In October 1974, the Department of Rural Development was created as part of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

Each is headed by a senior civil servant designated as the Secretary of the Department.

Anita Choudhry is the secretary of Land Resources and Jugal Kishore Mahapatra, a senior bureaucrat from Odisha, is the secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development.

The department run three national-level schemes: Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) for rural roads development, Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) rural employment and for rural housing, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana It handles the administration of District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), and has three autonomous organisations under it:[4] The Minister of Rural Development is the Chairman of these three organisations and the Secretary of the Ministry is the Vice-Chairman.

The Minister is currently Mr Giriraj Singh, and the Secretary is Subrahmanyam Vijay Kumar.