The "Assam Model" of rural development intervention, presented recently in the 18th Colloquium of State Secretaries of Panchayat Raj (PR) and Rural Development (RD) and Heads of State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD), held at SIRD Jaipur, has topped among the three states and has received special appreciation from all quarters. The other participating states were, Karnataka and Rajasthan.Mr M Shankar, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, has stated that the Centre will sponsor the visit of officials belonging to the different states to see the action research activities of the institute in the rural areas of Assam so that they can replicate the effort in their respective states.