Functions and Activities of the Department of Rural Development, Nagaland

Transcription

1 Functions and Activities of the Department of Rural Development, Nagaland INTRODUCTION: The Department of Rural Development has been involved in the developmental activities of the rural areas of Nagaland through the implementation of various programmes and schemes with the objective of improving the economic and social living standard of the rural poor through employment generation and infrastructural development programmes. All the activities of the Department are implemented through the grass root level organization called the Village Development Board (VDB) which has been active since its inception in OBJECTIVE: 1. To delegate powers to the Village Development Board (VDB) to plan and make decisions on all aspects of development in providing infrastructures, services and amenities to the villages including selection of schemes from funds provided under Rural Development. 2. To transform the rural areas to that of semi-urban standard by developing infrastructure and providing basic common facilities. 3. Providing employment opportunities to unemployed rural youth through income generating & economically productive activities in rural areas with a view to check migration to the towns. MISSION: 1. To achieve total transparency in implementation of schemes and utilization of grants provided by the Govt. to the VDBs. 2. To encourage the rural people to mobilize resources through fund raising and other forms of savings. 3. To provide technical support and guidance to the VDBs in all development process.

2 4. To coordinate the development activities of all allied Department and adopt a common approach for meeting the requirement of the villagers. 5. To provide training to the villagers in the process of introducing them to new ideas and methods. 6. To strive to build-up confidence in the rural people through trainings and exposures outside the state 7. To learn from past mistakes and strengthen the functioning of the VDBs. 8. To incorporate income generating and economically productive Schemes in the Model Schemes of the VDBs and 9. To declare the VDBs as Non Banking Institution (NBIs) for facilitating flow of credit for funding various Self- help group (SHG) activities. VISION: 1. To make each of the 1175 VDBs a vibrant, self supporting and self sufficient unit in respect of their basic needs. 2. Capable of mobilizing its internal resources for investing in various Income generating and economically productive activities. 3. To check migration of educated unemployed rural youths to town by self-employment opportunities and involving them in taking up income generating and economically productive activities in the rural areas; and 4. To gradually transform the rural areas into the standard of semiurban areas in so far as availability of the basic common facilities are concerned.

3 ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT: 1. The following activities both under the centrally sponsored and the state sponsored schemes are implementing at present by the Department through the grass root level organization called Village Development Boards in Nagaland. 2. Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) 3. Grant in Aid to VDBs (Household Allocation) 4. VDB Welfare Fund 5. Fixed Deposit (FD) & Matching Cash Grants (MCG) 6. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Schemes (MGNREGS) 7. Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF) 8. Micro-Finance (MF) 9. National Rural livelihood Mission (NRLM) ACHIEVEMENT: With the fund provided to the villages by the Department, the Village Development Boards have achieved about 70% of the target for the infrastructures and their common needs. ANNALS OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT: The Department of Rural Development had a humble beginning as a small cell called Accounts & Audit Cell attached to The Planning & Coordination Department, Govt. of Nagaland, headed by an Account Officer on deputation brought from the Office of the Accountant General, Shillong, from time to time. The cell dealt with all kinds of accounts matters as Budget, Appropriation Accounts, Finance Accounts, Audit Objections, Internal Audit, and Control of Expenditure under Plan and Non-Plan of all Blocks. In the year , the Cell was subsequently detached from the Planning & Coordination Department and was notified as a full-fledged Head of Department, The Directorate of Rural Development Blocks and placed under the administrative control of Special Secretary and Agricultural Production Commissioner, Nagaland assisted by a Deputy

4 Director on deputation from the Co-operation Department with a skeleton staff. Thereafter, the Administrative Head also functioned as the Head of Department of the Directorate as Ex-officio Director. The post of Director was created only during the year However, this post of Director continued to be manned by Nagaland Civil Service (NCS) Officers on deputation upto Thereafter Departmental Promotees has manned the post of Director. ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE: 1. State Level-Directorate of Rural Development: The Directorate of R.D has now become one of the major Departments of the state with a full-fledged Directorate at the state level. There are 11 DRDAs in the 11 Districts with 74 Blocks spread over Nagaland. The Directorate functions under a Director, assisted by 1 Addl. Director, 4 Joint Directors, 16 other Officers and 90 Ministerial staff. The main functions of the Directorate are general administration and direction of the Directorate, the District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) and Blocks, Prepare Plan, Fund Release, Frame Policy, Coordinate with the administrative set-up and Govt. of India for general matters and fund release. 2. District Level-District Rural Development Agencies: During the year 1995, the State Rural Development Agency (SRDA) was disbanded, re-organized and constituted District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) in all the then 7 districts of the state to achieve greater decentralization in the planning process, taking into account the local need and suitability of schemes and to make supervisory services more accessible to achieve greater and effective implementation of the various Poverty Alleviation and Rural Development Programmes in the state. In addition, with the creation of Dimapur district during and subsequently, Kiphire,

5 Longleng and Peren during , 4 DRDAs have also been created accordingly. Presently there are 11 DRDAs in the state. The DRDA has the sitting MLA as Chairman of the Governing Bod. The Deputy Commissioner of the district functions as the Chief Executive Officer assisted by Project Director and Officers and Staff for administrative control, implementing and monitoring of all Rural Development Programmes within the district. 3. Block Level-Block Development Officers: The Government of India created 15 Tribal Development Blocks during and 6 Community Development Blocks in All these 21 TD/CD Blocks were manned by Junior NCS officers and Agri Officers till as late as Subsequently, the existing Blocks and subordinate staff were brought under the control and administration of R.D Department after its creation. A further 7 more Blocks were created during Finally, 24 Blocks were created during During the existing 52 Blocks were bifurcated with the additiona of 22 new Blocks. Presently, there are 74 Rural Development Blocks in Nagaland. The Block is headed by a Block Development Officer assisted by Junior Engineer/SO (Engineer) and Staff. The responsibility of BDO is to achieve personal and direct contact with the VDBs, ensure proper schematic implementation, coordination and monitoring activities of the VDBs, assist in the selection of priority based schemes, issue completion certificates after personal verification and submit the same to the Chairman for fund release. 4. Village Level-Village Development Board (VDB): The Village Level Development Agencies called the Village Development Boards (VDBs) has been formed in 1980 under Clause 12 of Section 12 of the Nagaland Village and Area Council Act The VDB is a concept based on the traditional lines of the Village Councils (VCs) which appeared in the form of the Village Common Fund

6 Committees (VCFC) in Phek District of Nagaland in The initiative for the formation of VCFC and keeping the fund in banks came from the innovative initiatives of Shri. A. M. Gokhale, IAS, the then Deputy Commissioner, Phek. He took this concept further for the formation of VDBs in all existing 918 recognized villages during his tenure as the Secretary to the Rural Development Department in All permanent residents of the village form the General body of the Village Development Board. A Management Committee is formed from the General Body, chosen by the Village Council concerned and a Secretary is selected to manage the affairs of the VDB for a period of three years. The Deputy Commissioner of the District functions as the Ex-officio Chairman of all VDBs in the District. The VDBs are the grass-root level Development Institutions in the state and are responsible for implementation of all programmes/schemes of both under State Plan and Centrally Sponsored Schemes under Rural Development Department. Apart from Centrally Sponsored Schemes, the village-wise allocation was introduced under State Plan from under which every village receives funds under the Grant-in -Aid according to the basis of the number of Households of the village at a specified rate per tax paying household of allocation for implementing schemes for community development. Initially, the allocation to the villages under this scheme was made at the rate of Rs.100/- per tax paying household with a minimum of Rs.5,000/- during and through subsequent enhancements, currently the rate is Rs.1000/- per tax paying household. With this fund provided by the Department, developmental activities best suited to their requirements are taken up by the villagers themselves for implementation every year. At present there are 1175 recognized villages with 2, 27, 917 number of households having constituted VDB in all recognized villages in the state.

7 Administrative Structure Commissioner& Secretary Govt. of Nagaland, Department of RD General Administration & Policy Director (RD) General Administration & Direction Preparation of all allocation of funds Frame policy and plan annual activity Coordinate with Govt. of Nagaland & GOI for general matters. Proposal & sanctions of fund releases. CEO DRDA/ VICE-CHAIRMAN DP & DB Control, administer and review of DRDA & VDB activities Approves/Reviews VDBs Schemes through DP & DB (District Planning & Dev. Boards) Monitor Schematic Implementation of the VDBs. Project Director, DRDA Administrative control of Blocks Submit shelf of VDB schemes to DPB Control/Release of VDB funds Report and Returns, Proposal Maintain Records Block Development Officer Monitor fund utilization and progress of VDB activities Ensure selection of priority based schemes Ensure ground implementation of schemes, issues Completion Certificates & recommend Payment

8 Village Development Boards Identify & Select priority based schemes through General Body Meeting Ensure Ground implementation of Programmes Ensure Community participation Ensure Transparency & Proper Fund Utilization Maintain Account, Muster Rolls & Beneficiary Records.