The community development programme in India aiming at the all-round development of the rural people and the Extension Service as a nation-wide organisation to achieve these aims are of relatively recent origin in India. This new programme and adminstrative set-up of Extension Service is the outcome of several years efforts and reforms made over the years. The evolution of this programme and the new set-up are described in four stages:

Stage I- Pre-Independence Era (1866-1947)
Stage II- Post-Independence Era (1947-1953)
Stage III- Community Development and National Extension Service Era (1953-1960)
Stage IV- Intensive Agricultural Development Era (1960-onwards)

Stage I. Pre-Independence Era (1866-1947)
During the pre-Independence era, various scattered and short-lived efforts were made towards rural development in various parts of the country by individuals or some organisations. Notable among these were Mahatma Gandhi's work at Sevagram, Tagore's work at Shantiniketan, Spencer Hatch's efforts at Marthandam, F.L.Brayne's work at Gurgaon, Firka Development Scheme in Tamil Nadu, India Village Service, etc. It was during this period that the Department of Agriculture came into being in June 1871 under the then Government of India, and by 1882 agricultural departments in most of the provinces started functioning in skeleton form. Recognising the need for new and improved methods of cultivation based on agricultural research, the then government of India also set up an Institute of Agricultural Research at Pusa in Bihar in 1905. Though valuable work was done there and useful information was obtained as a result of agricultural research, and attempts were made from time to time to carry the results of investigations to the farmer's field, the progress was very slow. The bulk of new agricultural knowledge and skill remained unknown to tillers of the soil because of the lack of effective and adequate extension service. The villages continued to remain neglected and disorganized. The yield of crops were low, the animals remained underfed with very low productivity. The villager's lot, on the whole, presented a gloomy picture.

In fact, a number of reforms took place in India during this period. In order to avoid the recurrence of famines, Famine Commissions were appointed from time to time and they made very valuable recommendations. But it was the Royal Commission on Agriculture's recommendation (1928) which established a firm foundation for co-ordinated research and effective agricultural adminstration. As a result, the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research (now Indian Council of Agricultural Research) was established in 1929. The main recommendations of this Commission were:

(1)Full measures of success cannot be achieved unless the organisation is based on research. Interchange should be freely permitted between the adminstrative and research and teaching branches in the years of service. Promotions to research posts in the superior provincial agricultural services from provincial agricultural services should be permitted in cases of outstanding merit;

(2)there should be a body for agricultural research at the national level for promotion, guidance, and co-ordination of agricultural research work in India. It will also take up training of research workers, impart information to agricultural and veterinary workers and arrange for the publication of scientific papers;

(3)the director of agriculture should have in him the combination of an adminstrative capacity and high scientific qualifications; and

(4)the field recruitment to the superior provincial agricultural services in any province should not be restricted to the province itself or to India.

Besides the agricultural departments, there were other development departments, such as health, education, irrigation and animal husbandry, but all these departments were working in isolation and reaching the people directly, without any co-ordination among themselves.