The Role of the Block Development Officer—Promise and Performance
| Author | G. Ram Reddy |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1967.tb00662.x |
| Published date | 01 April 1967 |
| Date | 01 April 1967 |
The Role of the
Block Development
Officer-
Promise and Performance
By
G.
RAM
REDDY
---------
-
Editor's Note:
In
ｾｨ･
October 1962 issue
of
this Journal
Mr.
Henry Maddick, in an article
ｾｬｕｬ･､
"Panchayati
Raj"
described the general pattern
of
democratic rural
ocalgovernment in India.
p
ｾｨ･
top tier
of
the Panchayati
Raj
or rural local government is the Zila
l'arlshad which consists in most states
of
indirectly elected Zila councils estab-
ｾｾｨ･ｾ
in each revenue District covering a population
of
about 500,000 in some
ISlrzcts
to as much as 3,000,000 in others. (Very sparsely populated hill areas
rtlay?e
as small as 60,000.) The second local government tier called the Panch-
aYatI
Samiti consists
of
indirectly elected
Samiti
councils established not in
ｾ｡｣＿
revenue district sub-division known as a
Taluq
but in each
of
the areas
;slgnated
as Blocks under the Community Deoelopment Programme. The
locks each include a population
of
60,000 to 100,000or, in sparsely populated
areas,
ISO
square miles might contain a population as small as 15,000. A block
area,covered by a Samiti council may include as many as a hundred Panchayati
or
VIllage
councils.
1cceptance
of
the recommendations
of
the Balwantrai Mehta committee
ｷｨｾｨ
reported in 1957, resulted in the selection
of
Blocks as suitable units in
whIch to establish the middle tier
of
local government bodies, that is the Samiti
COUncils,
and the Block Development Officers became their executive officers.
. Mr.
Ram
Reddy, Lecturer in Public Administration, Osmania University,
inthis article (compiled during his field studies in the states
of
Andhra Pradesh
ｾｮ､
Maharashlra) discusses the intended and the actual role
of
the Block
evelopmenr Officer.
ｾｬｩｅ
role
of
the Block Development Officer has been the subject
of
con-
boversy for some time.'
Of
particular concern is the gap which exists
etween the ideal
of
his role and what happens in practice.
ｾｨ･
B.D.O. is a new official in the administrative set-up
of
India; his
:n
VaI came as part
of
the evolution
of
the Community Development Move-
enjz in which his position was that of leader of a team of extension officers:
ｾ･ｳｐｾｮｳｩ｢ｩｬｩｴｹ
for formulating programmes and achieving targets was mainly
;:
his shoulders. He was, therefore, the chief agent
of
change.
In
view
of
fedevelopment nature
of
his work, his position and functions were different
ｲｾ
those
of
the officers hitherto known to the people in the rural areas.
he advent
of
the post-independence rural local government in India
ＭｾＭＭＭＭ
IS·
13, 1
･ｾ
HlIldu and Statesman, December,
II,
1965; also editorial in Hindu, December
2 9 S.
ＱＹＶｾＩＧ
Mukerji, Community Deuelopment in India, Orient Longmans Ltd. (Calcutta,
p. 147
97
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