NIRDPR NERC Guwahati organised online programme on rural development leadership

GUWAHATI: The National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, North Eastern Regional Centre (NIRDPR NERC), Guwahati, has organised a five-day online Management Development Programme on Rural Development Leadership which started on January 17 and will conclude on January 21, stated a press release.

This is part of a series of management development programmes on rural development leadership during COVID-19.

The functionaries of the rural development and Panchayati Raj institutions play a crucial role in addressing problems such as poverty, sanitation, unemployment, women empowerment etc., in addition to their normal routine work, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic situation. It is also believed that posting in the districts as BDO/APO/DRDA -PO is very crucial for the officers and his/her effective functioning to realize the full potential in various sectors of development. The overall objective of the proposed programme is to sharpen the fundamental competencies of officers, such as knowledge, skills, traits, motives, attitudes, values and other characteristics that are needed to drive superior performance in the rural development sector during uncertain times of the pandemic.

The main aim of the programme is to make participants recognize their potential by addressing various social sector issues prevailing in the districts, and to equip the participants with various supportive institutions like NIRD &PR and other similar agencies to get quick solutions for their district-specific development problems, and also in the management of mental well-being during a pandemic situation.

The programme was inaugurated by PVSLN Murthy, chairman and managing director of North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd (NEDFi) in presence of G Kameshwara Rao, former Chief Secretary of Tripura, and T Vijaya Kumar, associate professor and course director.

While welcoming the delegates and guests, T Vijaya Kumar emphasised the importance of leadership in rural development during the COVID-19 situation. Leadership in rural areas requires particular traits. It is an interesting social phenomenon. Therefore, this training programme focuses on sharpening the fundamental competencies of officers/functionaries working in the rural development sector with requisite knowledge, skills and traits, attitudes and other characteristics that are needed to drive the performance in rural development in the pandemic situation. Managing the mental well-being of people is one of the essential requirements for the functionaries to excel their leadership during COVID-19.

PVSLN Murthy highlighted that in India a lot of development is happening but the pace is not enough, particularly during this uncertain situation. There is a need for creating concrete development models to showcase and implement across the country. The functionaries should understand the local situations and understand the people while implementing the development programmes for greater success.

He referred to Armstrong Pame, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Manipur, who is called a 'Miracle Man' for building a 100km stretch of road famously known as the 'Peoples' Road', which connects Manipur to Nagaland and Assam. The functionaries are to be equipped with personal traits to lead the programmes, such as passion to work with the people, involvement, honesty and positive leadership through this type of rural development leadership training programmes. He appreciated the efforts of NIRDPR.

G Kameshwara Rao highlighted Covey's habit of synergizing suggested ways to seek commonalities across seemingly disconnected issues, problems and people by integrating living and learning and said that the "Be Proactive" habit helps in developing the rural areas. The functionaries should prioritize the 'urgent' over the 'not urgent' and 'important' over the 'not important'.

Chamarti Uma Maheshwara Rao, former principal secretary to the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, while deliberating on 'Dynamics of Rural Development Leadership', stressed on freeing the minds of the people and community and help them with delegated power.

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