Organizational Set-up for Community Development Extension Service
Organizational Set-up for Community Development Extension Service
The organizational set-up for Community development Programme runs form the national level through state, district and block levels to the village level and there are three main constituents of this new set-up.
1. The direct-line staff such as State Development Commissioner, B.D.O and Village Level Worker.
2. The auxillary or specialist staff, such as different heads of technical departments at the state and district levels and extension officers at the block level.
3. Panchayati Raj System- The Zila Parishads, Block Samitis and Village Panchayats.
A) National Level:
At the National level programme, the policies are formulated by the National Development Council presided over by the Prime Minister of India. Membership of the Council consists of the Central ministers of the concerned ministers, chief ministers of all states, and members of the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission provides guidance for Plan formulation and gives it approval to annual and Five-year Plans of the states as well as of the Centre. The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation is responsible for giving national guidance, policy formulation and technical assistance in regard to Agriculture Extension and Community Development (now Rural Development programmes). In the Agriculture department, the Agricultural Commissioner, Government of India, assisted by a number of assistant commissioners and directors, with the supporting staff, is in charge of all agricultural development programmes at the national level Within this Department, special mention may be made of the Directorate of Extension Training responsible for the training of Extension officers, VLWs, instructors of Village-Level Workers Training Centers and others and the Directorate of Farm Information which is concerned with the dissemination of new agricultural technology and innovations through various media.
B) State Level:
At state level also, there is usually a State Development Committee presided over by the Chief Minister of the state with the other concerned ministers as its members. This Committee is responsible for the state’s plan and programmes and for fixing the targets for regions and districts. Besides this committee, there are usually a number of other advisory or technical committees.
As regards the actual administrative functioning the State Developments Commissioner is the top-level executive responsible for directing, coordinating and providing overall guidance for development programmes and maintaining a two-way channel of communication between the state governments and the Central government. He co-ordinates the activities of different de3velopment departments, such as agriculture, animal husbandry, co-operation, panchayati raj, health, education, irrigation, power and electricity. The heads of these technical departments are responsible for planning and implementing the technical programmes and for providing the necessary technical guidance, manpower and support.
C) District Level:
At the district level also, there is usually a District Development or District Planning Committee presided over by the District Collector or Deputy Commissioner. The other members of this committee are the heads of the departments in the district, chairman and vice-chairman of the district boards, representatives of voluntary organizations, local bodies and members of parliament and state legislatures.
In the states, where the Panchayati Raj is operating, the Zila Parishads are responsible for planning, co-ordinationg and consolidating the development programme in the district. The District collector is the key official who co-ordinates the activities of all development departments at the districts level. The district-level technical heads of agriculture, animal husbandry, co-operation, panchayats, public health, irrigation, education and rural industries are responsible for planning and implementing the development programmes relating to their departments, Administratively, they are responsible to the district collector on one hand and to their state heads of development departments on the other.
D) Block Level:
A district is subdivided into a number of community development programmes. The block development officer is the head of the block team, and co-ordinates all the activities of the development departments at the block level. He is assisted by eight extension officers form different fields, namely agriculture, animal husbandry, health, co-operation, panchayats, engineering, social education and rural industry.
At the non-official level in the states, where the Panchayati Rah has been implemented, the Panchayati samiti (also called the Block), this Samiti) has the statutory powers for formulating and executing development programmes. The Samiti is assisted by the B.D.O. and the extension officers. Wherever the panchayati Raj is not working, there are block development advisory committees.
E) Village Level:
At the village level, the multi-purpose village-level worker is the main extension staff. He is the last extension functionary in the administrative hierarchy and is the main contact person. He is responsible for all developmental work at the village level, and forms a connecting link between the various technical departments and the rural people. Usually, in a normal community development block, there are 10 village-level workers. Their number has been double in the intensive Agricultural Development Programme (IADP) blocks.
On the non-official side, usually there is Panchayat in every village or for a cluster of villages, and is responsible for planning and implementing the community development programmes and ensuring people’s participation in them.