Field-level implementation of rural development projects : a case study with reference to IRDP

The present Study on 'Field-level Implementation of Rural Development Projects With Special Reference to Integrated Rural Development Programme, is one of a series of similar studies commissioned by the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific, completed in 1982. It relates to India. While conscious of its proven utility, we have not been oblivious of its limitations vis-a-vis formulation of generalisations. Certain methodological caution evident in the study extends to quite a few issues in the realm of social science research. The debate about the limitations of survey research is a case in point. It (survey research) constitutes an important component of the study, but it is supplemented by much else. Further, all research exercises, save the routine ones, could be considered exploratory. But in view of a slightly more ambitious, or methodologically eclectic canvas,it is exploratory to a greater extent. The style of presentation of the Study too is in a manner unfolding sequentially areas of enquiry in the questionnaire as they occur in the schedule, with the needed comments.