Context of Decentralization
With the adoption of the Constitutional mandate for decentralization of powers that privileged those self-government institutions in planning for economic development and social justice, the proposal to re-think the status of DRDAs and also to merge them with the panchayats had emerged. Under the section on 'devoluton of functionaries' the 1st Round Table had adopted a resolution, number IV(i), for reconceiving the role of District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs). DRDAs were to be progressively merged with the District Panchayats and their technical expertise made available to all tiers of Panchayats.
At an all India level, the progress reported in this regard is far from satisfactory. There are some vexed issues, one among which is the 'reported' reluctance on the part of some of the institutions of Union Government for the proposal of merger of DRDAs with the district Panchayats. The complete merger seems to have happened only in Kerala and Karnataka. The latter has a much longer history of doing this. In both the States the DRDAs function as if they were the cells for poverty alleviation/ rural development schemes within the Zilla Panchayats.
West Bengal is reported to have taken similar steps; yet, it does not measure up to the yardstick of complete merger. Rajasthan and Lakshadweep State/ UT Profile make a similar assertion; this report is unable to confirm this.
Read more about this topic: District Rural Development Agencies (India)
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