COMMUNITY BASED ORGANIZATIONS AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT Dr. V. Divyathejomurthy Co-ordinator, Asst. Professor, Department of Rural Development, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Nagarjuna Nagar, Guntur (Dt) Andhra Pradesh, India. communication and even denied basic amenities like protected drinking water, food, clothing, shelter etc. As a result they are prone to poverty, illiteracy, ignorance, ill-health and multitudes of exploitation. Vasant Desai (1988) observed that the development, by definition, is the act or process of developing growth evolution with in framework of available resources. Its primary aim in India is the removal of poverty and all the socio-economic evils which are interlinked with it. Rural development is therefore, a consciences effort at raising the standard of living of the people in 6, 38,596 villages in that 5, 93,731 are in habited villages and 44,865 are unhabited villages in India. According to Desmond Anker “Rural Development Include the strategies, policies and programmes for the development of rural areas and the promotion of activities carried out in such areas (agriculture, forestry, fishery, rural crafts and industries, and the building of social and economic infrastructure) with the ultimate aim of activities a fuller utilization of available physical and human resources and thus higher incomes and better living conditions for the rural population as a whole, particularly the rural poor, and effective participation of the latter in the development process”. The community association is the centre proces of community management. As the principal organization for supplementing conventional services provided by local government it should manage and maintain common properties and service for the community and sponsor and encourage a wide range of community activities. Being close to the community and endowed with wide powers, the community association is better placed than other agency to identify community needs and ensure that they are met. It should have scope to provide, either directly or indirectly, any services that the community may require in addition to those already provided by the local authority, commercial operators and voluntary organizations. INTRODUCTION In India more than 70 percent of the population dwells in villages. According to the 2011 census, there are about 6, 38,596 villages constituting more than 100 crores population. The problems of rural masses are terrible conditions and innumerable. Even after 70 years of Independence, people in villages are found to be economically backward, socially oppressed, culturally suppressed, politically exploited, traditionally nullified and in general deprived of facilities like health, education, transportation, ISSN 2454-8707 VOLUME-II,ISSUE-III, NOV-2016 IMPACT FACTOR-1.3652 (JIIF) http://irji.in/ 1