National Institute of Rural Development

National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (abbreviated as NIRDPR) is an Indian autonomous research organisation under the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, located in Hyderabad, Telangana. In addition to the main campus at Hyderabad, the Institute has a north-eastern regional centre at Guwahati, Assam to meet the needs of North-east India and a regional centre in New Delhi.

Overview

National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Police Quarters, Rajendranagar mandal

Objectives

The NIRDPR is mandated to:

• Organise training programmes, conferences, seminars and workshops for senior level development managers, elected representatives, bankers, NGOs and other stakeholders;
• Undertake, aid, promote and coordinate research on its own and / or collaborate with State, national and international development agencies;
• Analyse and offer solutions to problems encountered in planning and implementation of the programmes for rural development, decentralised governance, panchayati raj and related programmes;
• Study the functioning of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and rural development programmes across the States;
• Analyse and propose solutions to problems in planning and implementation of the programmes for rural development; and
• Develop content and disseminate information and transfer technology through periodicals, reports, e-modules and other publications.

History

In the early 1950s, Community Development Blocks were set up in the country to promote social and economic development of villages. The Central Institute of Study and Research in Community Development was conceived and set up in 1958 at Mussoorie for offering orientation courses to officers of executive hierarchy in the development programmes. The Trainers' Training Institute (subsequently renamed as the Institute for Instruction in Community Development), established in December, 1958 at Rajpur, Dehradun was entrusted with the task of training of District Panchayat Officers and sub-divisional officers and trainers of state institutions. In April 1962, both the Institutes were merged into one named as National Institute of Community Development (NICD). NICD was shifted to Hyderabad campus during 1964-65. The Institute was changed in to registered society under the Public Services Registration Act No.1 of 1350 Fasli (No.229 of 1965). As per decision taken by General Council in its meeting held on 20.9.1977, the Institute was renamed and registered as National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD). Recognising the need for more focus on strengthening Panchayati Raj system and capacity building of PRI functionaries through the network of SIRDs and ETCs, the name of NIRD has been changed as National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR) in the year 2014.

NIRDPR - NERC

The North Eastern Regional Centre of the National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj (NIRD & PR-NERC) came into existence in July 1983 at Guwahati with the aim to orient its training and research activities to the specific needs and potentials of North Eastern States. The Centre is located at Jawaharnagar, Khanapara, adjacent to Assam Administrative Staff College and Veterinary College, Assam Agriculture University, Khanapara. It is at a distance of about 15 km from Guwahati Railway Station and Central ASTC Bus Stand and nearly 35 km from Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport.

Controversies

Sexual harassment allegations

There have been allegations of rampant sexual harassment of women inside NIRDPR campus. In 2018 Satyaranjan Mahakul, an Assistant Professor of NIRD was arrested by Cyberabad Police on charges of molesting an Indonesian student. In 2015 NIRDPR Associate Professor Dr V Suresh Babu had been penalised for sexually abusing Assistant Professor Dr G. Valentina. However CAT deemed the penalty as unjust.

Corruption allegations

There have been several allegations of corruption by NIRDPR officials, including by faculty members and class-IV staff