India facing dearth of rural development professionals: Minister

Hyderabad, Aug 4 (UNI) Union Minister of State for Rural Development Chandra Sekhar Sahu today said the country was facing an acute shortage of professionals in rural development management for effective and efficient delivery of rural development programmes and services.

Inaugurating the one-year Post-Graduate Diploma in Rural Development Management (PGDRDM) course of the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) here, he said though the Centre had spent nearly Rs 70,000 crore for drinking water in rural areas, several villages in the country had no access to drinking water due to lack of trained professionals for maintenance.

In this direction, the NIRD had recognised the importance of building a committed cadre of rural development professionals by launching the prestigious PGDRDM programme. The course was aimed at creating a committed cadre of rural development professionals, who would cater to the demands of various governmental, non-governmental and corporate sector organisations.

The Minister said the NIRD should not confine itself to this programme but spread its activities by increasing the number of teaching programmes in specialised areas and the Ministry would extend all possible help and assistance for this.

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