Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department

Policy Note 2023-2024

Introduction

Tamil Nadu being a welfare State, the purposeful endeavours of the Government are aimed at the Social, Economic and Political upliftment of the people in the rural areas. Rural Development aims at improving the rural lives with the participation of the rural masses. The concept of Rural Development targets the Social and Economic development of the rural areas. Rural Development in Tamil Nadu is concerned with the Economic Growth, Social Justice and Improvement in the living standards of the rural people, by deploying an efficient delivery mechanism to provide adequate quality services and essential minimum needs.The primary objective of the Government is the provision of basic infrastructure facilities and social services in the rural areas and assistance to the individual families and Self Help Groups, living below the poverty line. Elimination of poverty and delivery of high quality services are the basic premises upon which the planning of Rural Development is based and concerted efforts of this Government have improved the living standards and set the benchmark for the quality of rural lives.

The Government of Tamil Nadu is committed to the Socio-Economic development of the people living in rural areas. Since majority of the State population live in rural areas, and Tamil Nadu being a welfare state, more thrust is given to the development of rural areas, directly impacting its economic growth, deliverance of social justice and improvement in standard of living of the people, focusing on poverty alleviation, provision of basic amenities and infrastructure facilities as its stated objectives and goals. These goals will be achieved through effective implementation of various well conceived development programmes with the active participation of Panchayat Raj Institutions.

The Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj is responsible for the implementation of various rural development and welfare schemes and facilitates Panchayat Raj Institutions to discharge their duties and functions effectively so as to achieve the objectives of Local Self Governance. This Government is committed to provide all the basic amenities in the rural areas at the habitation level, promote sanitation, reduce poverty, conserve the natural resources, minimize the urban-rural divide and ensure improvement in the quality of life of the rural people of Tamil Nadu.

Project Director

Email : drdatvl[at]yahoo[dot]com,
Mobile no: 9443150326,
Phone no : 0462-2500611.

The DRDA is the principle organ at the district level in implementing various anti-poverty Schemes of Government of India as well as of State Government. The DRDA is visualized as a specialized and professional Agency, capable of implementing the anti-poverty programmes, and in effectively carrying out the objectives to the rural masses. It helps in strengthening the rural infrastructure and bringing up the economic prospective of the villages with a key for the eradication of backwardness and poverty. The DRDA is implementing a number of schemes with an aim of enabling the rural people, in improving their standard of living and in eradication of poverty. The main thrust of the programmes implemented are being removing the economic disparity and bringing up the people below poverty line.

The DRDA established in 1980 is a registered society under the Tamil Nadu societies Act. The District Collector is the chairman of the DRDA. Governing body carries out the administration of the DRDA. The governing body governs major policy decisions including planning and functioning of DRDA and nevertheless the control and monitoring aspects are also being carried out. The meeting of the governing body of the DRDA is being conducted at least once in a quarter.

The administrative cost of DRDA is met under the head “DRDA ADMN” shared between the central and state shared between the ratio of 75:25. A maximum of 30% of the salary cost is allocated towards contingencies inclusive of Rents, POL, office expenses, etc. Tirunelveli district comes under category D (>15 Blocks) the allocation is Rs.171.503 Lakhs per year. The ceiling will be raised every year, on a compounding basis, upto 5% to set of the increase due to inflation etc.