ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICT PROGRAMME AND ITS CORRELATION WITH SDGS

• Aspirational District Programme (ADP) was launched in January, 2018 with an aim to quickly and effectively transform the identified Aspirational Districts.
• Govt. of India identified 115 districts from 28 States with poor socio economic indicator of the country. Out of 14 NE States includes 7 (seven) districts of Assam viz. Darrang, Barpeta, Dhubri, Goalpra, Baksa, Udalguri and Hailakandi.
• Health & Nutrition, Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial Inclusion & Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure are this programme’s core areas of focus. 
• Districts are prodded and encouraged to first catch-up with the best district within their state, 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.
• Three core aspects that frame the structure of the programme – Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State-level ‘Prabhari’ Officers & District Collectors), and Competition among districts.
• Central Ministries of GoI have selected 50 districts on the basis of severe deficiency or sensitivity in the district.
• 35 districts that are in the Left Wing Extremist Areas are allocated to the Ministry of Home Affairs and 30 districts have been allocated to NITI Aayog.
• District officials should draw up a Vision and District Action Plan for 2018-22.

Assam’s Context

• In Assam, DCs of the 7 Aspirational Districts have formulated the District Action Plan (DAP) keeping in view the 49 development indicators (KPIs) and 81 data points on the identified key sectors, thrust areas to give priority for inclusive development so as to fulfil and achieve the targets set by them within 2022.
• District Authorities, have to play an important role in the implementation of the Aspirational District Programme in the line of approved District Action Plan (DAP).
• The development activities are being executed converging all Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS/ Central Sector (CS) schemes and State’s Scheme.
• CSR Fund, CAMPA fund and District Mineral Development Fund are also to be utilized for development activities as per approved District Action Plan (DAP).
• NEC has provided Rs.1 crore per District and the works are being executed in the District with the fund.
• State Govt. has also provided special financial assistance of Rs.1.00 crore to Barpeta, Darrang, Hailakandi, Goalpara and Dhubri in the year 2019-2020. Proposal is in process to provide fund to each district for the CFY 2020-21.
• State Govt. has also initiated action for adopting exponential approach to develop the Aspirational Districts of the State at par with the other developed districts of the State as well as of the Country.

 

Institutional Mechanism

• An Empowered Committee under the Convenorship of the CEO, NITI Aayog is helping in the convergence of various government schemes and streamlining of efforts.
• A committee has been setup at the State level with the Chief Secretary as the Chairperson.
• The Government of India has nominated Central Prabhari Officers (in the rank of Joint Secretary and above) for each identified district.
• The State Government has also nominated State Prabhari Officers (in the rank of secretary and above) for each district, as suggested by NITI Aayog.
• The State Prabhari Officers have been appointed to play an important role in coordinating and monitoring special activities relating to the Aspirational Districts with necessary guidance to the District Authority.
• They are to keep in touch with Central Prabhari Officers as well as the NITI Aayog as and when required.
• Transformation and Development Department is the Nodal Dept for State of Assam.
• The Secretary, Transformation and Development Department has been nominated as State Nodal Officer to keep liaison with NITI Aayog and the other Central Ministries for the matter as a whole.
• The Deputy Commissioners (DCs) of the Aspirational Districts are the change agents.
• The District Development Commissioner of the district have been nominated by Govt. of Assam as the Nodal Officer for implementation of Aspirational District Programme.
• In respect of BTAD districts (Baksa and Udalguri), the Principal Secretary, BTC has been notified as Nodal Officer and also head of the District Committee for Aspirational District Programme.

 

Partnership

• The initiative is supported by prestigious partners in programme implementation which provide ground level support,
• The knowledge partner of NITI Aayog have deployed staff members to the districts.
• In Assam the NGO supporters are entrusted to extend their support to 5 Aspirational Districts viz Baksa Barpeta, Goalpara, Darrang and Dhubri.

 

Sl no.	Name of NGO partners	Field of works
1	Piramal Foundation	Education and Health & Nutrition
2	Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation	Skill Development and Basic Infrastructure
3	Micro Save	Financial Inclusion
4	Tata trust, ITC Ltd.	Agriculture, Water Resource
5	TATA trust and ID Insight	Third party evaluation
6	Piramal Sarvajal, a sister concern of Piramal Foundation	Drinking Water (Swajal)

 

Role of UN Agencies

• UNICEF and UNDP are extending their guidance and help.
• UNDP has deployed 4 consultants for working with the close coordination with the Districts Administration in the matter of preparation of DPRs for different development activities to be funded by Govt. of India and CSR fund to be provided by the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) entrusted by Ministry of Heavy Industries, Govt. of India.

Support from UNDP

 Baksa

• Health project: Solarisation and rainwater harvesting. Have received 3 crore from NITI Aayog and will be implemented from consultation with UNDP.
• Education project: DIET training, toilet construction in senior secondary schools and provision of sanitary napkin in 5 colleges. Total budget 16.2 lakhs.
• Agriculture project: Buying a vehicle to support farmers in establishing market linkages selling their produce to nearby markets, complete value chain of organic farming as a pilot project in 1 block.
• Veterinary project: Capacity building of staff on vaccination and mass awareness campaigns on superstitions. Total budget 7.66 lakhs.
• Fishery project: A project of Kuchia culture tank and a fish feed mill. Total budget 15 lakhs.
• Building capacities of women entrepreneurs / collectives to enhance income & livelihoods in fringe areas of reserved forests.

Udalguri

• Review of District Action Plan (DAP)
• Tourism Project: Developed and submitted a Tourism proposal for Bhairabkunda Tourism circuit; proposal under the NITI Aayog’s ‘Transformation of Aspirational District Programme’.
• Sericulture Project:  Similarly, also developed proposal on Sericulture.
• Organised training cum workshop on ‘proposal development’ for representatives of various line departments.
• Support to District Administration for COVID response through HR support.

• Creating awareness and access to social protection in 5 selected districts of Assam

 

Development of Aspirational Districts by CPSEs under CSR

Sl No.	Name of District	Name of CPSEs who undertook CSR activities
1.	Baksa	Engineering India Ltd
2.	Barpeta	Engineering India Ltd, Central Warehousing Corporation, IOCL, GAIL (I) Ltd
3.	Darrang	HPCL, BPCL, Numaligarh Refinery Ltd, IOCL, Engineering India Ltd, GAIL (I) Ltd
4.	Dhubri	HPCL, Central Warehousing Corporation, National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd, Oil India Ltd
5.	Goalpara	HPCL, Oil India Ltd
6.	Hailakandi	Powergrid Corporation of India Ltd, BPCL, ONGC, Engineering India Ltd.
7.	Udalguri	ONGC, Engineering India Ltd

 

CHAMPIONS OF CHANGE: REAL-TIME MONITORING DASHBOARD

• The NITI Aayog in partnership with the Government of Andhra Pradesh has created a dashboard for monitoring the real time progress of the districts based on 49 indicators (81 data points) from the 5 identified thematic areas.

• As of April 1st, 2018, districts have started entering data onto the dashboard. To help evaluate progress and the success of initiatives introduced by the Central Government in collaboration with the States, a ranking of these districts have been displayed every month from May 2018 on the dashboard, based on the incremental progress, or the delta, to be monitored on a real-time basis.
• The dashboard is open to the public to monitor the progress of the aspirational districts.
• BASELINE RANKING using latest available data collected from the respective ministries, NITI Aayog has calculated the baseline ranking for the 101 aspirational districts.
• Transformation and Development Department, GoA, has developed 300 nos. State Indicator Framework (SIF) and 109 nos. District Indicator Framework (DIF) in synergy with National Indicator Framework (NIF) for monitoring of SDGs.
• A booklet on SIF and DIF of Assam has been printed and circulated among the line departments and districts.
• 56 nos. SIF and 53 nos. DIF for monitoring of SDGs have been taken up from KPIs of 5 thematic areas of ADP.
• NITI Aayog at centre and Transformation and Development Department in State are closely monitoring the programme by Review meeting, VC, Webinar etc. so that desired results may be achieved in time.

 

KPIs and weightage

Themes	Weight	Indicators	Data Point
Health & Nutrition	30%	13	31
Education	30%	8	14
Agriculture & Water Resources	20%	10	12
Basic Infrastructure	10%	7	8
Financial Inclusion	5%	6	6
Skill Development	5%	5	10
Total	100%	49	81

 

Details of KPIs:

1. HEALTH and NUTRITION  is relating to Goal no.2 and 3 (essential health services) of SDGS with 30% weightage of the overall composite score on health & nutrition, the program has identified 13 indicators and 31 data points to focus on antenatal care, postnatal care, gender parity, health of new-borns, growth of children, contagious diseases, and health infrastructure.

2. EDUCATION is relating to Goal no.4 (to ensure quality education)of SDGS The education sector accounts of 30% weightage of the overall index. 8 indicators and 14 data points have been identified focussing on learning outcomes (transition rate from primary to upper primary, and subsequently to secondary schooling, average scores in mathematics and language etc.), as well as infrastructural (toilet access for girls, drinki

ng water, electricity supply) and institutional indicators (RTE mandated pupil-teacher ratio, timely delivery of textbooks).

3. AGRICULTURE & WATER RESOURCES is relating to Goal no.2 (towards achieving the goal of “no hunger”,) and 15 of SDGs Agriculture is the backbone of India, with more than 50% of our workforce engaged in cultivation and allied activities. 10 indicators and 12 datapoints have been identified for the 20% weightage allocated to agriculture. The focus is on outputs (yield, price realisation etc.), inputs (quality seed distribution, soil health cards), and institutional support (crop insurance, electronic markets, artificial insemination, animal vaccination etc.).

 4. BASIC INFRASTRUCTURE (10%) is relating to Goal no.1 and 11 of SDGs A roof over one’s head with water, electricity, and road connectivity is the priority of the Government. 7 important indicators and 8 data points have been identified including availability of individual household latrines, drinking water, electricity, and road connectivity. Districts are also tracked for the number of internet connected Gram Panchayats, and panchayats with Common Service Centres.

5. FINANCIAL INCLUSION & SKILL DEVELOPMENT is relating to Goal no.4 and 8 of SDGs. Together, these two themes account for 10% weightage of the overall index. 6 indicators and 6 data points have been identified in financial inclusion to measure progress in take-up of important central government schemes (Atal Pension Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana etc.), reach of institutional banking (number of accounts opened under Jan Dhan Yojana), and ease of institutional financing for small businesses (disbursement of Mudra loans).

• 5 indicators and 5 data points have been identified in skill development to keep track of the progress in skilling of youth, employment, and the skilling of vulnerable/marginalized youth.

 

AWARD RECEIVED BY DISTRICTS

1) BAKSA

• Secured JRD Tata Memorial Award & Oration on 12^th October, 2018 at New Delhi as best performing District.
• Best Aspiration District with Maximum proportion of pregnant women checked in PMSMA awarded by NHM Assam in the year 2018-19.
• Best (triple) AAA convergence during Poshan Maah in the year 2018-19.
• Rewarded Rs.2.00 cr in Basic Infrastructure of May, 2019 delta ranking.
• Rewarded Rs.2.00 cr in Health & Nutrition of September-October, 19 Delta Ranking (rank as on 2.12.2019).
• Rewarded Rs.2.00 Cr in Agriculture and Water Resources of September-October, 19 Delta Ranking (Rank 2 as on 12/2019).
• Rs. 500 Cr for good ranking in Health & Nutrition in the year 2021-22.
• Rs. 2.00 Cr for good rank in the overall Delta Ranking (April, 22).

2) BARPETA

• Secured 1^st position in May, 2019 under Agriculture and Water Resources sector and 3^rd position in January, 2020 in Health and Nutrition Sector.
• Good rank in the Health and received award of additional allocation of Rs. 3.00 crore.

 3) DARRANG

• Secured 2^nd position in July, 2019, again 2^nd in September, 2019 under Financial Inclusion.
• Secured 2^nd position in July, 2020 in overall delta ranking and entitled to receive an additional allocation of Rs 7 crores from NITI Aayog.
• Good rank in overall delta in Jan-Feb, 2021 and received an award of Rs. 1.00 crore.
• Rs. 5.00 Cr for good performance in the Health & Nutrition (June, 22).

4) DHUBRI

• Secured 2^nd position in February, 2019 in Health and Nutrition.
• 1^st position in Education Sector September-October, 2019.
• 2^nd position in September, 2020 in Basic Infrastructure.

5) GOALPARA

• Secured 2^nd rank in Basic Infrastructure in January, 2019.
• PM’s award for excellence in Public Administration, 2019 in clean and green Goalpara.
• PM’s award for excellence in Public Administration, 2019 in SAUBHAGYA.
• Best performance district from Social Welfare Department, Government of Assam under Poshan Abhijan in March, 2019.
• Shortlisted for Skoch Merit Award.

6) HAILAKANDI

• Ranked 1^st among the 112 Aspirational District in India on the basis of its performance during November-December, 2018 and January, 2019. Awarded Rs.10.00 crore for securing first position.
• 3^rd rank in January, 2019, again 3^rd rank in April, 2019 in Agriculture and Water Resources sector.
• 3^rd rank in January, 2019 in Basic Infrastructure.
• The district has made visible improvement in the area of skill development and providing connectivity with basic infrastructure to the people.
• Secured good rank in Jan-Feb, 2021 and received an award of Rs. 7.00 crore.

7) UDALGURI

• Secured 2^nd position in Agriculture and Water Resource Sector, in March, 2019.
• 3^rd position in July, 2019 and NITI Aayog has allocated Rs.5.00 crore . 2^nd in November, 2019 on overall delta ranking and 1^st position in November, 2019 under Health & nutrition Sector.
• Secured good rank in Jan-Feb, 2021 and received an award of Rs. 7.00 crore.
• Good rank in Financial Inclusion and Skill Development in Dec 2021 an award of Rs. 3.00 crore.
• Received Rs.2 Cr for good rank in the overall Delta Ranking (March, 22).