2.8. Lessons from the Anantapur experiment

In the development of the Anantapur programme NTI had contributed a major portion of its resources – material as well as intellectual/physical – because the ideas to be implemented were new and a clear cut concept of how that objective could be achieved was not available. However, after NTI trainees had successfully implemented the programme and covered the entire district, the situation changed completely. It became necessary, thereafter, that state government to take over the programme responsibility by the year end.

NTI needed another area where its future trainees could learn actual implementation of DTP as its past trainees had done in Anantapur district. Another important aspect in selecting new district was that the districts should belong to different field conditions through the test runs to identify local variables which have profound influence on the development of systems. For this purpose, three different districts of erstwhile Mysore state were chosen I) Mangalore district: a west coast district with hilly terrain and excessive monsoon rainfall. It has well-developed infrastructure with NTI trained staff. ii) Chitradurga district: northern district with a less developed health services, normal terrain and rainfall. iii) Shimoga district: a model health district developed by the state authorities with adequate infrastructure and awaiting sanction of DTP and posting of NTI trained team.

As a matter of principle, it was decided that NTI and its staff shall not take any initiative in the development of DTPs in these test run districts but would provide any technical assistance and guidance if asked for. The results obtained from these districts should be of great interest in future44.