strong>the</strong>re is a need for new institutional arrangements. The
existence <strong>of</strong> constitutionally mandated PRIs and <strong>the</strong> emergence <strong>of</strong> communitybased
organisations <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> poor in <strong>the</strong> context <strong>of</strong> rights based development
fur<strong>the</strong>r justify <strong>the</strong> need for new institutional arrangements.
The key principles which should govern <strong>the</strong> design <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> new
institutional arrangements are:
i. Participation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> people, especially <strong>the</strong> poor and <strong>the</strong> marginalized
in decision-making in respect <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir development
ii. Primacy to <strong>the</strong> PRIs in ensuring convergent planning, - with <strong>the</strong> core
plans prepared at <strong>the</strong> level <strong>of</strong> gram panchayat and <strong>the</strong>n consolidated
at <strong>the</strong> levels <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> intermediate and district panchayats. This will be
guided by a district perspective arrived at after elaborate analysis <strong>of</strong>
data and consultation with <strong>the</strong> key stakeholders.
iii. Provision <strong>of</strong> high quality pr<strong>of</strong>essional support to <strong>the</strong> participatory
planning and implementation processes – both to <strong>the</strong> PRIs and peoples’
organisations.
iv. Systematic on-line monitoring <strong>of</strong> outputs and evaluation <strong>of</strong> outcomes
leading to evidence-based decisions.
v. Social accountability at all stages
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