Rural Development project, a joint venture of Navjyoti India Foundation and India Vision Foundation (IVF), is an endeavour to bring about a complete transformation in the rural life and help people come out of the dark dungeons of ignorance and illiteracy. It seeks to put an end to archaic and dogmatic practices, which has countenanced the underdevelopment and perpetrated inequity in the different segments of rural society. It is devoted to the upliftment of living standard in the rural life.

Initiatives began in 1996, when a Women’s Panchayat was organized in Bhondsi, Panchayat Ghar. The meeting was addressed by a team of Counselors headed by the then Director, Dr Sunil Vatsyayan with the agenda to share the issues and assess the need of the community. It was realized that alcoholism was rampant in the community and females were suffering under prevalent and pervasive male domination without any social identity and economic resources which made them easy victims of domestic violence.

Touched by their agonies, Dr Kiran Bedi started counseling services and legal aid for these voiceless victims. As a response to the dramatic escalation in the cases of domestic violence, First Family Counseling Centre was inaugurated in Bhondsi Panchayat Ghar on 1st January 1997.

Soon it was realized that counseling services alone will not be helpful for comprehensive rural development and therefore a number of other interventions were taken up in education for children, adult literacy, community health, women empowerment, environment, rural governance, social and economic awareness.

A major breakthrough was observed with the support of Royal Norwegian Embassy in 2001. In order to provide efficacious delivery of services, Rural Development Complex was built on the land donated by Sh. Prakash Lal Peshawaria at Naya Gaon.