(a) whether District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) are receiving the funds
directly from Union Government;
(b) if so, whether this is in line with standard accounting procedure;
(c) whether in many States DRDAs have been placed under Zila Parishad;
(d) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and
(e) the steps taken to place DRDA under Zila Parishad in remaining North-Eastern
States?
MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (DR. RAGHUVANSH PRASAD SINGH)
(a) Yes Sir. District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) are receiving 75% of the
funds directly from the Union Government and 25% of funds are received from the State
Governments.
(b) The funds are disbursed as per the approved standard accounting procedure.
(c)&(d) The Guidelines of the `DRDA Administration` Scheme issued by Ministry of Rural
Development do not prescribe merger of DRDAs with the Zila Parishads as a general policy.
However, under the Guidelines the State Governments have been allowed flexibility to
operate the DRDAs as a distinct unit. At present, the DRDAs have been merged with Zila
Parishads/Zila Panchayats and a separate `DRDA Cell` has been created in the States of
Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
(e) No such steps to place DRDAs under Zila Parishads has been taken by Government of India.