Human resource management and rural development in West Bengal: a case study of Nadia district

Abstract

ABSTRACT Rural development is a globally important issue. This issue is also more important for the developing countries like India, where maximum number of people live in villages. Rural Development scenario in West Bengal is also an important and emerging issue in this regard. Present condition of rural development which requires immediate attention to the Human Resource Management (HRM) system at local selfgovernment institutions for effective and desired rural development in West Bengal. In many cases due to absence of forward planning, ineffective training programme, lack of professionalism, absence of responsibility have made most developmental initiative neglected and incomplete. Moreover, lack of decision making at all levels, practice of old methods, ineffective leadership, faulty staffing procedure and lack of motivation and co-ordination parallel and desired development in many rural areas have not been fulfilled. And here arises the need to train, to update and motivate local government functionaries through human resource management (HRM) for better results. A questionnaire has been developed to collect data on operational part of HRM and staff development. Eleven village Panchayats of one district have been selected for this study. The research study takes a look at HRM, a vital tool for institutional effectiveness. More over, the result of the study reveals that the HRM practices have a great impact and significant effect on institutional effectiveness and employee‟s performance. Therefore, the study has recommended and concluded that HRM practices are a vital tool to achieve expected rural development in West Bengal.