The Objective The main objective of

The Objective
The main objective of the CDP was to secure the total development of the material and human resources of rural areas, and to develop local leadership and self-governing institutions, so as to raise the levels of living of rural people. This objective was to be attained by bringing about a rapid increase in food and agricultural production by strengthening programmes of natural resource development, such as minor irrigation and soil conservation, by improving the. effectiveness of farm inputs supply systems and by providing agricultural extension service to farmers. The First Five Year Plan was dominated by the CDP, which reflected India's overriding concern with nation building and equity. Thus, the strategy underlying the CDP was holistic and equity-oriented.



The Coverage
The CDP was formally inaugurated on 2 October 1952. Initially it was launched in 55 project areas located in different parts of the country. Another 110 areas had necessarily to be added to the original 55 in the course of six months in response to popular demands from the members of state legislatures and the Members of Parliament (MPs). A new,
somewhat less ambitious, scheme called the National Extension Service (NES) was evolved and launched in 1953. Whereas in the CDP, intensive development was taken up in all fields, the NES scheme was designed to provide the essential basic staff and a small amount of funds with which the people could start the development work essentially
on the basis of self-help: The NES blocks were subsequently converted into CDP blocks.From 1 April1969, the CDP was transferred from the central sector to the state sector.The CDP had to be expanded phenomenally under political pressure and soon it became a national programme encompassing 400 million rural people across the four corners of the country. Consequently, both the programme as well as the inputs had necessarily to be diluted under this abnormal rate of expansion. The CDP now covers all the rural areas in the country.



The Activities
A large number of rural community development activities were undertaken in such varying degrees (within the limits of the available funds) as were advisable under the circumstances peculiar to each block. The number of activities taken up under the CDP was 46, categorised in eight broad heads (Ensminger 1972):
1. Agricultural and related matters (18)
2. Communication (3)
3. Education (3)