Some Issues in the Design and Delivery of Government Aged Social Development Programme: The Case of DWCRA in Gujarat

Despite exhortations to allocate at least 30 per cent of the benefits under the Integrated Rural Development Programme for women, the actual performance has been considerable below this norm. An exclusive programme for the Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA) was launched by the Ministry of Rural Development in 1983. This paper examines the design and delivery issues of this programme based on its working in the state of Gujarat between 1983-1991. The paper shows that the record of implementation in Gujarat has not been particularly successful. The difficulties of finding suitable women officers to implement this programme at various levels, the lack of orientation among field workers and the high turnover among senior level staff drawn on deputation from other departments have been identified as the major reasons for ineffective implementation. This programme demands innovative approaches in extension and imagination in identifying appropriate economic and social activities for selected groups of women. Rural development functionaries accustomed to implementing large scale programmes of wage and self-employment have been found wanting in adapting to this approach. Altogether, there have been serious lags in the provision of revolving fund for groups so constituted and identification of appropriate economic and social activities for groups provided with revolving funds. There have also been major shortfalls in the construction of multi purpose centres under this programme. This paper highlights some of these key issues of programme design and implementation on the eve of the eighth five year plan.