GUWAHATI, March 8: A five-day management development programme on rural development leadership organised by the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, North Eastern Regional Centre got under way here on Monday. This is the third programme in a series of management development programmes on rural development leadership during COVID-19.
Deliberating on the dynamics of rural development leadership, Sampath Kumar, Principal Secretary Health department, emphasised on the need for people-centric development through inclusive efforts.
“The functionaries particularly working in rural areas should establish linkage with local institutions for effective delivery of the development programmes by understanding the purpose of the programmes,” Kumar said.
“Creating community institutions in the form of village organisations through adaptive approaches to solve problems through local solutions are required in the present scenario,” he said.
Kumar further highlighted that functionaries need to understand the complex challenges of the community by working with empathy for the poor sections in rural development.
“Nurturing community leadership and institutional building are very crucial for promotion of rural development leadership,” he said.
North Eastern Hill University Vice-Chancellor, PS Shukla, while delivering the inaugural address, highlighted that leadership in rural areas requires different qualities to handle the healthy and dynamic agriculture sector which is the foundation for rural development.
“Empowering rural people through local cooperatives and by following a bottom up approach creating off-farm employment is very important,” he said.
He further mentioned that extension work is very important by understanding local language and dissemination of agriculture information to farming communities through promoting rural development leadership is essential.
Prof. C Beena, an Ashoka Fellow and a retired professor of Psychology at Osmania University, Telangana, said that rural development leadership requires particular cognitive styles in understanding reflective responses of the people.
“Cognitive styles such as ideas, thinking and application of communication have to be equipped among the functionaries for exercising rural leadership,” she said.