First Delta Ranking of Aspirational Districts released by NITI Aayog

On June 29,2018, The NITI Aayog launched the first Delta ranking (incremental progress) for the Aspirational Districts, based on self-reported data of districts between March 31, 2018 to May 31, 2018.

This was computed across five developmental areas of Health and Nutrition, Education, Agriculture and Water Resources, Financial Inclusion and Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure.

Objective:

To spur a sense of competition among the dynamic teams in the districts.

About the data:

• The districts provided real-time data points by filling up the Champions of Change Dashboard.
• The Districts started entering data from 1st April, 2018 in the Champions of Change Dashboard.
• 108 districts out of total 112, participated in this ranking.
• Some of the data points have been sourced from Central Ministries viz. Financial Inclusion, Skill Development and 3 indicators of Basic Infrastructure – Household Electricity Connections, Household Toilets and Rural Drinking Water. Most of the data points, however, have been self-reported by the various districts themselves.
• This Delta ranking takes a step further and looks into specific aspects of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and analyses how districts have performed in last two months across important sectors.
• The knowledge partners of NITI Aayog – Tata Trusts, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (ID Insights) – are expected to provide data on 13survey indicators and have validated values for 29 data-points. The next ranking will take into account these inputs and will be released soon.

About the Rankings of districts:

About ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ programme

• Launched by the Hon’ble PM in January 2018, the ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ programme aims to quickly and effectively transform some of the most underdeveloped districts of the country.
• The outline of the programme are Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers & District Collectors), and Competition among districts driven by a Mass Movement or a Jan Andolan.
• With States as the main drivers, this program will focus on the strength of each district, identify low-hanging fruits for immediate improvement, measure progress, and rank districts.
• The Government is committed to raising the living standards of its citizens and ensuring inclusive growth for all – SabkaSaath, SabkaVikas.
• Health & Nutrition, Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial Inclusion & Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure are this programme’s core areas of focus.
• 49 key performance indicators have been chosen to measure progress of the districts. Districts are 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.