ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 - Governance)

Context: According to the latest Multidimensional Poverty Index released by Niti Aayog, aspirational districts are doing better in poverty alleviation. 

• The average decline in number of multidimensionally poor was higher for aspirational districts between 2015-16 and 2019-21. 
• However, they still lag the country in poverty ratio - the proportion of people who are multidimensionally poor or lacking access to basic facilities. 

Aspirational Districts programme

• Launched by the PM in January 2018, the Aspirational Districts programme aims to quickly and effectively transform 112 most under-developed districts across the country. 
• The broad contours of the programme are Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers & District Collectors), and Competition among districts through monthly delta ranking; all driven by a mass movement.
• 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 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 and Infrastructure. 
• Another focus of the programme is to further dive into the progress at the block-level within each district. The districts are encouraged to monitor the progress of the blocks that lead to the overall improvement of the district.
• The Aspirational Districts Programme essentially is aimed at localizing Sustainable Development Goals, leading to the progress of the nation.