Aspirational Districts Programme

In News

• Recently, a report released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has lauded the Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) as a very successful model of local area development.

About Aspirational Districts Programme

• Programme: launched by NITI Aayog in 2018.
• Aim: It aims to quickly and effectively transform 112 most under-developed districts across the country.
  • The broad contours of the programme are Convergence, Collaboration and Competition among districts through monthly delta ranking.
• Focus: With States as the main drivers, this program focuses on the strength of each district, identifying low-hanging fruits for immediate improvement and measuring progress by ranking districts on a monthly basis.
  • The districts are encouraged to monitor the progress of the blocks that lead to the overall improvement of the district.
• Indicators: The ranking is based on the incremental progress made across 49 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) under 5 broad socio-economic themes
  • Health & Nutrition
  • Education
  • Agriculture & Water Resources
  • Financial Inclusion & Skill Development
  • Infrastructure

Significance

• Inclusive growth: The Government is committed to raising the living standards of its citizens and ensuring inclusive growth for all “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas aur Sabka Vishwas”.
• Competitive & cooperative federalism: Districts are prodded and encouraged to first catch up with the best district within their state, and subsequently aspire to become one of the best in the country, by competing with, and learning from others.
• Socio-economic themes: The districts are also encouraged to develop and replicate best practices that drive improvement across the socio-economic themes.
• SDG goals: The Programme essentially is aimed at localising Sustainable Development Goals, leading to the progress of the nation.

Source: PIB