Drought and Development

In drought prone areas of India rural development is lagging behind. Rural development is accounted as a major strategy for economic development in India. Because 70 percent of the population is in rural areas. Several strategies to improve the living conditions of the rural poor is an integral part of the planning process in India. For anti-poverty programmes, the government of India launched growth oriented strategy and target group programme. IRDP comes under target group programmes for the eradication of poverty in the rural India. The main objective of the IRDP is to make a multi-pronged attack on the problems of rural development with particular emphasis on the removal of poverty and unemployment in rural areas through the adoption of ‘Family’ as a unit of development process. This research area concentrates on the study of performance and the impact of the IRDP in Anatapur district, a drought prone area in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The findings of the study, it is hoped, would enable the planners, the State Government and financing agencies to gather further impulse from the positive aspect and to take remedial measures for the negative aspects of implementation of the programme. The observations of the study, it is believed, would enrich the process for policy revision and re-orienting, restructuring and remodelling the policy frame work and the basic approach to integrated rural development in India.