How do District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) help in the reduction of rural poverty in India?
- 1.DRDAs act as Panchayati Raj Institutions in certain specified backward regions of the country.
- 2.DRDAs undertake area-specific scientific study of the causes of poverty and malnutrition and prepare detailed remedial measures.
- 3.DRDAs secure inter-sectoral and interdepartmental coordination and cooperation for effective implementation of anti-poverty programmes.
- 4.DRDAs watch over and ensure effective utilisation of the funds intended for anti-poverty programmes.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (b) 3 and 4 only
The DRDA is the district-level agency for the Ministry of Rural Development's anti-poverty programmes. Its job is to bring together different departments and agencies, and to make sure programme funds are used well. It is not a Panchayati Raj body, and it does not run its own poverty-and-malnutrition research.
- ✗ 1. DRDAs are not Panchayati Raj Institutions. The guidelines say the DRDA performs tasks different from those of Panchayati Raj Institutions and line departments.
- ✗ 2. The DRDA's role is to coordinate and oversee anti-poverty programmes and to ensure that their funds are used effectively. Carrying out its own area-specific scientific studies of the causes of poverty and malnutrition is not part of that role.
- ✓ 3. The DRDA's stated objective is to secure inter-sectoral and inter-departmental coordination and cooperation for reducing poverty in the district.
- ✓ 4. The DRDA continues to watch over and ensure effective utilisation of the funds intended for anti-poverty programmes.
- ✗ (c) Option (c), '4 only', leaves out the coordination role in statement 3, which is a core DRDA function.
- ✗ (d) Option (d) includes statements 1 and 2, which wrongly describe DRDAs as Panchayati Raj bodies and as research agencies.
Remember · DRDA is the district agency for the Ministry of Rural Development's anti-poverty programmes. It coordinates agencies and monitors fund use. It is not a Panchayati Raj body, and it is not mainly a research body.
Sources
- District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Chatra district (NIC) ↗ “The DRDA will continue to watch over and ensure effective utilisation of the funds intended for anti-poverty programmes. It will need to develop distinctive capabilities for poverty eradication. It will perform tasks which are different from Panchayati Raj Institutions and line departments.”
- Role & Functions of the District Rural Development Agency, Department of Rural Development, Haryana ↗ “It shall be their endeavor and objective to secure inter-sectoral and inter- departmental coordination and cooperation for reducing poverty in the district.”
Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2012, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·
