Villages which are the heart and soul of India require a holistic developmental model which can herald a positive change that can penetrate the life of each and every person. Even after 7 decades since India got its independence, the villages suffer from the want of basic services that the denizens of cities often take for granted. The Panchayati Raj Model fashioned by the Government of India has given villages some level of autonomy but it is often insufficient when it comes to improving the quality of life and availing the facilities with ease. This is where IIRD has initiated its flagship programme “Integrated Panchayat Development” to support the comprehensive planning process keeping in mind the 15 years’ developmental vision in the major thematic areas through the mobilisation of resources and manpower specifically employed to achieve this endeavour. The plans under this programme have been put into practice through community-based institutions with the core principles of equity, gender and community ownership.
Our vision is to transform a Village Panchayat into a “Tiny Republic” which is independent, sustainable and effective in supporting its own development. The people in these tiny republics have the resources to plan for their development independently involving the initiatives through sectoral committees such as Health, Education, Agriculture, and many more areas of concern. The financial resources are self-generated by Village Panchayat through various commercial ventures to take care of basic needs of the Panchayat and the Information & Allied technologies are used to the best extent for various purposes. The governance and regulation are completely in the hands of the villagers; the manpower recruitment & their compensation is well cared for by the Village Panchayat either by getting government employees on deputation or recruiting contractual manpower with immense talent and passion to contribute towards the development of the rural community. These Panchayats have the leeway to become a treasure for researchers and development practitioners where the innovations in Institution Building, Technology Demonstration, Livelihood Strengthening, Economic Empowerment, Resource Mobilization and Governance which together function like a Sovereign Government of any a nation. The Integrated Panchayat Development model not just puts resources for the benefit of people, but it efficaciously puts in place the concepts of Model Village prevalent in different parts of the country. This has the power to usher the New Era Philosophy of Development which is going to impact national policies and give new direction to understand the development principles in a profound way.