[5] Michael Halse, then a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) planning adviser with NDDB,[6][7] was one of the members responsible for conceptualizing this new discipline of rural management.

[12] The former director of Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad Ravi J. Matthai contributed; through his documented learning from the Jawaja experiment.

[14] The institute was originally established as a center for management and consultancy for rural development, as part of the second phase of the Operation Flood program.

Her fieldwork across five Southeast Asian countries significantly contributed to placing the organization on the international social science research map.

If a candidate opts for selected offline mode for giving Personal Interview, she / he is given option of Anand, Bangalore, Delhi, Guwahati, and Kolkata.

The library is named after Prof. Ravi J Matthai, one of the founder members of the Institute and was formally inaugurated by the then Prime Minister of India, late Shri Rajiv Gandhi, on March 22, 1986.

This is achieved through collection development, networking, electronic information retrieval, instruction in search strategy and assisted access to an array of resources and data.

The Executive Training and Development Center (ETDC) is equipped with 40 single-occupancy air-conditioned rooms, a dining hall, and a lounge.