ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME

It was launched in 2018 which aims to transform districts that have shown relatively lesser progress in key social areas.

It covers 112 districts across the country.

At Government of India level, programme is anchored by NITI Aayog. In addition, individual Ministries have assumed responsibility to drive progress of districts.

▪ Strategy:
o Convergence (of Central & State Schemes)
o Collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers & District Collectors),
o Competition among districts through monthly delta ranking.

▪ Objectives:
o It focuses on the strength of each district, identifying low-hanging fruits for immediate improvement and measuring progress by ranking districts on a monthly basis.
o 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 in the spirit of competitive & cooperative federalism.
o The ADP is essentially aimed at localizing Sustainable Development Goals, leading to the progress of the nation.

• Parameters for Ranking:
o The ranking is based on the incremental progress made across 49 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) under 5 broad socio-economic themes –
• Health & Nutrition (30%)
• Education (30%)
• Agriculture & Water Resources (20%)
• Financial Inclusion & Skill Development (10%)
• Infrastructure (10%)