In 1985, with the blessings of Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda, CORD began its integrated rural development work in Sidhbari, Himachal Pradesh, under the aegis of the Chinmaya Tapovan Trust, as Chinmaya Rural Primary Health Care and Training Centre (CRPHC&TC). Eighteen years later, in 2003, Guruji Swami Tejomayananda, established CORD as a separate trust to replicate that rural development work on a national level. CRPHC&TC became the nucleus of CORD, and its ongoing activities were incorporated within CORD.
Experiential grassroots and training sessions at CORD Training Centre at Sidhbari began in 1985. Over the years, CORD has diversified its training on subjects beyond community health to include other multi-pronged successful programs. CORD’s work has been replicated in other locations, starting with Odisha and Tamil Nadu in 2005, and later in Uttarakhand and Punjab. In 2007, besides this, CORD began an orphanage for girls called ‘Chinmaya Vijaya’ near Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.