11. Backward Regions Grant Fund and Its Utilization: A Case Study in the District of Adilabad, Erstwhile Andhra Pradesh

“Backward Regions Grant Fund” (BRGF) is a programme of the Indian government designed to “address regional imbalances in development” in 250 backward districts of India. It was launched in 2007 and terminated in 2012. The scheme supplemented the other development programmes. Its objectives were to bridge critical gaps in local infrastructure and other development requirements that the existing inflows failed to meet adequately and to strengthen the Panchayat- and Municipality-level governance with more appropriate capacity building. In addition, the scheme sought to facilitate and encourage participatory planning, decision-making, implementation, and monitoring at the Panchayat and Municipality levels to address the local felt needs. In this paper, we have attempted to evaluate the state of public service delivery in India through a case study in Kotapalle Mandal, Mancherial district of Telangana. Kotapalle Mandal was in the Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh during the BRGF period. We used primary and secondary data to arrive at our conclusions on the efficacy of the utilization of the fund. It was found that paucity and irregularity of funds had hindered the planning and execution of meaningful developmental works. In addition, the objective of facilitating participatory planning at the grassroots level also seems to remain unfulfilled.