Exclusive | Govt clips Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s rural ministry, orders merger of 2 autonomous wings

At the same time, the DoE has slashed the budget of MoRD’s National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR), which is based in Hyderabad and functions mainly as a think tank, to Rs 1 lakh for the financial year 2025-26 from Rs 73.68 crore in revised estimates of the 2024-25 fiscal and Rs 75.69 crore in 2023-24.

Among the four autonomous bodies under MoRD, only Bharat Finance over-rules Rural, calls for merger, budget cuts in 3 units.

Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation (BRLF) emerged unscathed from the latest move. The Foundation, incidentally, has over a dozen serving officials of the Central and state governments, and half-a-dozen retired IAS officers, in its governing body.

The Government had undertaken a similar trim earlier, when it got a fifth autonomous body under MoRd, Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology (CAPART), to be merged with NIRD&PR in 2020.

The DoE did not respond to an email from The Indian Express seeking comment on the reason behind its move. The MoRD, too, did not respond to an email from The Indian Express seeking comment.

However, records show the MoRD approached the DoE in December last year, seeking exemption for NRLPS and NRIDA. In two separate but identical letters dated December 19, 2024, the MoRD pushed for the continuation of NRIDA in “its present form” and sought exemption from merger of NRLPS.

But the DoE responded early this year that the merger should be completed by March-end 2025. Stating that it “reiterates its earlier position”, the DoE wrote on January 6: “The decision to merge NRIDA with MoRD may be implemented as soon as possible. Further, budgetary support for NRIDA may be difficult to provide during 2025-26.”

In another identical letter sent on the same day, the DoE referred to NRLPS and wrote, “After consideration, it is hereby conveyed that DoE reiterates its earlier views in this matter.” It asked the ministry to “complete the process of merger of NRLPS by 31.03.2025, otherwise it may be difficult to provide GoI budgetary support in Financial Year 2025-26”.

NRIDA and NRLPS are registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860. The three autonomous bodies under the Government scanner are involved in a range of activities — from functioning as a think tank to providing training and technical support in running government schemes.

Consider this:

• NRIDA: The National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency provides technical support for implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). It is also a special purpose vehicle for distributing financial assistance from NABARD to states to bridge fund gaps in targets set by MoRD. In the financial year 2022-23, for instance, MoRD allocated Rs 2,765 crore to NRIDA as grant-in-aid for “Interest payment to NABARD Loan” under the rural housing scheme and Rs 47 crore as grant-in-aid for “salaries and general”.
• NRLPS: The National Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society was established to provide professional and technical support to Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana — National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM). Records show MoRD provided Rs 60.71 crore as recurring grant to NRLPS in five years from 2017-18 to 2021-22.
• NIRD&PR: The National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, which is facing a sharp budget cut, is an “apex institute for training and research in rural development”, according to MoRD. Its activities are focused on training, capacity building, research and policy advocacy. It also runs academic programmes, including a Diploma in Rural Development Management and Tribal Development Management, and functions as a think tank for MoRD.

The fourth autonomous body BRLF, which has not been affected by the cut, was created during the financial year 2013-14. It works in partnership with Central and state governments, and NGOs, for the rural poor, focusing mainly on tribal areas in Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat.