In 1989, the Ministry of Rural
Development, Government of India entrusted a study entitled 'Concurrent
Evaluation of Land Reforms in India' to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National
Academy of Administration, Mussoorie. The main component of the exercise was to
do a concurrent evaluation of land reforms based on data and reports provided
by the Officer Trainees during their district training period. Later the
Village Study Unit was set up in the Academy under the same Ministry to provide
appraisal of the Poverty Alleviation Programs based on the reports submitted by
IAS Probationers during their Foundational Course and District Training. It was
through the merger of the Village Study Unit (VSU) and the Land Reforms Unit
(LRU) in the year 1998 that the Centre for Rural Studies (CRS) was created. The
Centre is responsible for the concurrent evaluation of land reform policies
implemented by the States based on inputs provided by the Officer Trainees
undergoing district training programs. In addition, the task of concurrent
evaluation of poverty alleviation schemes was also entrusted to the Centre.