National Institute of Rural Developmentnird.org.in/NIRD_Docs/newsletters/apr2013.pdf · National...

National Institute of Rural Development

APRIL 2013215www.nird.org.in

In this issue...

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Expert Committee on PR Submits

Report

NIRD-CIRDAP Collaborative

International Training Programme

CIRDAP ICT Centre Inaugurated

Visit of Ms. Caitlin Wiesen, Country

Director, UNDP to NIRD

Women's Political Leadership and

Livelihoods

Planning and Management of

Aquaculture

Women's Participation and Inclusive

Development

Downsizing the Centrally Sponsored

Development Schemes

Community Participation and Social

Mobilisation for Universalisation of

Elementary Education

Bee Keeping For Rural Livelihood

Success Story of Kodali Madhura

Foods (KMF)

NIRD Celebrates Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

Birth Anniversary

ICTs and IEC for Rural Development

Functionaries

Ministry of Panchayati Raj had constituted an Expert Committee on

Leveraging Panchayats for Efficient Delivery of Public Goods and Services.

Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar, Member of Rajya Sabha and former PR Minister, GoI

was the Chairman and Dr. M.V. Rao, I.A.S, Director General NIRD was the

Member-Secretary. The other members are, Prof. Thomas Isaac, Member of

Legislative Assembly, Kerala; Ms. Nirmala Buch, I.A.S,(Retd.) former Chief

Secretary, Government of Madhya Pradesh; Shri M.N.Roy, I.A.S (Retd),

Expert Committee on PR Submits Report

Expert Committee on PR Meets President of India

Hon'ble Prime Minister Graces Panchayat Raj Day

APRIL 2013NIRD Newsletter

National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad, India

Government of West Bengal; Shri Joe Madiath, Executive Director, Gram Vikas, Berhampur, Odisha; and Shri

Peelipose Thomas, Advocate, Former Member, Kerala State Planning Board.

The Committee's terms of reference were :

1. To review the existing policy and guidelines of relevant Central sector /Centrally Sponsored Schemes dealing

with social sector/ anti-poverty programmes and to give specific recommendation (a) for an appropriate role &

responsibility of Panchayats at different levels based on the principle of subsidiarity (b) for strengthening their

capacity to deliver services and (c) for making them accountable to respective Gram Sabhas.

2. To flag the constraints that may come up in operationalising the delivery system through the PRIs and suggest

ways and means of dealing with the same.

3. To suggest ways to incentivise States to devolve three Fs i.e. Funds, Functions and Functionaries to Panchayats.

The Expert Committee examined a total of 160 witnesses, including Union Government and State government

officials concerned with Panchayat Raj; serving and former Members of Planning Commission; Members of

Parliament; and experts, activists and academics. The Report is in five volumes, with themes on administrative and

legal framework, sectoral issues, model activity maps for major flagship programmes, key documents and

bibliography. The Report was released on April 24, 2013 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. Prime Minister

Dr. Manmohan Singh addressed the gathering. It was also attended by the Minister for Rural Development, Shri

Jairam Ramesh, and Minister for Panchayat Raj and Tribal Affairs Shri Kishore Chandra Deo.

Dr. K.Jayalakshmi, Professor, Centre for Panchayati Raj coordinated with the Expert Committee and extended both

academic and other support services. A team of experts from other centres too extended their academic support to

the Committee members more so on sectoral issues. The Chairman placed on record and thanked them for their

support who include Shri .K.P.Rao, Project Director, NRLM cell; Dr.Y.Gangi Reddy, Associate Professor, Centre for Rural

Infrastructure; Dr. C.Dheeraja, Assistant Professor, Centre for Wage Employment and Poverty Alleviation,

Ms K.Jayasree, Research Assistant, Centre for Wage Employment and Poverty Alleviation and Dr.K.S.Subramaniam

(Director, SFC Cell (Retd).

Dr.K.Papa, Assistant Director, Centre for Media and Rural Documentation edited all the write-ups of the members and

also the final report.

The Expert Committee members had a meeting with President of India on 4 May, 2013 and a presentation was made.

Dr.M.V.Rao, as Member-Secretary of the Expert Committee shared the recommendations of the Committee with the

President of India.

Recommendations were also presented to the Prime Minister, Planning Commission, World Bank, Ministry of Human

Resource Development and Ministry of Rural Development.

Expert Committee on PR Submits Report

National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad, India 3

APRIL 2013NIRD Newsletter

An NIRD-CIRDAP Collaborative International Training

Programme on Information Communication

Technology Applications for Rural Development was

held during 31 March to 9 April, 2013 at CIRDAP,

Dhaka, Bangladesh. This programme was sponsored

by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of

India.

The programme was attended by 19 delegates drawn

from 14 CIRDAP Member Countries namely:

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Fiji, Indonesia, Iran, Lao

PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines,

Sri Lanka, Vietnam and India. The main focus of the

programme was to examine the linkages between

policy and practice in development, review the current usage of ICT Applications in Rural Development, besides

showcasing important case-studies that have made a dent in Agriculture, Health, Education, e-governance and

Social Sector.

On 31 March 2013, the programme was inaugurated by Dr. Cecep Effendi, Director General, CIRDAP who stressed

the need for ICT for getting closer with CMCs and regularly keep in touch with their activities for greater cooperation.

Dr. Vasanthi Rajendran, Director (ICD), CIRDAP highlighted the need for collaborative programmes and

Dr. P Satish Chandra, Programme Coordinator briefed the programme design, its content and expected inputs and

its relevance for the CIRDAP Member Countries.

The programme started with the individual country paper presentations which gave the existing scenario of the ICT

Applications in the respective Member Countries. Followed by it major ICT case studies were discussed covering

India as well as Bangladesh on select sectors with predefined themes.

As a part of the programme the delegates were taken to a field visit to have a direct interaction with the grassroots

officials implementing Grameen service centres at village level and its functioning.

The programme was well received by all the delegates who appreciated the efforts made by NIRD- CIRDAP in making

the programme a fruitful and useful one. Particularly the ICT applications such as e-Seva, Smart Card for Old Age

Pensions, Bangalore-One, Bhoomi Project, e-Learning, e-Sagu, e-Choupal, Tele-medicine, e-Village, InDG Portal,

Rural Connectivity, latest Tele-Communication Technologies, Access to Information, Grameen Intel Applications,

Info-lady, d-Net initiatives and digital inclusion for the poor, and the Hackathon experience were some of the major

projects/pilots that were discussed at length. The programme received high praise for its inputs and some of the

best ICT practices to be carried out in similar fashion in their respective countries.

The programme concluded with Dr. Cecep Effendi, Director General, CIRDAP thanking the Government of India and

Director General, NIRD for all the help and support received from time to time for setting up the ICT Centre at

CIRDAP, Dhaka and especially the Ministry of Rural Development for funding the project. He also placed on record

the excellent programme designed by the NIRD-CIRDAP course team to begin with. The programme was

coordinated by Dr. P Satish Chandra, Head (CIT), Shri G V Satya Narayana, Faculty, CIT, NIRD, Hyderabad and

Dr. Vasanthi Rajendran, Director (ICD), from CIRDAP side.

NIRD-CIRDAP Collaborative International Training Programme

National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad, India4

NIRD Newsletter APRIL 2013

CIRDAP ICT Centre Inaugurated

The ICT Centre of Dhaka was inaugurated by his

Excellency the Ambassador of India Shri Pankaj Saran on

9 April, 2013 at CIRDAP, Dhaka. Dr M V Rao, the Director

General, NIRD, Dr. Cecep Effendi, the Director General of

CIRDAP, Dr Vasanthi Rajendran, Director (CRD), CIRDAP,

Dr V Madhava Rao, Professor & Head(CGARD) & Dr R R

Hermon, Associate Professor (CGARD) NIRD, and a host

of delegates graced the occasion. The CIRDAP ICT

Centre is an important land-mark for CIRDAP

established by NIRD, with funding support from the

Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India,

which will work as a clearing house for all information on

CIRDAP Member Countries, exchange information and

add to better communication facility. There was a Video

Conference with Secretary, Rural Development Shri S Vijaya Kumar, from MoRD, New Delhi, who congratulated

NIRD for setting up the ICT Centre at CIRDAP, Dhaka. The ICT Centre will be further expanded with GIS and Virtual

Learning Centre facilities in subsequent phases, for deriving greater benefits for the CIRDAP Member Countries, for

training, research, information sharing, sharing of innovative and best practices, addressing the issues of rural

development sector in the most effective and efficient manner, on real time mode, on regional scale.

Visit of Ms. Caitlin Wiesen, Country Director, UNDP to NIRD

Ms. Caitlin Wiesen, Country Director, UNDP

participated as Chief Guest in the National Seminar on

“Millennium Development Goals and Rural

Development in India : Policy Initiatives, Targets and

Achievements” conducted at NIRD. While reviewing

the progress in achieving MDGs in Asian countries, she

expressed happiness over the commitment and the

policy initiatives of Government of India in achieving

the targets fixed in respect of the Universal Primary

Education, access to drinking water and conserving

environmental resources. But, she added that India

with less than three years to 2015 deadline, will not be

on track for other MDGs related to poverty, hunger,

health, gender equality and environmental sustainability unless the Centre and State Governments make serious

efforts towards effective implementation of the existing programmes related to MDGs with periodic monitoring

along with adequate budgetary allocations. Dr M.V. Rao, IAS, Director General, NIRD highlighted the initiatives of

NIRD in evaluation of the schemes related to Millennium Development Goals through periodic research, seminars

and workshops. This Seminar was coordinated by Dr B. Chakravarty, Prof. & Head, CPME, NIRD.



Women's Political Leadership and Livelihoods

The Master Trainer's programme was organised from 1-5 April 2013 at NIRD, HQs as part of Project on “Promoting

Women's Political Leadership and Gender Responsive Governance in India ” being implemented with the support of

UN – Women, South Asia Regional Office, New Delhi . This programme was attended by 47 Master Trainers from

nine States. Besides, selected District Project Officers under the UN Women project from different districts also

attended the programme.

One of the key activities of this project is to develop the capacity building tools and pool of trainers in the five States

i.e. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Under this project a comprehensive

training Manual and Module for Capacity Building of elected women representatives on Political Leadership and

Livelihood is prepared to orient the pool of Master Trainers.

The main objective of the programme was to equip Master Trainers, with the skills needed to train Elected Women

Representatives (EWRs) in " Political Leadership and Livelihoods for Gender Responsive Governance". The content of

the programme included the historical/cultural background of gender, livelihood opportunities in the area of

agriculture, horticulture, fisheries and animal husbandry for rural women, promoting gender-responsive

governance, food and nutrition, child rights and universalisation of primary education and inclusive development

and planning and budgeting.

Resource persons included faculty of NIRD, SIRDs, National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), National Institute for Micro,

Small and Medium Enterprises, S.V.Veterinary University, Indian Institute of Health and Family Welfare, Executive

Director, National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), Commissioner of Sericulture, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, UN

Women Officials and Consultant and UNICEF representatives.

Dr. C.S. Singhal, Prof. & Head, CWD&GS and Project Team, consisting of Ms B.Girija Devi, Consultant, Dr. Kasi

Eswarappa and Ms Dibya Prasad Singh, both Capacity Development Associates, Mr Suraj Kumar, Head , Governance

Unit , and Mr John Borgoyary, Programme Analyst, UN Women , SARO, New Delhi were part of the organising team.



Planning and Management of Aquaculture

The Centre for Rural Credit and Development Banking organised a programme on 'Aquaculture' for the participants

of the commercial banks from April 29 to May 2, 2013. About 28 senior and executive cadre officers from Andhra

bank, Allahabad Bank, Canara bank, IDBI Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and State Bank of Hyderabad attended the

programme. Participants were drawn from the bank branches functioning in the States and Union Territories of Bihar,

Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, Pondichery, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal besides Andhra Pradesh.

Participants were presented with an overview of the sector and initiatives made by the Government in developing the

sector. Bankers were explained how the success of inland fish cultivation in the districts of West Godavari and Krishna

and prawn cultivation in East Godavari district could be achieved with the initiatives of the farmers and the

commercial banks. The information has served as an inspiration to the bankers working in other States. Similarly,

participants were also explained about the supply chain management and huge scope for the banks to finance the

activities spread from catch of the fish to refrigeration and supply to the market etc.

Participants were taken on the field to 'Gadwel' in the district of Mahabubnagar in the State of Andhra Pradesh to

have an insitu experience of fish farming. Participants visited the composite farm wherein the farmers cultivate fish

along with other produce and reap benefits. Further, participants have also visited collection and distribution centre

and fish cooperative society to understand its functioning and the scope for the banks to finance its members.

Dr. M. V. Rao Director General NIRD interacted with the participants and informed about the new initiatives in the

sector and advised them to make efforts to increase the flow of credit, especially in the States which are importing

fish. The Director General also informed participants that the NFDB may introduce a scheme of 'Credit Guarantee' to

mitigate the Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) in the sector.

The Programme was coordinated by Shri K R Padmanabha Rao.

Women's Participation and Inclusive Development

As a follow-up of the celebration of

International Women's Day (IWD) at

NIRD, the above National Seminar

was organised from 11 to 13 March,

2013 by CWD&GS.

Dr M.V.Rao, Director General NIRD

was the Chairperson of the Seminar

Organising Committee. Smt Shanta

Sheela Nair , Vice-Chairperson ,

State Panning Board, Tamil Nadu

released the "Seminar Souvenir "

containing background and

abstracts of the seminar papers.



Smt Manjula Krishnan, former Sr. Financial Advisor, MoRD and Member, High Level Committee on Status of Women,

in her keynote address dwelt upon the issues related to women and equality and the constitutional provisions,

policies and commissions/missions for empowerment of women, significance of gender budgeting, women's

presence in the micro/macro economic framework, gender related inputs in rural and industrial development. She

was of the view that research on various areas of ground realities pertaining to women and gender sensitive issues is

required and there is also a need for conducting gender impact assessment.

The main objectives of the seminar were to analyse and appreciate efforts made in the direction of women's

participation in different development programmes , share the initiatives for inclusive development and its effects

and assess the current strategies adopted to promote women's participation and to suggest needed measures.

Altogether 42 papers highlighting policy related issues and ground realities with the analytical base were presented .

These were divided on the following themes for presentation and discussion in the respective sessions chaired by

eminent subject experts :

?Participation of women - current strategies, policies and implication;

?Political participation of women in Panchayati Raj Institutions and Gram Sabha ;

?Role of policies and programmes for socio-economic transformation of rural women;

?Inclusive growth and development – field realities ;

?Voluntary organisations and upliftment of women - Policies and new models:

?Empowerment of women through participation;

?Gender Budgeting' initiatives for assessing and analysing women's contribution to development.

Recommendations

?Participation of women though has increased,one needs to also strive for qualitative and fruitful participation so

that their perspectives and experiences are integrated in the development process;

?NGOs are playing a crucial role in mobilising women and increasing awareness among them; Government should

continue to support NGOs for this purpose;

?Gender budgeting is new and emerging area and still needs to be understood and adopted by many at various

levels. Due attention needs to be paid to this concept;

?The concept of ' inclusive development' is relevant even in the XII Plan and should continue to focus on inclusion

of women among others;

?Political participation is more conspicuous due to reservation and the healthy trend of more women's

participation is likely to continue. Efforts on the capacity building of the elected women representatives should

continue as new women will continue to get elected.

?Movements like SHGs and federations have transformed the lives of many women beyond their imaginations.

This shows that collectivity pays and should be continued as a strategy for women's participation and

empowerment.

?New approaches and strategies may be tried out for women empowerment through the National Mission for

Empowerment of Women for better and quicker results.



The B K Chaturvedi Committee has discussed threadbare the need for downsizing the number of Centrally

Sponsored Schemes from a high of 147 schemes to 59. This exercise assumes critical significance in the context of

the demand by States in the December-2012 meeting of the National Development Council for greater autonomy of ththe states for formulating and implementing developmental schemes. The 12 Plan, therefore, is expected to witness

a drastic reduction in the number of Centrally Sponsored Schemes of (Rural) Development that come from over a

dozen Central Ministries, what with a budget of 80194 crore rupees for the Ministry of Rural Development, an

increase of 46 per cent in the fiscal year 2013-14. In an overall sense, the Centre has committed ̀ 5, 41,276 crore for

the entire set of Centrally Sponsored Schemes including Rural Development. While the nine flagship programmes of

the MoRD may continue to not only deliver the expected goods and services but will also enjoy higher budgetary

allocations over the previous years.

The need for professionalisation of rural development delivery systems, especially at the cutting edge level has

beenreiterated time and again, but for some strange reasons such an exercise could not be taken forward in the last

two decades. Therefore, the Chaturvedi Committee was also mandated to think of reviewing the relevance and the

methods of delivery of rural development services. The draft report of the Chaturvedi committee on ̀ Restructuring

of Centrally Sponsored Schemes' recommends the abolition of DRDAs even while urging the national government to

devolve greater powers, functions, funds and functionaries on the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI's). Alongside the

strategy of strengthening the PRIs from the viewpoint of streamlining the Rural Development programmes, there is

greater need now than ever before for linking the District Planning Committees (DPCs) with the developmental

agenda of the PRIs.

Returning to the point of professionalisation of Rural Development delivery systems, the Post Graduate Diploma in

Rural Development Management (PGDRDM) of the NIRD comes into sharp focus. We need to place well groomed

Rural Development Management Professionals in DPCs, Panchayats, State Rural Livelihood Missions, the National

Rural Livelihoods Mission, amongst other developmental agencies including the State SC and ST Development

Corporations and CSR units of frontline industrial houses. The PGDRDM aims at developing a cadre of Rural

Development professionals so that well groomed technocrats take over the cutting edge function of delivery of

development services to the rural communities, the poorer ones in particular in the remote parts of the country. The

Prime Minister's Rural Development Fellows Scheme (PMRDFs) is another great opportunity for the NIRD students

to excel. A good number of them are already working as its Fellows, while a growing number of them are with the

State Rural Livelihood Missions and other development organisations including banks. Therefore, rightsizing the

number of development institutions such as the PMRDFs and DPCs even while enhancing the number of rural

development professionals should comprise the core of HRD interventions in rural development. The number of

PGDRDM students should grow in tens of thousands in the next few years by way of franchised PG Diploma

Programmes across the country, preferably through the SIRDs and comparable institutions at the district level in

regional languages.

For more information in this context, it would be functionally useful to visit the NIRD website showing the PGDRDM

corner (www.nird.org.in/pgdrdm).

Dr P. Durgaprasad, Professor & Head, Centre for Panchayati Raj, NIRD

Downsizing the Centrally Sponsored Development Schemes

Bee Keeping For Rural Livelihood



Community Participation and Social Mobilisation for Universalisation of Elementary Education

The Centre for Equity and Social

Development, NIRD has organised a

Course on Community Participation

and Soc ia l Mob i l i sa t ion fo r

Universalisation of Elementary

Education (April 22-26, 2013). A total

of 38 participants from 9 States have

attended the training programme.

The main objective of the programme

was to orient the participants on

concept of community participation

and to explain the strategies and

approaches of social mobilisation in

the context of implementation of

Right to Education Act . The

programme contents included the

topics on Concept of Society and

Community Development, Training Needs Assessment in Elementary Education, Concept of Community

Participation, Steps of Social Mobilisation, Communication Skills, Role Perception for organising the Community and

School Leadership for Ensuring Community Participation. The programme was organised with 24 class-room

sessions with one day field visit to Vaddepally village, Mandal Hatnoora, district Medak. Participants were exposed to

different methods of community participation and the practice of Social Mobilisation through School Management

Committees in effective delivery of Education in the field visit. The field visit was facilitated by Shri CH. Murali Mohan,

Chief Executive Officer of SADHANA, voluntary organisation. The programme was coordinated by Dr. T.Vijayakumar,

Faculty (CESD) and Dr.R.R.Prasad, Professor & Head (CESD).

Rural Technology Park(RTP) ,NIRD organised skill Development Training Course on Bee keeping during 16-19, April,

2013.About 35 participants from different States like West Bengal, Maharashtra Madhya Pradesh and Andhra

Pradesh participated in this training course. Participants were trained in various aspects of bee keeping like

importance of apiculture, bee hive equipments, honey compositions, honey processing, quality control, diseases

and control. management practices etc.

As a part of the training programme participants were taken to a two-day field visit to Jammula Palem village of

Bapatla Mandal of Guntur

district, Andhra Pradesh. Shri

Raghavendra Rao, who is a

successful entrepreneur in

bee keeping shared his

experiences with participants

and also explained about the

bee multiplication and honey

types. Participants were

given hands-on experience

on handling of honey combs

and honey collection from

honey combs. Participants

practically came to know that

a farmer as a part of

a g r i c u l t u r e c a n a l s o

undertake Apiculture in his fields so that more crop yields can easily be obtained. Shri Ravindra, a successful trainer

and entrepreneur with RTP, NIRD has been successful in explaining and sharing his knowledge with partcipants as

master trainer. Shri Subba Rao, President, AP bee keepers association assisted the team of RTP-NIRD with his

expertise during the field visit by sharing his knowledge,ideas and in clarification of doubts of partcipants.

During the field visit participants were also taken to Pachalatadiparru village of Ponnur mandal of Guntur district,

Andhra Pradesh. Participants were given hands-on experience on the Apiculture of Apisserena honey bee type

which were considered to be a rare variety in bee keeping.

Smt Rama Devi who is the only woman apiculturist having the Apisserena collection in Guntur district explained the

management practices, experiences, collection of honey from honey comb, disease control measures in detail to

participants. Successful partcipants were awarded certificates by Dr. P.SivaRam, Project Director, RTP and

Dr .Y. Gangi Reddy, Additional Project Director, RTP.



Success Story of Kodali Madhura Foods (KMF)

Shri Kodali Joseph Kumar aged- 35 years, s/o Jaya Prakash belonging, to BC-C category is a native of Gannavaram

from Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. He is basically a MPHW working as supervisor at Government hospital,

Vijayawada.

By seeing an advertisement in local newspaper about the skill development training course in preparation of various

soya food products at Rural Technology Park, NIRD, Shri Joseph K.Kodali approached RTP for training, got

successfully trained in soya processing by Shri Prakash Vyas and Prabha Vyas of Sri Sarawati Mahila Gram Udyog,

unit partner with RTP.

On 12-12-2012 Shri Joseph K. Kodali started his own unit named Kodali Madhura Foods at Badangpet, Saroornagar,



Hyderabad in a rented building with an investment of ` 30,000 along with partnership of Ms K.Lavanya. He is

manufacturing about 12 different varieties of soya products which include soya pickles, papads, soya paneer, soya

home foods, soya powders (tomato, chilli, green leaves etc.) with different flavours. Now he is planning to develop

soya energy drinks, soya vegetable powders, ready to eat soya foods like idli, dosa, vada etc. Shri Joseph has been

doing marketing of products on his own by supplying to various supermarkets and kirana shops. He is also supplying

products on order.

Shri Joseph is providing employment opportunity to three persons of whom two are males and one female. He is

earning a monthly income of ` 10,000. Shri Joseph has also participated in the Rural Crafts Mela-2013 (Feb 21-24,

2013) as a successful entrepreneur of RTP. Shri Joseph Kodali can be contacted on 09394320459, 09059869891,

08143555817.

NIRD Celebrates Dr.B.R.Ambedkar Birth Anniversary

ndThe 122 birth anniversary

of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was

celebrated at NIRD with

Dr. M.V. Rao, I.A.S, Director

General as Chief Guest and

Dr. Anil Joshi as guest of

honour. The faculty, staff

and participants of various

training programmes of

NIRD participated and

offered floral tributes on

this occasion. Dr. M.V. Rao

recalled the relentless

efforts of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

as a chief architect of

Const i tut ion of India

towards achieving social and economic equality across various social groups through constitutional safeguards.

Dr. Rao reiterated that Ambedkar's ideology is still worth emulating for achieving excellence in various spheres of life.

On this occasion, Dr. Anil Joshi, Hon'ble Executive Council Member, NIRD as a guest of honour spoke about

Ambedkar's philosophy and concern for the socio-economic empowerment of Dalits. Prof. R. R. Prasad and Prof. P.

Durgaprasad highlighted the relevance of B.R.Ambedkar's principles and ethics for attaining individual and

community goals. Two volumes of the literature on Ambedkarism compiled by Shri I.B. Gajghate, Prof. B.

Chakravarty and Prof. K.P. Kumaran were released by Dr. Anil Joshi and Dr. M.V. Rao. The programme started with

welcome address by Prof. K. Suman Chandra and ended with vote of thanks by Shri R. Ramchander.


NIRD Newsletter

Director General : Dr. M.V. Rao, IAS

Editor : Dr. K.P. Kumaran (P&H, CMRD); Asst. Director (Editing) : Dr. K. Papamma; Photographs : P. Subrahmanyam;Cover Design : V.G.Bhat; Published by Dr. K.P. Kumaran (Prof. & Head, CMRD) on behalf of the National Institute of Rural Development,

Rajendranagar, Hyderabad-500 030 and printed at Vaishnavi Laser Graphics, Hyderabad.

Book-Pocket (Contains Printed Matter)

APRIL 2013

A programme on ICTs and IEC for Rural Functionaries during

April 15-19, 2013 was held at NIRD, Hyderabad. As many as

27 participants from nine States have taken advantage of

the programme. The main focus of the programme was to

use ICTs for most of the IEC material preparation to bring

awareness among the beneficiaries and effective

implementation of Rural Development programmes at

large. A field visit to Rayagatlapally village in Nizamabad

district was arranged to provide insight into application of

e-musters and bio-metric devices for management of RD

programmes and the application of Mobile technologies in

maintaining books of accounts of village organisations.

The programme was well received by participants. The programme was coordinated by Shri G V Satya Narayana and

Shri D S R Murthy, Assistant Professors of CIT at NIRD.

thDr. S.S.P. Sharma, Prof. & Head, CWLR attended the 87 International Conference of Agricultural Economics

Society, U.K and presented his paper. The paper is on “Revisiting the Traditional Irrigation Systems for

Sustainability of Farm Production : Evidences from Bihar (India)”. The Conference was organised during

April 08 – 10, 2013 under the aegis of the University of Warwick at Warwick, Coventry, U.K.

ICTs and IEC for Rural Development Functionaries

'Spandana' , The Academic Association of NIRD

organised a talk on “ Food Security in India :

Chal lenges and Oppor tunit ies” by Shri

K.R.Venugopal, I.A.S (Retd) on 17 April at NIRD. Shri

K.R.Venugopal was Former Secretary to the Prime

Minister of India and Special Rapporteur, National

Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Member,

Core Group on Right to Food ,NHRC.

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