HYDERABAD, DEC 27    :     The Agriculture Today Group recently presented the Development Leadership Award 2023 to the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) here.

The award was given for its outstanding work, which has positively touched the lives of millions of rural people, the Institute said in a statement here on Wednesday.

On December 21, 2023, during a ceremony conducted as part of the Agriculture Leadership Conclave in New Delhi, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Arjun Munda presented the award. Justice P. Sathasivam, former Chief Justice of India, presided over the event.

Established in 1958, NIRDPR, a premier institution in rural development and Panchayati Raj under the Union Ministry of Rural Development, has made remarkable contributions to the social and economic development of rural India for more than six decades.

NIRDPR was selected for the award by the National Awards Committee, under the Chairmanship of former Chief Justice Justice P. Sathasivam.

In its citation of the award, the committee observed that ‘As a ‘think-tank’ for the Ministry of Rural Development and the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, NIRDPR’s work focuses on achieving inclusive and sustainable improvement in the quality of life of rural India through research, the creation of a knowledge base, capacity building of stakeholders, and development interventions.

The institution has operationalized the core value of sustainability through its capacity-building programmes in the spheres of conserving resources, improving the resource use efficiency of scarce resources, building resilience among rural communities, providing responsible and decentralised governance mechanisms, and supporting and improving rural livelihoods.

It has also made significant contributions to the design, implementation, and monitoring of flagship development programmes of the Government of India.(UNI)