Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP)
🔹Background & Context: Why was IRDP needed?
Let’s begin with the “why”. After Independence, India launched several rural-focused development schemes:
- Adult education
- Family planning
- Health programs
- Rural and small industries development
✅ These were well-intentioned, but:
- Scattered in focus
- Implemented independently of each other
- Targeted different areas and populations
🛑 Result? Lack of integration and coordination
⛓️ These isolated schemes couldn’t tackle the deep-rooted poverty in rural India.
➡️ This led to the realization that rural poverty can’t be solved in bits and pieces.
👉 What’s needed is a comprehensive, integrated, and powerful programme.
Thus, was born — IRDP (Integrated Rural Development Programme)
🗓️ Launch and Expansion
- Pilot Launch: 1978–79 in 2,300 development blocks
- Full-scale Implementation: On 2nd October 1980, IRDP was expanded to all 5,011 blocks in the country
🎯 Objectives of IRDP
At its core, IRDP is an anti-poverty programme. But unlike doles and handouts, it focuses on assets and self-employment.
🔑 Main Objectives:
- Bring families above poverty line
➤ Enhance their income through productive assets - Employment Generation
➤ Promote self-employment and income-generating activities - Boost in Agriculture and Allied Sectors
➤ Encourage investment in small-scale industries and agri-based ventures
🧠 Remember: IRDP is not just about giving money — it is about capacity-building, asset-ownership, and long-term income support.
👥 Target Beneficiaries
The programme clearly defines its target group:
- Small & Marginal Farmers
- Agricultural Labourers
- Rural Artisans
- Scheduled Castes (SCs) & Scheduled Tribes (STs)
- Socially & Economically Backward Classes
💡 Eligibility: Annual income below ₹61,000 (as per the Eighth Plan’s poverty line definition)
🎯Special Focus:
- 50% of the beneficiaries: SCs/STs
- 40%: Women
- 3%: Persons with disabilities
This affirmative action ensured that vulnerable sections got priority support.
💰 Funding & Implementation Mechanism
💵 Funding Pattern:
- Subsidy by Government
- Credit from Cooperative/Commercial Banks (about 2/3rd of total resources)
🏛️ Implementation Structure:
🟨 State-Level Coordination Committee:
- Approves plans
- Includes Central Rural Development Directorate representatives
🟨 District-Level Committee:
- A 3-member expert team:
- Economist
- Investment Planning Official
- Cottage Industry Expert
- Prepares block-specific plans
- Ensures inter-agency coordination
🟨 Block-Level Implementation:
- Local bodies, banks, and development agencies collaborate
🔧 Major Sub-Programmes Under IRDP
IRDP was not a standalone programme — it was an umbrella scheme with various functional components:
(i) TRYSEM
Training of Rural Youth for Self Employment
- For youth aged 18–35 years
- Focus on technical and entrepreneurial skills
- Aim: To prepare them for income-generating activities
(ii) SITRA
Supply of Tool Kits in Rural Areas
- Target: Rural artisans
- Objective: Provide modern tools and equipment
- Aim: Improve productivity and quality of goods
(iii) DWCRA
Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas
- Focus: Rural women from poor households
- Strategy: Create Self-Help Groups (5–10 members)
- Goal: Promote mutual support and income generation
(iv) PMGAY (Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana)
- Aims to provide pucca houses to:
- Houseless
- People living in kutcha/dilapidated houses
🧠 Though PMGAY evolved independently, it aligns with IRDP’s vision of comprehensive rural upliftment.
🧭 Evolution of IRDP Sub-Schemes and Their Current Status
| Scheme | Launch Year | Objective | Current Status | Merged/Evolved Into |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IRDP (Integrated Rural Development Programme) | 1978 (nationwide 1980) | Self-employment via asset creation for the rural poor | Discontinued in 1999 | Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana → NRLM |
| TRYSEM (Training of Rural Youth) | 1979 | Skill development for 18–35 age group | Merged in 1999 | SGSY → NRLM |
| DWCRA (Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas) | 1982–83 | Promote group-based income for poor rural women | Merged in 1999 | Self-Help Groups under NRLM |
| SITRA (Supply of Toolkits in Rural Areas) | 1980s (as IRDP component) | Provide quality tools to rural artisans | Discontinued | No direct replacement — may inform MSME and Skill India |
| PMGAY → now PMAY-G | 1985 (renamed in 2016) | Pucca houses for BPL households in rural areas | Active and Expanded | Target: 2.95 crore homes by 2029 |
NRLM
- National Rural Livelihood Mission is flagship poverty alleviation programme of the Ministry of Rural Development, launched in 2011.
- Its core aim is to organize the rural poor into Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and empower them through self-employment, financial inclusion, and skill development.
- NRLM was renamed as DAY-NRLM: Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana–NRLM in September 2015.
📌 Key Features & Legacy of IRDP
✔️ Asset-based Planning:
- IRDP focused on providing productive assets — like a cow, sewing machine, irrigation equipment — instead of short-term benefits.
✔️ Convergence:
- Integrated multiple schemes under a single rural development framework
✔️ Institutional Participation:
- Included banks, local governments, technical agencies, and state administration — ensuring a multi-stakeholder approach
🚧 Criticism and Limitations
No policy is perfect. While IRDP was a pathbreaking initiative, it faced several challenges:
- Targeting errors – many non-poor benefited, while some eligible were left out
- Loan recovery was poor; many beneficiaries treated loans as grants
- Asset misuse – sometimes assets were sold off or misused
- Lack of proper training and follow-up
🛤️ Conclusion: Why IRDP Still Matters
IRDP laid the foundation for India’s modern rural development approach. Though it has since been merged into newer programmes (like SGSY, later NRLM), its core philosophy continues to guide rural policy.
✅ Integrated
✅ Inclusive
✅ Asset & Employment Based