Bihar mulls rural development institute on lines of NIRDPR, IRMA

Bihar’s education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said a national-level institute of this kind was a requirement in the state in view of the rapid rural development and expansion of rural economy.

The Bihar government has decided to set up a rural development and management institute on the lines of National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR), Hyderabad, and the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) in Gujarat.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar (HT FIle)

Bihar’s education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said a national-level institute of this kind was a requirement in the state in view of the rapid rural development and expansion of rural economy.

“A proposal in this regard will soon be taken to chief minister Nitish Kumar for approval. He has been instrumental behind setting up several reputed institutions in the state, which had none prior to 2005, and the rural development and management institute will be another extension to it to and will a quality opportunity for Bihar students,” he said.

Though Bihar has Rural Institute of Higher Education, at Birauli in Samastipur, which was founded in 1955 on a sprawling 30-acre campus with the purpose of providing opportunities in rural development and management, it has ended up being yet another general college struggling with faculty shortage and erratic studies. It is affiliated with the Lalit Narayan Mithila University and has over 6,000 students, but only three teachers.

The minister said he was highly disappointed about the present status of the college in his home district, as it had completely deviated from the objective it was set up with.

“Chairing the governing board meeting of the college, I shared my concerns about the college, which was set up nearly 65 years ago with some clear objectives. However, it seems to have nothing in order despite having a big campus. The institute was meant for studies on rural development and management,” Choudhary said.