Integrated development of rural India is one of the challenging tasks before the Government of India. Community Development Block is a rural area earmarked for administration and development. It is administered by a Block Development Officer. The block covers several gram panchayats, local administrative units at the village level. There are 6311 Community Development Blocks and 240,561 Gram Panchayats. As per census report, about 72.2 per cent of the population lives in 638,588 villages. India has travelled a considerable distance on the road to development since independence and has made significant progress in various sectors. However, new challenging demands have emerged calling for more integrated rural information. Acute shortage of basic facilities such as drinking water, medical support, education infrastructure is still felt in the face of over 27 per cent of rural population who are still facing poverty and essential sustenance. The Block Development Offices face daunting job of having to accelerate the development process and correct imbalances in tune with the wishes and aspirations of the rural people.The relevant more than 175 information about each C.D. BLOCK is given under the following Heads:BRIEF INTRODUCTION; CD BLOCK MAP; COMMUNICATION; RIVER; BACKWARD REGION GRANTS FUND; FOREST AND RESERVED FOREST; ANNUAL RAINFALL; GROUND WATER; COASTAL VILLAGES; BORDER VILLAGES; NATURAL DIVISION; ADMINISTRATION; FAIR; RANKING; GRAM PANCHAYAT; EDUCATION; MEDICAL; DRINKING WATER; BANK; ELECTRICITY; RECREATION FACILITIES; SCHEDULED CASTES; SCHEDULED TRIBES; LITERATES AND ILLITERATES; AGRICULTCURE; SOURCE OF IRRIGATION; IMPORTANT VILLAGES: DISTRIBUTION OF WORKERS; RELIGION; AGEWISE DATA; LANGUAGES; DISABLED POPULATION.ZONEWISE DISTRIBUTION OF VOLUMES: South: 1,2,3.Andhra Pradesh, 4.Karnataka, 5. Kerala, Lakshadweep, 6,7.Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands West: 8. Gujarat, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu 9,10.Maharashtra,Goa 11.Rajasthan Central:12.Chhattisgarh 13,14. Madhya Pradesh 15,16,17. Uttar Pradesh North: 18. Haryana, Delhi. 19. Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand 20. Punjab, Chandigarh East:21,22. Bihar 23. Jharkhand 24.Odisha 25. West Bengal North East: 26.Assam, Sikkim 27. Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura. All Twenty Seven volumes would prove to be of immense help and become an invaluable companion to all researchers, writers, scholars, administrators, planners, tourists, and librarians etc. who want to know about Rural India closely.
Dr. N.Seshagiri did his Doctorate in computers and Telecom from the Indian Institute of Science in 1964. He was a scientist at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research from 1966 to 1971.In 1971 he joined as Director in the Government of India. He founded the National Informatics Center (NIC) in 1975 and was its DirectorGeneral till 2000, while simultaneously holding the post of Additional Secretary since 1984, Special Secretary in the planning Commission since 1993 and in the Ministry of Information Technology up to 2000.Currently he is Emeritus Scientist in CMMACS of CSIR and Advisor to HCL Infosystems Ltd. He set up NICNET, the first nationwide computer network in India and a PSU: NIC Services Inc.Under his guidance computer centre were set up in every Ministry/Department of the Central Government, State/UT Governments, and over 500 District Administrations. Under his sustained initiative NIC developed over 6,000 databases and associated software packages including several Nagar Palika and Rural databases as well as Urban and Rural Planning software. He coordinated the formulation and implementation of liberalised Computer and IT Policies of GOI in 1984,1986, and 1998 and contributed to the liberalised Telecom Policy.Some of the awards and honours to his credit are: 'Asiad Jyothi' awarded by the president of India; Udyog Jyothi Award; Om Prakash Bhasin Award for Telecom; Vikram Sarabhai Research Award; DATAQUEST Award for Lifetime contribution to IT; ELCINA Lifetime Award; NAFEN IT Excellence Award; and Systems Society Gold Medal.He was an elected Governor of the International Council for ComputerCommunication at Geneva, a nominated Governor of UNESCO Institute for IT in Education at Moscow, and a Director of IT Pour La Development International at Paris. He is Fellow of several scientific and technical Academies and Institutions. He has authored 8 books, edited 8 other books and authored over 85 research papers. The president of India awarded to him 'Padma Bhushan' in 2005.
