INTRODUCTION OF NEW PRACTICES FOR ADOPTION BY LOCAL COMMUNITIES: LESSONS LEARNT FROM KORAPUT DISTRICT IN ODISHA

Apart from government, NGOs have also been playing key role in contributing to community development programmes. However, the development agents have often been criticised for undermining socio-cultural and economic practices, values, and traditional knowledge of local communities. This has led to poor appreciation and adoption of new practices, particularly with reference to technology and economic opportunities, thus making development intervention less impactful. Through field research conducted in Boipariguda and Kundra block in Koraput district in Odisha, an eastern Indian state, the present paper argues that socio-cultural analysis of the communities, and market studies in the locality and nearby areas are necessarypreconditions for introduction of new practices, be technological or economic. This will ensure successful development intervention.