ASPIRATIONAL

DISTRICTS
PROGRAMME:
AN APPRAISAL

United Nations Development Programme

Aspirational Districts Programme:
An Appraisal

December 2020
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The team that authored this report includes;

Dr. Basudeb Guha Khasnobis (Development Economist)
Mr. Jaimon C Uthup (Policy Specialist – SDGs)
Ms. Sruti Mohanty (Consultant)
Ms. Upasana Sikri (Technical Expert – ADP)
Mr. Digvijay Singh (Social Protection Specialist)
Mr. Daksh Baheti (Research & Data Analytics Expert)
Mr. Suvir Chandna (Research & Data Analytics Expert)
Ms. Anjali Bansal (Research & Data Analytics Expert)
Ms. Pallavi Kashyap (Coordination Support)
Ms. Kaavya Singh (Coordination Support)

Published in India
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The authors of the report would like to warmly acknowledge the contributions made
by those listed below.

Design, Illustrations & Layout - Thinkstr Consultancy Pvt. Ltd

Aspirational Map designed by Rouge Communications
Photographs – Mr. Biju Boro, Mr. Gaganjit Singh, Mr. Pelevizo Meyase
 ASPIRATIONAL
DISTRICTS
PROGRAMME:
AN APPRAISAL

United Nations Development Programme

LIST OF
ASPIRATIONAL
DISTRICTS
Jammu & Kashmir Manipur Chhattisgarh
1. Kupwara 36. Chandel 75. Korba
2. Baramula 76. Rajnandgaon
Mizoram
77. Mahasamund
Himachal Pradesh 37. Mamit
78. Kanker
3. Chamba
Tripura 79. Narayanpur
Punjab 38. Dhalai 80. Dantewada
4. Moga 81. Bijapur
Meghalaya 105. Bastar
104. Firozpur
39. Ribhoi 106. Kondagaon
Uttarakhand 107. Sukma
Assam
5. Udham Singh Nagar
40. Goalpara Madhya Pradesh
6. Haridwar
41. Barpeta 82. Chhatarpur
Haryana
42. Hailakandi 83. Damoh
7. Mewat
43. Baksa 84. Barwani
Rajasthan 44. Darrang 85. Rajgarh
8. Dholpur 45. Udalguri 86. Vidisha
9. Karauli 109. Dhubri 87. Guna
10. Jaisalmer 88. Singrauli
Jharkhand
11. Sirohi 89. Khandwa
46. Garhwa
12. Baran
47. Chatra Gujarat
Uttar Pradesh 48. Giridih 90. Dahod
13. Chitrakoot 49. Godda 91. Narmada
14. Fatehpur 50. Sahibganj
15. Bahraich 51. Pakur Maharashtra
16. Shrawasti 52. Bokaro 92. Nandurbar

17. Balrampur 53. Lohardaga 93. Washim

18. Siddharthnagar 54. Purbi Singhbhum 94. Gadchiroli

19. Chandauli 55. Palamu 95. Osmanabad

20. Sonebhadra 56. Latehar

Andhra Pradesh
57. Hazaribagh
Bihar 96. Vizianagaram
58. Ramgarh
21. Sitamarhi 97. Visakhapatnam
59. Dumka
22. Araria 98. Y.S.R. Kadapa
60. Ranchi
23. Purnia 61. Khunti Karnataka
24. Katihar 62. Gumla 99. Raichur
25. Muzaffarpur 63. Simdega 100. Yadgir
26. Begusarai 64. Pashchimi Singhbhum
27. Khagaria Kerala
28. Banka Odisha 101. Wayanad
29. Sheikhpura 65. Dhenkanal
Tamil Nadu
30. Aurangabad 66. Gajapati
102. Virudhunagar
31. Gaya 67. Kandhamal
103. Ramanathapuram
32. Nawada 68. Balangir
69. Kalahandi Arunachal Pradesh
33. Jamui
70. Rayagada 108. Namsai
Sikkim 71. Koraput Telangana
34. West Sikkim 72. Malkangiri 110. Asifabad (Komaram Bheem)
Nagaland 73. Nawarangpur 111. Jayashankar Bhupalpally
35. Kiphire 74. Nuapada 112. Bhadradri kothagudem
MESSAGE

The Asia- Pacific region is an economic powerhouse, a driver of

innovation and invention, and is endowed with abundant human
capacity, societal energies and natural resources. Carrying diverse
and complex developmental issues, the region is challenged by
deep rooted inequalities and pockets of instability that threaten
peaceful progress.
The 2030 Agenda can only be achieved with a level of scale and
ambition in collaboration and commitment across all levels of governments,
the many partners and stakeholders involved. Sub-national and local
governments have an essential role to play in localizing the global goals,
translating and delivering them as integrated programmes and services that
work to improve people’s lives. This is where impact will matter most.
The Aspirational District Programme in India is designed along these lines. It
is an effort to demonstrate that governments and stakeholders can advance
sustainable development by designing and implementing together. While
targeting a set of specific areas of improvement that have been identified by
the communities themselves, it carries rigorous monitoring and data driven
decision making approach to keep it on course. The overall success of the
programme will be measured by its ability to influence and sustain a more
inclusive and locally informed approach to tackling local development.
While the initiative remains at an early stage, the initial findings are on the
right track. There will be much to be learnt and improved along the way. This
openness to learning and to adapt and grow as needed, will keep the effort
honest and accountable to those it serves. I am pleased to see UNDP’s
engagement in this initiative in India, partnering with Niti Aayog and all
stakeholders.

Kanni Wignaraja,
Assistant Secretary-General,
Assistant Administrator and
Director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific
MESSAGE

The Aspirational Districts Programme, anchored by NITI Aayog,

aims to transform the socioeconomic status of these priority
districts. The programme’s focus on 3 Cs: Convergence (ofcentral
and state schemes), Collaboration (between Centre, State, District
and Citizens) and Competition (among the districts in key
performance indicators) is proving to be a successful model for
stimulating local development.
Focused at district level and instituted by states, the programme hinges on
the strengths of local governments to accelerate the realisation of SDG
aspirations for communities, households, and individuals, particularly to
those at risk of falling behind. It achieves this in big part through e-monitoring
the real-time data.
The importance of partnerships and collective action is another hallmark of
the Aspirational District Programme, bringing in different development
partners with varied expertise to support the district administrations. These
partnerships re-emphasise the importance of consolidating our strengths to
make the spirit of Agenda 2030 spring to life for all people. UNDP greatly
values such partnerships to guide strategic priorities and spur concerted
action to deliver on shared objectives.
These and other attributes make the Aspirational District Programme a
global example in enlisting sub-national government, with multi-stakeholder
partnerships, to ensure that SDG progress becomes real in the eyes of
people in their daily lives. The programme is not only replicable within India,
but also across the globe.
This report presents an appraisal of the Aspirational Districts Programme.
UNDP is committed to closely working with Government of India, and NITI
Aayog in particular, along with other partners, to fully achieve the
programme’s noble objectives.

Renata Dessallien
UN Resident Coordinator in India
FOREWORD

The Government of India launched the Aspirational Districts

Programme in January 2018 to accelerate improvement in key
development parameters in the most backward districts of the
country. The programme marks a paradigm shift from pursuing
economic growth towards reducing deep spatial inequalities. The
initiative pivots on the Government’s motto of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka
Vikas’, which mirrors the principle of ‘Leaving No One Behind’ to
achieve the Agenda 2030.
The Programme applies innovative techniques by supporting collaboration
among multiple levels of governance as well as through public-private
partnerships. It applies the 3C principle - Convergence, Competition and
Collaboration – and a well-designed system of incentives for good
performance which is monitored by a set of pre-determined common
indicators. India has been a global leader in advancing the SDG agenda,
and it is heartening to see the country’s initiative on Local Economic
Development (LED) delivering strong results. It merits replication in other
parts of the developing world.
As we publish this appraisal of the Aspirational Districts Programme, the
world is grappling with the devastating consequences of the Covid-19
pandemic and the unravelling of economic recession. Transformative
approaches are needed for progress, including in the Aspirational Districts.
The social protection architecture can be strengthened further to impart
more resilience to backward regions especially at times of crises.
My special appreciation goes to the Policy Unit of UNDP India, who drove
the whole process for this evaluation study.

Shoko Noda
Resident Representative
UNDP India
TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE
1
INTRODUCTION AND
2
LITERATURE
SUMMARY BACKGROUND TO REVIEW
THE PROGRAMME
1.1. Institutional Structure and Sectoral 2.1. Similar Programmes
Focus: A Transformative Approach
1.2. Data Driven Governance – The Key
to Programme Efficiency

1 5 9

3
EVALUATION
4
QUANTITATIVE DATA
5 QUALITATIVE
DATA
COLLECTION
AND ANALYSIS
CRITERIA COLLECTION AND 5.1. Respondents and Sampling for

3.1. Key Research Questions ANALYSIS Qualitative Data Collection

5.2. Findings
4.1. Net Resilience Index 5.2.1. Mapping Sector-wise growth
4.1.1. Methodology 5.3. Governance, Administration and
4.1.2. Findings Capacity building
4.2. Difference-in-Difference Method 5.3.1. The 3Cs Approach
4.2.1. Methodology 5.3.2. Targeting the low hanging fruits
4.2.2. Findings 5.3.3. Monitoring and Measurement
Methods
5.3.4. Capacity building
5.4. The role of Champions of Change
(CoC) Dashboard in data driven
decision making
13 15 25

6
THE IMPACT OF
7
RECOMMENDATIONS
8
BEST PRACTICES
ASPIRATIONAL FOR THE WAY 8.1. Health and Nutrition
DISTRICTS FORWARD: 8.2. Education
PROGRAMME AND COUNTERING THE 8.3.
8.4.
Agriculture and Water Resources
Basic Infrastructure
WHAT SETS IT APART EXISTING GAPS AND 8.5. Skill Development and Financial
CHALLENGES Inclusion
8.6. Scalability
35 37 39

TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Box & Tables

List of Tables List of Figures

Table 1: Sectors, weightage and areas Figure 1: Comparison of resilience and
of focus (pg. 7) vulnerability among districts since
Table 2: Evaluation criteria (pg. 14) inception (2018) of ADP (pg. 17)
Table 3: Summary Statistics for Net Resilience Figure 2: Top 5 districts with maximum
exercise - 2018 and 2020 (pg. 17) change in resilience since 2018 (pg. 18)
Table 4: CoC and HMIS Data Matching Figure 3: Comparison of top 5 and bottom
for H&N Indicators (pg. 20) 5 districts based on performance
Table 5: Difference-in-difference in net resilience and net
results for H&N (pg. 23) vulnerability index (pg. 18)
Table 6: Difference-in-difference
results for FI (pg. 24) List of Boxes
Table 7: Framework for qualitative analysis (pg. 26) Box 1: ADP as a model of Local Area
Table 8: Sampling used for qualitative Development (pg. 3)
interviews (pg. 27) Box 2: Delta Ranking (pg. 8)
Box 3: Resilience Score Interpretation (pg. 16)
List of Appendix Tables Box 4: Skill Development - Washim (pg. 30)
Table A.1: Data Points Used for Net Box 5: EAP-SDG (pg. 31)
Resilience index (pg. 46) Box 6: Goalpara Two Pronged Strategy (pg. 32)
Table A.2: Ranking of districts based on Box 7: Ranchi Low Hanging Fruits (pg. 32)
change in net resilience since Box 8: Technical Support Unit (pg. 33)
March 2018 to March 2020 (pg. 56) Box 10: Data Driven Development (pg. 36)
Table A.3: List of Aspirational Districts (Treatment Box 11: Malaria Mukt Bastar Abhiyan,
Group for DiD approach) (pg. 59) Bijapur and Dantewada (pg. 40)
Table A.4: Control Group for DiD approach Box 12: Poshan App, Ranchi (pg. 41)
for Health and Nutrition sector (pg. 61)
Box 13: Hamara Vidyalaya Program,
Table A.5: Control group for DiD approach for Namsai (pg. 41)
Financial Inclusion indicators (pg. 63)
Box 14: Gyanodaya Project, Godda (pg. 41)
Table A.6: Comparison of means of treatment
Box 15: GoalMart Initiative, Goalpara (pg. 42)
and control group for H&N sector (pg. 65)
Box 16: Recharge pits, Washim (pg. 43)
Table A.7: Comparison of means of treatment
and control group for FI sector (pg. 65) Box 17: Black Rice Initiative, Chandauli (pg. 43)
Box 18: Green Technologies Initiative,
Goalpara (pg. 43)
List of Equations
Box 19: Yuva BPO Initiative, Dantewada (pg. 44)
Equation 1: Standardization formulae (pg. 16)
Box 20: Bank Sakhis, Ranchi (pg. 44)
Equation 2: Difference-in-difference estimation (pg. 22)
Box 21: Scaling of Best Practices (pg. 45)

ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

Acronyms & Abbreviations
ADP - Aspirational Districts Programme
ADs - Aspirational Districts
ADFs - Aspirational District Fellows
APY - Atal Pension Yojana
BRAC - Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee
BDP - Bangladesh Development Program
BRGF - Backward Regions Grant Fund
C4C - Champions for Change
CoC - Champions of Change
3Cs - Convergence, Competition and Collaboration
CSOs - Civil Society Organisations
CSR- Corporate Social Responsibility
DAC - Development Assistance Committee
DC - District Commissioners
DFS - Department of Financial Services
DMs - District Magistrates
DiD - Difference-in-Difference
EAP-SDGs - Externally Aided Programme on Sustainable Development Goals
FI - Financial Inclusion
FHP - Farm Harvest Price
H&N - Health & Nutrition
HLPF - High Level Political Forum
HMIS - Heath Management Information System
ICDS - Integrated Child Development Services
JICA - Japan International Cooperation Agency
LNOB - Leave No One Behind
LWE - Left Wing Extremist
MSP- Minimum Support Price
MTCs - Malnourishment Treatment Centres
MTSF - Medium-Term Strategic Framework
Non - ADs - Non-Aspirational Districts
NDP - National Development Plan
NGOs - Non-Government Orgnaisations
ODA - Official Development Assistance
OECD - Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
PMU - Project Management Unit
PMJJBY - Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Beema Yojana
PMSBY - Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Beema Yojana
PMJDY - Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
PMFBY - Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana
PMGSY - Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana
POs - Prabhari Officers
SBA - Skilled Birth Attendant
SDGs - Sustainable Development Goals
TSU - Technical Support Unit
TUP - Targeting the Ultra-poor Programme
UNA - United Nation Agencies
UNDP - United Nation Development Programme
UNVs - UN Volunteers
VO - Village Organisation
VHSND - Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Day

ACRONYMS & ABBREVIATIONS

Executive
Summary
 Executive Summary

This appraisal of the Aspirational Districts Programme is federalism:

aimed to assess the effectiveness of the flagship
The Competition aspect of the 3Cs was also seen to
Programme of the Government of India and generate
be a helpful method in promoting better monitoring
evidence-based documentation which can be used to
and creating healthy competiton to achieve targets of
support NITI Aayog and other stakeholders in their efforts
the programme. This has also served as a motivating
to address existing gaps, evidence-based planning and
factor for districts to increase their efforts and track
decision making. It is also expected to provide guidance
progress.
for district administrations, development partners,
knowledge partners and any other stakeholders in ♦ Collaboration:
achieving the vision and targets set out for the ADP. In Although this aspect of ADP has helped ensure
addition, the evaluation also aimed to analyze the specific systematic and targeted efforts among different
impact of ADP across the different districts, especially in organizations, it can be further accentuated. This may
relation to known issues of development challenges especially be helpful as an alternative solution to
among the aspirational districts. The findings of this bridge certain gaps of technical expertise that
evaluation confirm that significant progress has been districts face. The different development partners
made since the inception of programme. The key findings interviewed also expressed interest in expanding
of the programme are mentioned below: work and collaborating further with government and
non-government organization for the programme.
♦ Sector wise growth:
♦ Commitment of the top most political leadership:
The Aspirational District Programme focuses on
development across 5 sectors of Healthcare and A remarkable feature of the programme that has
Nutrition, Education, Agriculture and Water greatly contributed in its success, is the commitment
Resources, Basic Infrastructure, and Skill shown by the top most political leadership of the
Development and Financial Inclusion. A sector wise country to bring about rapid progress in the
analysis of the impact of ADP highlights two chief under-developed pockets in India. This includes
findings. First, the programme has served as a regular monitoring of the programme at the level of
catalyst for expediting development among Shri Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India,
Aspirational districts. Stakeholders interviewed who has motivated and enthused District Collectors
mentioned several successful initiatives that are to deliver their best at the field level.
being carried out in the districts. Second, certain
sectors such as Healthcare and Nutrition, Education,
and to an extent Agriculture and Water Resources
have seen some major changes. This is encouraging
as these are crucial areas for assessing development.
Other sectors of Basic Infrastructure, Financial
Inclusion and Skill Development also achieved
improvement in indicators since the inception of the
programme and offer scope for further strengthening.
♦ Better governance through convergence:
Among the three approaches of Convergence,
Competition and Collaboration, most stakeholders Shri Narendra Modi, Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, launching
who were interviewed credited Convergence as a the Aspirational Districts Programme- January 2018
crucial approach for the better performance of the
districts. The stakeholders emphasised the ♦ What gets measured gets done:
importance of convergence that fostered moving In addition to the 3Cs approach, the study also found
away from working in silos towards synchronised that the ADP’s focus on constant real-time monitoring
planning and governance to achieve the targets of and data driven decision-making has been a chief
the programme. contributor to better governance. This has especially
♦ Expediting growth through competitive helped district administrations in identifying the

2 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

 strengths or weaknesses of a district, resulting in ADP is that it has given attention to districts otherwise
more strategic and informed approaches for neglected due to their lower performances. This
development. aspect has aided most districts to demand the
necessary support required for their districts.
♦ Capacity building:
♦ Effectiveness of the ADP:
While the ADP has strengthened the technical and
administrative capacities of the districts, interviews This evaluation found that a key feature that sets the
with different stakeholders highlighted the need to ADP apart from other development programmes is
focus on this aspect even more. Findings mainly the clear and comprehensive framework it provides
highlight the need for strengthening of internal to the districts. This framework has provided effective
capacities. Some methods suggested by the guidance for districts to focus their efforts on
stakeholders for addressing this concern were to achieving the targets of the programme. In fact, the
appoint dedicated personnel such as Aspirational framework is an effective method of ensuring that
District Fellows or Technical Support Units across all efforts are synchronised with the wider goals of the
country and are not arbitrary in nature.
the districts or to collaborate with development
partners for providing technical expertise. Other ♦ Motivation for the way forward:
suggestions include provision of skills training for
Interviews with different stakeholders highlighted that
officials and staff, increased flexibility in hiring
while the initial stages of the ADP helped propel
processes, and increase in incentives for promoting
notable changes within the districts and the
recruitment in these districts.
programme’s pre-eminence should be maintained.
♦ Role of delta rankings: Therefore, as the programme has completed 3 years,
it is crucial that efforts be made to motivate districts
The delta ranking provided on the Champions of
and reinforce the programme in all respects.
Change (CoC) dashboard is a unique and dynamic
feature of the ADP. All districts interviewed admitted Overall, while the programme may have encountered
to having used the dashboard to check their rankings certain challenges, especially related to capacity building
and progress, especially in the initial months of the there is no doubt that it has been immensely successful in
programme. However, a few stakeholders suggested propelling development among the backward districts. It
that rankings be done on a quarterly or annual basis. must be noted most Aspirational Districts are located in
This would give districts sufficient time to focus on remote areas, and some even plagued with Left Wing
outcomes that require long-term planning and work. Extremist (LWE) conflicts. These factors continue to hinder
their growth and make it more difficult for any
♦ Addition or revision of Sectors/Indicators:
development programmes to be implemented. However,
While stakeholders credited the use of monitoring given the political salience around ADP and the
methods and the use of a pre-determined set of concerted efforts of different government and
indicators for measuring performance, some non-government organizations, the districts have
highlighted the need to revise a few indicators which experienced more growth and development in the last
are close to being saturated or met by most districts three years than ever before. Evidence to support this
such as “electrification of households” as an indicator finding can be seen from the difference-in-difference
of basic infrastructure, or improvement in indicators analysis conducted by the evaluation, as well as
related to micro-irrigation under the sector of examples documented under the qualitative analysis
Agriculture and Water Resources. Similar to the section and best practices. Given the positive impact of
suggestion of delta rankings, district administrations the programme, it is necessary to ensure the focus on
suggested that more indicators be measured on a development is encouraged further and momentum
quarterly or annual basis rather than monthly basis, as gained so far in expediting growth is maintained. Based
it would help to implement sustainable and long-term on the findings of the evaluation, it is recommended that
changes. the success of the programme be scaled up and
♦ Aspirational districts versus non-aspirational replicated for other sectors and districts.
districts:
Based on the interviews with different stakeholders, it
was found that one of the chief advantages of the

Overall, ADP is a very successful model of local area development. It is aligned to the principle of “leave no one
behind” – the vital core of the SDGs. Political commitment at the highest level has resulted in rapid success of the
programme. It should serve as a best practice for several other countries where regional disparities in development
status persist for many reasons.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3
Introduction
and
Background
to the
Programme

1
 Introduction and Background to the Programme

The Aspirational Districts Program was launched by the As the programme is a policy priority of the Government
Honorable Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi in 2018, of India, it is anchored by the NITI Aayog which works in
with the objective of expediting the transformation of 112 collaboration with central and state governments for the
most backward districts across 28 states through the programme to streamline the effectiveness and provide
convergence of government programmes and schemes1 . regular checks and guidelines. As a result, officers of
The districts were chosen by senior officials of the Union Additional Secretary and Joint Secretary ranks have been
government in consultation with states officials. To nominated as ‘Central Prabhari Officers’ of each district,
shortlist states a composite index of deprivation was who together with state nodal officers work with the
constructed using a range of socio-economic indicators2. respective District Collectors/ District Magistrates to drive
A minimum of one district was initially chosen from every change at the grassroots level. Furthermore, an
state (except Goa). Predictably, more districts made it to Empowered Committee – comprising of Secretaries
the list of backward regions from the smaller states or (Department Heads) of key Central Ministries – has also
states ranking lower in the development spectrum such been set up under the Chief Executive Officer, NITI Aayog
as Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, to support the various levels of government. This
and Madhya Pradesh. institutional structure is based on an inclusive approach to
governance – termed as “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas”
which aims to facilitate growth and development of the
entire district, rather than any single group of population.
This motto is mirrored in the principle of Leave No One
Behind (LNOB), the central and transformative promise of
the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

1.1 Institutional Structure and

Sectoral Focus:
A Transformative Approach

The Aspirational Districts Programme marks an important

shift in the approach towards inclusive development by
focusing on five critical sectors – i.e. Healthcare,
Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial
Inclusion and Skill Development and Basic Infrastructure.
The selection of these five themes is based on the fact
that they have a direct bearing on the quality of life and
economic productivity of citizens3. Therefore, each of the
sectors have been allocated different weightage4 and
indicators which serve as the basis for measuring
performance. The following is the sector-wise breakup of
indicators:

1
While 117 districts were selected initially, West Bengal never joined the programme. Therefore, there are 112 districts now. Baramula
and Kupwara, although now part of UT (Kashmir) are still aspirational districts.
2
NITI Aayog 2018. Transformation of Aspirational Districts: Baseline Ranking and Real-time Monitoring Dashboard.
3
NITI Aayog, 2018. Deep Dive: Insights from Champions of Change – The Aspirational Districts Dashboard
4
The ability of district administration in making improvements is among the many factors that results in the differential sectoral
weightage. For example, in domains such as basic infrastructure and financial inclusion, much of the progress depends on the
federal programmes and action taken by other financial institutions respectively. Thus, these domains have been given a lower
weightage. Progress in health, nutrition, agriculture and education – on the other hand – can be greatly impacted by the district
administration and have therefore been given more weightage.

6 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

Table 1: Sectors, weightage and areas of focus

Themes Overall Data-points Areas of focus

weightage

Health & Nutrition 30% 31 • Some of the key areas of focus are antenatal
care, postnatal care, contagious diseases,
growth of health infrastructure. Aspects of
childcare such as Severe Acute Malnutrition,
supplementary nutrition under ICDS are also
covered under this.

• The education sector focusses mostly on

learning outcomes at primary and secondary
level, especially students’ performance in
Education 30% 14 Mathematics and Language
• It also focuses on infrastructure pertaining to
education institutions such as girls’ access to
toilets, electricity supply, drinking water, etc.

Agriculture & Water 20% 12 • Indicators for this domain involve improving
Resources access to water management as well as market
access for farmers, improved agricultural inputs,
livestock, among others.

• There are six indicators for Financial Inclusion

which include improved access to bank
accounts, especially through major schemes
such as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana,
disbursement of loans under Pradhan Mantri
Financial Inclusion and Mudra Yojana.
Skill Development 10% 16 • Indicators for the skill development includes
both short- and long-term training schemes and
the number of apprentices trained. There are 10
indicators for skill development.

Basic Infrastructure 10% 8 • This domain focusses on access to housing

water, electricity, and road connectivity. It mainly
involves community level infrastructure.

Total 100% 81

At the core of this sectoral development ideology, is the and IDinsight for monitoring and data collection purposes,
ADP’s theory of change based on the 3 pillars, popularly and several development partners to assist the district
referred to as the 3Cs, i.e. – administrations in improving the key performance
♦ Convergence – which is based on the synthesis of indicators. The development partners on-boarded for the
different government schemes and authorities programme are Piramal (Health, Education and Sarwajal),
(state, district, block level), and BMGF, Tata Trusts, Microsave, IdInsight, ITC Ltd, CSBC,
Lupin, Bharatiya Jain Sangathan, Vedanta, Plan India,
♦ Collaboration which focuses on partnerships Save the Children, L&T, CII and NSE Foundation. In
between civil society organisations, philanthropies addition, a Project Management Unit (PMU) has been set
and government for achieving the targets. up at NITI Aayog where experts from United Nations
♦ Competition – which is expected to foster Development Programme and Asian Development Bank
competition and accountability among district are providing technical support to districts in preparing
governments for achieving the development proposals to access funds through various sources. This
targets, highlights the collaborative nature of the programme, and
In accordance with this approach, the programme an attempt to converge schemes across the sectors at
requires the involvement of central, state and district the national, state or district levels aiming to improve the
government authorities. The programme also involved coordination among central and state governments to
collaboration with knowledge partners such as Tata Trusts improve social development indicators.

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO THE PROGRAMME 7

 in several lesser ranked districts (in baseline ranking) in
1.2. Data Driven Governance – performing better over the last 3 years. For instance, our
The Key to Programme evaluation found districts of Simdega (Jharkhand),
Chanduali (Uttar Pradesh) and Sonbhardra (Uttar Pradesh)
Efficiency? and Rajgarh (Madhya Pradesh) to be among the top
performing districts when progress is measured since the
While the core approach of the programme is based on
beginning of the programme.
the 3Cs (Convergence, Competition and Collaboration) a
key component in facilitating these, especially pertaining
to Competition is through the real time data collection and
monitoring undertaken by the NITI Aayog. While district
officials are responsible for updating a majority5 of real
time data against the indicators, NITI Aayog commissions
regular surveys to ensure validity of data entered on the
dashboard.
The baseline assessment for instance, was conducted in
March 2018 upon commencement of the programme and
used 49 indicators (81 data points) to rank the status of the
districts across the five sectors. Since then, districts are
ranked on a month-on-month basis, which is displayed on
the Champions of Change (CoC) Dashboard dedicated
solely for the purpose of monitoring data and providing Delta Ranking: The Delta ranking method
districts updated information on their performance as measures incremental changes in performance
compared to other districts. The CoC dashboard provides indicators on a monthly basis. The methodology
sector wise ranking as well. This is expected to bring in a adopted by NITI Aayog for this purpose,
sense of competition and accountability, as well as serve employs a mix of self-reported data entered by
as a mechanism for identifying key development sectors
districts as well as data points validated by third
that may need further handholding and support.
party agencies such as Tata Trust and
Although the delta rankings are subject to change IDinsights, also referred to as knowledge
frequently, it must be noted that the competitive and partners under the ADP.
dynamic culture fostered by the programme, has resulted

5
While district officials are responsible for uploading a majority of data, data on some indicators – for example in the basic
infrastructure and financial inclusion domain – are taken from the concerned Central Ministries.

8 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

Literature
Review

2
 Literature Review

In order to undertake an in-depth literature review,

several sources of data were studied. However, as the 2.1. Similar Programmes
Aspirational Districts Programme was implemented only
over the last three years, studies conducted by third party The BRGF (Backwards Regions Grant Fund) was
organizations are scarce. Of these, many are focused on implemented in India with the aim of addressing regional
the healthcare and nutrition sector with a particular imbalances by converging existing financial and
emphasis on POSHAN Abhiyan. development resources to reduce overall backwardness
and improving livelihood conditions of districts. While
A recent report by the Institute of Competitiveness these aspects correspond strongly with the Aspirational
(2020)6 revealed that Health & Nutrition and Education Districts Programme, there are significant differences
are among the sectors closest to achieving their target by between the two in terms of scale, areas of development,
2022, while agriculture, financial inclusion and skill focus, and processes of assessment.
development require significant attention. Further, the
report also found that sectors apart from Healthcare and First, while The BRGF targeted 250 backward districts,
Education had fewer knowledge /development partners the ADP targets only 112 districts. Second, while the BRGF
across the districts. focused primarily on infrastructure and livelihood
programmes, the ADP seeks to categorically improve 5
key sectors. Furthermore, the BRGF established a
separate funding mechanism for Panchayats to utilise for
development of infrastructure facilities; a concept that
ADP has not adopted. The aim of ADP is to function on
the convergence of central and state schemes at the
grassroots level rather than establishing new and
separate units at each level of governance9.
The most significant difference, however, is the
monitoring and assessment methods of the two
programmes. While the BRGF hinged on assessing its
outcomes on a yearly or five year basis, the ADP
Other studies such as Borah et al. (2020)7 highlight the outcomes are updated constantly on the CoC portal in
improvement in health and nutrition outcomes in Baksa the form of composite score and ranks, along with regular
district of Assam since the inception of the ADP. evaluation and follow up reports published to provide
According to the authors, the improvement is also insights on the progress. This feature of constant
reflected in the district’s change in ranking from 107 out of monitoring is undertaken with the expectation of fostering
the 112 districts since the ADP’s introduction in 2018 to a sense of accountability and competition among the
now being ranked as 26 out 112 aspirational districts for districts and also learning from each other’s practices: a
health and nutrition as of July 2020 (ranking cited from feature that has not been implemented previously by any
the CoC portal). This significant change in ranking could government development project/programmes10.
be a result of all the major health and nutrition In addition to the BRGF in India, the ADP can be
programmes that the district is currently undertaking. compared to similar programmes in other developing
Other independent studies and evaluation reports countries as well. One such project is the Medium-Term
highlighting such facts, along with presentations, articles Strategic Framework (MTSF) introduced by the
available in the public domain, and scholarly databases Government of South Africa from 2014-201911. Like the
have been analyzed for this review. The chief aim of this ADP, the MTSF aimed to ensure policy coherence,
is to serve as the backbone of the methodology and alignment and coordination across government plans as
inform the development of the interview guides and well as alignment with their budgeting processes. It was a
quantitative analysis. By studying existing literature, this part of South Africa’s larger “National Development Plan”
review aims to map programmes like the ADP and and included performance agreements between the
highlight what sets the latter apart. President and ministers toreflect upon the relevant
6
Institute of Competitiveness, 2020. An Assessment of Aspirational Districts Programme.
7
Borah, P.K.; Raj, S.; Sharma, G.K., 2020. Role of Knowledge Management in Transformation of Aspirational Districts Programme –
A Case Study of Health & Nutrition Sector in Baksa District of Assam. Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research, Volume XII, Issue VII.
9
This is complemented by the fact that ADP does not envisage the infusion of large funds as its core strategy.
10
Sinha, S. 2019. Is the Aspirational Districts Programme Merely A Political Device?. EPW. Vol.54, Issue No. 3. Accessed on:
https://www.epw.in/engage/article/is-the-aspirational-districts-programme-merely-a-political-device-development
11
Republic of South Africa, Medium-Term Strategic Framework 2014-2019. Government Programmes: Accessed from
https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/mtsf2014-2019.pdf

10 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

actions, indicators and targets set out in the MTSF. Some provide them the resources, tools, networks, and support
of the major areas of focus for the programme were they need to drive meaningful change. Much like the ADP,
Education, Health, Safety and Security, Economic the Champions for Change looks at strengthening
Growth and Employment, Skills, Infrastructure, Rural grassroot organisations to drive change.
Development, and Local Governance. Other similarities
include the use of a pre-determined list of outcomes
based on which the progress was to be mapped12 with
each department expected to develop annual and
quarterly action plans in line with the MTSF outcomes and
multi-stakeholder partnerships criteria.
While no evaluation reports about the impact of the
Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) 2014–2019
are available to understand its impact, of relevance is a
recent study by Haywood et al. (2018)13 that examines the
importance of multi-stakeholder partnerships in achieving
South Africa’s SDGs, National Development Plan (NDP)
and Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF). [It should Other relevant programmes include BRAC’s (Bangladesh
be noted that the NDP and MTSF precede the SDGs plan Rural Advancement Committee) Development
of action in South Africa as both the NDP and MTSF serve Programme (BDP) which targeted the upliftment of the
as blueprints through which the SDGs can be achieved]. “ultra-poor” population15. The programme especially
The researchers highlight that both the NDP and focused on livelihood improvement by ensuring
MTSF programmes prioritised the involvement of multi- community participation along with participation from
stakeholder partnerships and established a strong village organisations and other structures. Members
foundation at different levels of governance within the (especially women) were given training for income
country which expected to expedite its transition to a generating activities and micro-finances when they
more inclusive and sustainable growth plan. Among the became a member of the Village Organisation (VO).
types of partnerships examined, the researchers However, over time, the programmes’ assessments found
highlighted that partnership between the 17 UN agencies that livelihood trainings and microfinance were not
in SA and local Civil Society Organisations were among sufficient in upliftment of the ‘target population’, thereby
the strongest linkages with the South African Government leading to the introduction of a subsidiary programme of
in driving changes. Other forms of partnership such as BDP, called ‘Targeting the Ultra-poor Programme (TUP)16.
business enterprises and academia, although promising, This revised programme aims to provide transfer of both
have not been able to establish strong relations with the cash and assets, access to savings and credit facilities,
government as yet. This is an area that perhaps ADP can and training for longer term (24 months). The short and
consider to improve its impact. medium term impact of this subsidiary programme show
Similarly, apart from government-initiated programmes, that there has been an increase in income and ownership
there appear to be other relevant programmes which of productive assets (assets which are directly linked to
specifically target backward regions or populations. The generating income such as land, livestock, farm
‘Champions for Change (C4C)’ programme in Nigeria by equipment, etc.) and non-productive assets (assets not
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is one such related to generating income such as home appliances
programme14. While the ADP has diversified into different used for personal use), increased food and non-food
thematic sectors, the Champions for Change programme consumption, and a favourable shift in ownership of
in Nigeria primarily focuses on providing funding to local assets and hours spent on self-employment. The
Nigerian programmes that improve health of women, programme was also found to positively impact gender
children, and youth. It also invests in visionary Nigerian equality and empowerment in the areas.
civil society leaders, organisations and advocates to

12
Parliamentary Budget Office Republic of South Africa.2016. Monitoring of Performance and Expenditure on the outcomes of the
National Development Plan.
13
Haywood, L. K., Funke, N., Audouin, M., Musvoto, C., &Nahman, A. (2018). The Sustainable Development Goals in South Africa:
Investigating the need for multi-stakeholder partnerships. Development Southern Africa, 1–15. doi:10.1080/0376835x.2018.1461611
14
Champions of change. 2015. Saving the Lives of Women Newborns, and Children in Nigeria. Source:
https://www.riseuptogether.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/C4C-One-pager-design-10.6.15-final-Sunrise.pdf
15
Barua P and Sualiman M. Is the BDP Ultra Poor Approach Working? Survey of some Key issues. Dhaka and Ottawa: BRAC and
Aga Khan Foundation Canada, 2007. (CFPR/TUP Working paper series No. 16).
16
Brito, Roberta. 2018. Bangladesh's TUP programme: Challenges in the design of gender sensitive social protection.
https://socialprotection.org/discover/blog/bangladeshs-tup-programme-challenges-design-gender-sensitive-social-protection

LITERATURE REVIEW 11
 Among the key learnings highlighted by this study, and of
relevance to the ADP, is TUP’s revised approach in
working directly with Village Organisations and using
these organisations to gain community support for
development aims and objectives. The chief difference
between the TUP model and other process models lies in
the balancing act of BRAC’s technical analysis along with
beneficiary participation and decision making. A study by
International Growth Centre18 also confirms the success of
the TUP programme and highlights it as a scalable
approach that can be successfully adapted to different
contexts. It is worth noting that BRAC has reached over
7000 households in Ethiopia, Ghana, Honduras, India,
Another study - by Hulme and Moore (2007) - of the Pakistan, and Peru.
University of Manchester highlight similar trends
Programmes such as the Medium Term Strategic
regarding the TUP17. The study highlights that the TUP
Framework (MTSF) in South Africa, Champion for Change
performance is monitored by the maintenance of a panel
(C4C) in Nigeria or BRAC’S IDP and TUP programmes in
dataset that tracks key indicators from a sample of
Bangladesh signify the importance of specific and
selected ultra-poor households. The authors do not
targeted policies or programmes; specifically for
attribute regular monitoring mechanisms as being the key
improving backward regions. The initiation of the ADP - as
to achievements of the programme; however, this feature
seen in this context - proves to be a step in the right
relates closely to the finding that TUP participants - as
direction for socio-economic development.
compared to non-participants - had a greater rate of asset
accumulation across all domains.
The study also found that the programme has contributed
to the general well-being; especially in terms of improved
food security. Other indicators also show positive results
such as improved access to microfinance and
employment, whereby 70% of women were able to repay
their microfinance loans. Nutritional outcomes for children
was among the few indicators that did not see significant
improvement. The potential reasons included possible
lags associated with changes in such indicators and
non-optimal patterns of intra-household resource
allocation.

17
Hulme, D., Moore, K. 2007. Assisting the poorest in Bangladesh: Learning from BRAC’s ‘Targeting the Ultra Poor’ Programme.
University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
18
Balboni, C.; Banderia, O; Burgess, R; Kaul; U; 2015. Transforming the economic lives of the ultra-poor. International Growth
Centre. Accessed from: https://www.theigc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/IGCJ2287_Growth_Brief_4_WEB.pdf

12 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

Evaluation
Criteria

3
 Evaluation Criteria

♦ Is the ADP replicable in other districts of India,

3.1. Key Research Questions: and/or in other developing countries?
♦ How can the ADP become even more effective in
The key research questions for this evaluation are:
accelerating the significant progress it has already
♦ How have the Aspirational districts performed since made?
their inception in terms of improving the key
performance indicators of the programme? In line with the research questions, this review, especially
the qualitative interviews were conducted using the five
♦ What has been the impact of the programme for the
OECD-DAC (Organisation for Economic Co-operation
districts? What have been the benefits and
and Development's Development Assistance Committee)
challenges?
evaluation criteria of (a) relevance; (b) coherence; (c)
♦ How efficient is this programme in effecting change, effectiveness, (d) impact; and (e) sustainability of
and is this model of development sustainable in the development results. The rationale for them is explained
future? below:

Table 2: Evaluation criteria

Criteria Objectives and themes

Relevance This examines the relevance of the Aspirational Districts Programme in line with the vision set
forth by the Prime Minister and NITI Aayog. It also examines the current context, sectoral
programmes and interventions being implemented by districts.
Coherence This criterion evaluates the extent to which the means justify the outcome. In particular,
efficiency in resource (financial and human) allocation. Of other considerations are the quality,
timeliness of the results, partnership strategies, resource mobilization, use of programming
and partnership modalities conducive to the delivery of programme outputs, adequate
oversight and monitoring mechanisms.
Effectiveness Assesses to what extent do strategic partnerships exist with other national and sub national
institutions, CSO/NGOs, UN agencies, CSR agencies, knowledge partners or development
partners to sustain the attained results and to what extent have partners committed to
providing continuing support.
Impact This analyses to what extent the Aspirational Districts Programme has achieved output
results and evidence of their contribution to the outcomes over the last 3 years.
Sustainability This examines the extent to which districts have established mechanisms under the ADP to
ensure the sustainability of the results attained/to be attained.

The Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) aims to instil a highlights the best practices implemented by some
culture of change through competition, collaboration and districts which can be replicated in other districts.
convergence in some of the most deprived parts of the The quantitative analysis for this assessment consists of
country. In order to evaluate the programme, it is two parts. In the first, districts are ranked on the basis of
essential to develop a clear understanding of the current their performance since the beginning of the programme
trends for the different sectors and indicators in these and in the second, a comparison of aspirational and non-
districts. While districts are ranked on their delta aspirational districts is made using a difference in
performance on a monthly basis on the Champions of difference approach. The qualitative component involves
Change dashboard, this evaluation aims to delve deeper semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. Details
and study the progress made by these districts since the for each component are provided in the following
beginning of the programme. This evaluation also sections.

14 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

Quantitative Data
Collection and
Analysis

4
 Quantitative Data Collection and Analysis

The quantitative analysis for this evaluation comprises of against estimated cases (Health and Nutrition),
two components: Percentage of elementary schools complying with RTE
i) Net Resilience Index; and specified Pupil Teacher Ratio (Education), Pradhan Mantri
Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY): number of
ii) Difference in Difference Analysis
enrolments per 1 lakh population (Financial Inclusion),
Percentage of certified youth employed to number of
4.1. Net Resilience Index youth trained under short term or long term training (Skill
Development), Percentage of gram panchayats with
4.1.1. Methodology: internet connection (Basic Infrastructure) etc.
This exercise throws light on the overall performance of Vulnerability, on the other hand, is measured by a set of
Aspirational Districts since the inception of the negative indicators. An increase in the vulnerability
programme. It also aims to highlight the most and least indicators hinders districts’ ability to attain their
improved districts since March 2018 till March 202019. 60 development goals. All vulnerability indicators are taken
data points20 (for 111 districts) from the Champions of from the Health and Nutrition Sector. Few examples of
Change dashboard are used for this exercise and are data points included as measures of vulnerability are as
divided into two broad categories: resilience and follows: Percentage of low birth weight babies (less than
vulnerability. 2500g), Percentage of Severe Acute Malnourishment
(SAM) in children under 6 years to total children under 6
Resilience is measured by a set of positive indicators
years etc.
which reflects factors that bolster the development
capacity of the districts. Data points were taken from 5 To ensure comparability across indicators and districts,
sectors21 as monitored by the ADP. A few examples of data points for every indicator and district were
data points included are as follows: Percentage of area standardized using the min-max formula and a simple
under micro-irrigation (Agriculture), Tuberculosis (TB) average was used to calculate resilience and vulnerability
case notification rate (Public and Private Institutions) as score for each district.

A higher resilience score represents positive overall status, and sustainable impact of the work undertaken.
A higher vulnerability score on the other hand highlights the need for further attention and scope for improvement.

Equation 1: Standardization Formulae Here, a higher resilience score represents more

resilience - and similarly for vulnerability – for any given
(x-min) district. Finally, resilience and vulnerability scores in
s= isolation do not provide a holistic picture of the
(max-min) performance of aspirational districts. To address this, we
Where: use the difference between resilience and vulnerability
s is the standardized score for each data point. It scores to arrive at a measure of net resilience.
takes values between 0 and 1, 4.1.2. Findings
X is the value of data point being standardized,
Figure 122 shows the average resilience, average
min is the minimum value of the data point being
vulnerability and net resilience scores across all districts
standardized across all districts,
for March 2018 and March 2020. From the figure, it is
max is the maximum value of the data point being evident that the Aspirational Districts have shown an
standardized across all districts. overall increase in resilience, a corresponding reduction

19
Data from March 2020 is used so as to avoid capturing the impact of the pandemic. The pandemic would lead to a general
decline in performance in all indicators leading to absolute and relative fall in outcomes, thereby inculcating a bias.
20
Based on the availability of data for the two time periods. Full list of data points used to calculate Net Resilience Index is provided
in Appendix A.1.
21
The 5 sectors are: 1) Agriculture, 2) Health and Nutrition,3) Education, 4) Financial Inclusion and Skill Development and 5) Basic
Infrastructure.
22
The scores on the y-axis have been multiplied by 100 for ease of visual interpretation

16 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

Figure 1: Comparison of resilience and vulnerability among
districts since inception (2018) of ADP

2018 2020
60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Resilience Vulunerability Net Resilience Resilience Vulunerability Net Resilience

in vulnerabilities and therefore an overall rise in net differences among districts. In order to look at the district
resilience. These results are suggestive of the success of wise difference, the districts which have improved the
the programme in improving development outcomes in most in terms of net resilience between 2018 and 2020
some of the most disadvantaged areas of the country. are illustrated in Figure 2.
However, this aggregate picture leaves out essential

Table 3: Summary Statistics for Net Resilience exercise - 2018 and 2020
Average Average Net Average Average Net Difference
Resilience Vulnerability Resilience Resilience Vulnerability Resilience in Net
Score Score Score Score Score Score Resilien
(2018) (2018) (2018) (2020) (2020) (2020) ce Score

Mean 49.58 23.89 25.68 58.28 21.88 36.40 10.72

Median 48.97 23.15 27.47 57.97 21.12 36.98 11.17

Min 36.11 0.09 -23.29 37.11 0.88 -18.67 -58.05

Max 63.82 59.99 61.15 70.71 67.04 61.83 58.26

Std Dev 5.97 12.49 15.19 6.27 13.68 15.63 14.16

♦ Top and low performing districts programme began. Figure 2 shows the districts that
Insights pertaining to the implementation of successful achieved the largest increases in net resilience
programmes and best practices can be drawn from between March 2018 and March 2020.
districts that have improved the most since the

QUANTITATIVE DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 17

 Figure 2: Top 5 districts with maximum change in net resilience since 2018

58.26
Ranchi
42.98
Chandauli

34.80
Simdega

34.69
Sonbhadra

34.33
Rajgarh
0 20 40 60

Change In Net Resilience (2018 to 2020)

To gain a deeper understanding of changes in resilience vulnerabilities reduced from 2018 to 2020. However, the
and vulnerabilities over time, Figure 3 shows the average narrative is different for the least improved districts.
resilience and vulnerability scores for the most improved Except Sitamarhi (Bihar), these districts have witnessed
as well as least improved districts (in terms of net large increases in vulnerabilities which has pulled down
resilience). Figure 3 indicates that for the most improved the net resilience.
districts, average resilience increased while average

Figure 3: Comparison of top 5 and bottom 5 districts based on performance in

net resilience and net vulnerability index.

Most improved districts based on change in net resilience

41.74 68.7
Ranchi 42.09 10.88
44.11 64.9
Chandauli
33.24 10.24
47.37 56.72
Simdega
34.49 9.05

38.00 59.44
Sonbhadra
38.72 25.47

51.70 66.6
Rajgarh
34.98 15.57
2018 2020
Resilience Vulnerability

22
The scores on the y-axis have been multiplied by 100 for ease of visual interpretation

18 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

 Least improved districts based on change in net resilience

51.95 38.07
Sitamarhi
19.41 16.38
42.61 44.74
Gumla
34.71 47.83
57.59 60.99
Dantewada
30.90 47.43
50.26 56.92
Bijapur
23.15 49.43
44.91 48.36
Nawada
5.53 67
2018 2020
Resilience Vulunerability

Overall, findings from the Net Resilience Index indicate actual impact of an intervention from extraneous factors
that the Aspirational Districts, on average, have been on such as that of natural growth over time. The framework
an upward trajectory since the inception of the requires the existence of two sets of groups – the
programme. A closer look at the best performers indicates treatment group which is made up of entities that received
an improvement in resilience along with a corresponding the intervention and the control group that serves as the
reduction in vulnerabilities. On the other hand, the least counterfactual – and data on both these groups for the
improved districts have seen significant increases in selected indicators on (at least) two time periods. The DiD
vulnerabilities. The latter calls for focused attention on method – by comparing the average change over time in
specific sectors where these districts have the outcome variable for the treatment group to that of the
underperformed. Replicating successful programs and control group – teases out the ‘true’ impact of events and
learnings from top performers might form the basis of the interventions.
inclusive growth among the Aspirational Districts. This framework is used on two sectors of the Aspirational
Districts Programme: Health & Nutrition (H&N) and
Note on data collection and filling missing values: Data Financial Inclusion (FI). For the H&N indicators, data from
points in the ADP programme are reported at different the Heath Management Information System (HMIS) – a
frequencies (yearly, half yearly, quarterly and monthly). For digital initiative under the National Health Mission, Ministry
2018, yearly data was obtained from March 2018, half of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India is used.
yearly data from September 2018, quarterly data from DFS (Department of Financial Services, Government of
June 2018 and monthly data from April 2018. For 2020, India) data is used for the FI indicators. While the former is
data points for all frequencies were obtained from March a portal gateway to a wealth of information related to
2020. Missing values for half yearly data were imputed health indicators at state and district level (directly
from September 2019, missing values for quarterly data uploaded by the States/ UTs), the latter is a government
were imputed from December 2019 and missing data for entity that monitors the indicators related to FI for the
monthly data were imputed from February 202024. Finally, Aspirational Districts Programme
the ranking also excludes Kiphire and Khammam since
Data: Two sets of data are taken from these sources: for
net resilience could not be calculated due to missing
March 2018 (which serves as the baseline) and the same
values in average vulnerability in 2020 for Khammam and
for March 2020 (which is the most recent available data for
in 2018 for Kiphire. Therefore, the final ranking includes 111
pre-Covid period). Since indicators for Health and Nutrition
districts25.
in Aspirational Districts Programme form a subset of the
4.2. Difference in Difference indicators reported by the HMIS, an indicator matching
exercise was performed in order to observe the overlap
Method: between the two data sources. The table below
represents this exercise for those indicators that were
4.2.1. Methodology: found to be either directly or derivatively matching
The Difference-in-Difference (DiD) framework for impact between the two data sources:
evaluation is a widely used technique that teases out the

24
Full list of indicators is provided in Appendix Table A.1
25
Full list of rankings based on Net Resilience scores is provided in Appendix Table A.2

QUANTITATIVE DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 19

 Table 4: CoC and HMIS Data Matching for H&N Indicators
S. NITI Aayog Indicator Detail from Type of HMIS Indicator Detail
No. Performance the Champions of matching Indicator
Indicator Change (CoC) for H&N Serial
Number Dashboard Indicators Number
(CoC)
1 1.1 Percentage of Pregnant Derived 4 divided by 1 4 – Number of pregnant
Women receiving four or (exact women receiving 4 or
more antenatal care match) more ANC check ups
check-ups against total ANC 1 – Total number of
registrations pregnant women
Registered for ANC

2 1.2 Percentage of ANC Direct 3 % 1st Trimester

registered within the first registration to Total ANC
trimester against total ANC Registrations
registrations

3 3.1 Percentage of Pregnant Direct 13 % Pregnant women

women having severe having severe anaemia
anaemia treated against (Hb<7) treated at
Pregnant women having institution to women
severe anaemia tested cases having hb level<7

4 4.1 Sex Ratio at birth Direct 52 Sex Ratio at birth

(Female Live Births/
Male Live Births *1000)

5 4.2 Percentage of institutional Direct 28 % Institutional

deliveries out of total (but not an deliveries to Total
estimated deliveries exact match) Reported Deliveries

6 5 Percentage of home Direct 18 % SBA attended

deliveries attended by an home deliveries to
SBA (Skilled Birth Total Reported Home
Attendance) trained health Deliveries
worker out of total home
deliveries

7 6.1 Percentage of new-borns Direct 51 % New-borns breast fed

breastfed within one hour within 1 hour of birth to
of birth Total live birth

8 6.2 Percentage of low birth Direct 49 % New-borns having

weight babies (Less than weight less than 2.5 kg to
2500 grams) New-borns weighed at
birth

9 6.3 Proportion of live babies Direct 47 % New-borns weighed at

weighed at birth birth to live birth

10 8.2 Percentage of children Derived 158 divided 158 – Diarrhoea treated

with Diarrhoea treated (but not an by 157 in Inpatients in Children
with ORS exact 0-5 Years of Age 157 –
match) Diarrhoea in Children
0-5 Years of Age

20 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

There are two important points to be noted. First, In economic theory, a control group is a set of
indicator 8.2 from the CoC Dashboard is matched to a observations that are exactly similar to their counterparts
derived version of two indicators (number 158 and 157) in the treatment group except for one crucial aspect: that
from the HMIS data. This is not an exact match since the those in the treatment group received the treatment and
CoC indicator focuses only on treatment of diarrhoea in those in the control group did not receive that treatment.
children through ORS whereas the latter is a more This ‘almost’ similar control group is often referred to as
general version of the same. While this prevents a the counterfactual: a group that mimics the characteristics
one-on-one matching, it allows for a broader measure to of the treatment group except for the treatment itself.
be included in the exercise. Second, all indicators except For the purpose of this evaluation, this means that control
number 6.2 (Percentage of low birth weights babies) are group – in order to be as close to a theoretical
positive in nature, i.e., a higher value of an indicator counterfactual – had to consist of non-ADs were matched
indicates an improvement in the H&N outcome of the with ADs from the same states. More precisely, out of the
district. Indicator number 6.2, on the other hand – is a remaining districts (after the separation of ADs), the
negative indicator implying that an increase in its value control group must have consisted of same number of
signifies a deterioration of H&N outcome. non-AD’s that display similar characteristics as the AD's. A
For the indicators under the FI sector, the CoC weighted proportional method was employed to
Dashboard reports values directly from the data of construct the control group.
Department of Financial Services (DFS). Hence, all For all non-ADs, data from March 2018 was first
indicators received from the DFS matched directly to normalized. This was then used to create an index by
those in the CoC Dashboard except one26 (which has multiplying the respective indicators with proportional29
been left out of this analysis). weights (as used in the H&N and FI Index by NITI Aayog).
The districts on which data was obtained were A district wise ranking was created next. Starting from the
segregated into the treatment and the control group. The bottom of the ranking30, non-ADs were matched with ADs
treatment group comprised of all districts that are a part of from the same states31. For example, if Andhra Pradesh
the Aspirational Districts Programme. Therefore, the has 3 districts in the ADP, then the bottom 3 non-ADs from
treatment group for the H&N exercise consists of 11327 Andhra Pradesh were inserted in the control group (and
ADs while that for the FI exercise consists of 11228 ADs. similarly for other states). However, since Jharkhand has
The creation of the control group, however, is more 19 ADs (as opposed to a total of 23 districts), the
nuanced. state-wise matching could not be strictly fulfilled.
To overcome this issue, the remaining 14 non-AD districts

26
Indicator titled: “Total Disbursement of Mudra loan (in rupees) per 1 Lakh population” has not been used since data on this
indicator was not recieved.
27
117 districts were selected for Aspirational Districts Programme by NITI Aayog. However, 5 districts of West Bengal never
joined the programme. Also, Khammam in Telangana was replaced by Bhadradri Kothagudem as an Aspirational District. For
the purpose of this exercise, both the districts have been kept in the treatment group making total number of districts as 113.
28
Since data on Bhadradri Kothagudem was missing from the FI data, it was dropped therefore making the total number of
treatment districts 112.
29
The proportional weightage takes into account missing values and weights the available data based on a proportionate
scale so that the individual weights for each data points are preserved along with the overall weightage.
30
The selection of the AD’s was such that districts performing poorly on socio-economic indicators were selected for the
programme as compared to relatively better performing districts. In order to maintain the same spirit and consistency, the
selection process for the control group is started from the bottom.. This also ensures that the most accurate comparison group
possible is being captured.
31
Using proxy districts that share the same boundary or belong to the same state is a common practice in literature because it
is more likely that a boundary sharing district better resembles a particular AD – along several characteristics – as compared to
districts that do not share a boundary or do not belong to the same state.

QUANTITATIVE DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 21

 (to be mapped to Jharkhand) were selected - using the control group for both sectors were compared. It was
the same method - from states that share similar data found that the two groups are similar along all indicators
characteristics32 (such as Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh and (at the baseline) hence strengthening the validity and
Odisha)33. This ensured that the control group consisted comparability of our control group35.
of 113 non-AD’s for the H&N exercise and 112 non-ADs for With the treatment group and control groups formulated
the FI exercise; those that resemble the ADs as closely as for all selected indicators for the two time periods, the
possible on the respective set of indicators34. following equation was used for the difference-in-
In order to check the validity of this construction, the differencea estimate(s):
means of selected variables between the treatment and

Equation 2: Difference in Difference Estimation

DID Estimatei,t = ( IADP, 2020 – I ADP, 2018 ) – ( INon-ADP, 2020 – INon-ADP, 2018 )

where the left-hand side denotes the difference-in- of being selected for – and receiving the benefits of – the
difference (mean and median) estimate for indicator i of Aspirational Districts Programme. Table 5 presents the
type t. The right-hand side denotes the difference mean and median difference-in-difference estimates for
between the average changes across the two time the Health and Nutrition sector. The interpretation of
periods between the treatment and control groups. A coefficients follows.
positive DID Estimate is – by virtue of the Before moving on to indicator specific interpretation, note
difference-in-difference framework – interpretable as the that all indicators except 4.1 and median estimate for 1.1 are
‘true’ impact of the Aspirational Districts Programme. consistent with the hypothesis that AD’s have
4.2.2. Findings outperformed the control group. All positive indicators –
except sex ratio at birth – show positive coefficients as
Health and Nutrition (H&N) is a key focus area of the well as the negative indicator (6.2) shows negative
Aspirational Districts Programme which takes up 30% coefficient. This broad pattern allows us to interpret – at
weightage in the overall index used by NITI Aayog. The first glance – that the Aspirational District Programme has
results - as computed using the aforementioned indeed helped the chosen districts outperform those that
methodology of the difference in difference framework - were not selected for this programme36.
indicate that AD’s have outperformed non-AD’s by virtue

32
Data characteristics include comparing the state-wise means of select indicators with those of Jharkhand along with
demographic and occupational characteristic matching. The states with the closest characteristics were selected and then the
same process (as outlined above) was followed to choose the districts that would proxy as a control for the remaining districts
from Jharkhand.
33
To maintain consistency, the last three chosen districts from Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh are again compared and
the two districts with lowest rankings are included.
34
Following from footnote 30, it can be observed that the selection of the counterfactual group is such that the districts within
this group are the ‘immediate’ competitors of the AD’s.
35
The details are attached as tables in the appendix.
36
In order to compensate for the positive bias shown by HMIS data during its initial years, check mechanisms – such as third part
surveying and continuous review by officials and Central Prabhari Officers – was put in place for Aspirational Districts. This a)
ensured that the data was reflective of the ground realities and b) that – by means of continual review – the quality of data was
regularly improving for the Aspirational Districts. However, the same check mechanism was not ensured for non-Aspirational
Districts therefore leading to a positive bias in the latter’s performance. Therefore, it is likely that the difference-in-difference
results reported are under-estimates for the actual improvement.

22 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

Table 5: Difference-in-difference results for H&N

CoC Indicator Indicator Mean Median

Matching Estimate Estimate

1.1 Percentage of Pregnant Women receiving four or 0.23 -1.77

more antenatal care check-ups against total ANC
registrations

1.2 Percentage of ANC registered within the first 4.55 5.80

trimester against total ANC registrations

3.1 Percentage of Pregnant women having severe 5.82 20.60

anaemia treated against PW having severe anaemia
tested cases

4.1 Sex Ratio at birth (Female Live Births/ Male Live -3.39 -7.00
Births *1000)

4.2 Percentage of institutional deliveries out of total 0.65 0.50

estimated deliveries

5 Percentage of home deliveries attended by an 9.63 14.90

SBA (Skilled Birth Attendance) trained health
worker out of total home deliveries

6.1 Percentage of new-borns breastfed within one 0.85 0.10

hour of birth

6.2 Percentage of low birth weight babies (Less than -0.29 -1.20
2500 grams)

6.3 Proportion of live babies weighed at birth 0.80 0.80

8.2 Percentage of children with Diarrhoea treated 4.80 1.79

Owing to the construction of the coefficient estimates increases are that of indicators 1.2, 3.1, 5 and 8.2. The
according to the difference-in-difference methodology, negative coefficients (-0.29 and -1.20) on indicator 6.2 -
each of them is interpretable as the average impact that percentage of new-borns having weight less than 2.5 kg
being in the ADP provides while taking into account the to new-borns weighed at birth – also imply that being in
natural growth over time in comparison to non-ADP the ADP has resulted in an improvement in this outcome.
districts. For example, being in the Aspirational District Similar to the Health and Nutrition results, the estimates
Programme has provided – on average across the for the Financial Inclusion Sector also indicate that ADP
sample – an additional 4.5 percentage increase in 1st has had a positive impact on the chosen indicators. The
trimester registration to total ANC registrations to the AD’s following table presents the mean and median
as compared to the control group. Other coefficients can difference-in-difference estimates for the FI sector:
be interpreted in a similar manner. Among the noteworthy

QUANTITATIVE DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 23

 Table 6: Difference-in-difference results for FI

Indicator Indicator Mean Median

Number Estimate Estimate

2 PMJJBY enrolments per 1 Lakh population 406.48 411.20

3 PMSBY enrolments per 1 Lakh population 847.45 715.36

4 APY beneficiaries per 1 Lakh population 48.53 105.37

5 % of accounts seeded with Aadhaar -0.61 -1.70

6 PMJDY Accounts opened per lakh of population 1580.48 2482.00

The interpretation for the DiD coefficients for FI slightly appropriately constructed counterfactuals, the results
differs from those of Health and Nutrition. The coefficient indicate that ADs have outperformed non-ADs by the
on indicator number 2 (in the FI table) indicates that being virtue of being selected for – and receiving the benefits of
in the Aspirational District Programme has provided an – the Aspirational Districts Programme by substantial
additional 406.48 people per lakh PMJJBY enrolments – margins within the Health & Nutrition and Financial
on average across the sample – in the ADs as compared Inclusion domain. These results not only quantify the
to the control group. All indicators except indicator 5 – significant progress made by districts under the
percentage of accounts seeded with Aadhaar – attest to Aspirational Districts Programme, but also highlight the
the success of the Aspirational Districts Programme. various uses of data collection mechanisms under the
Overall, after preforming a Difference-in-Difference Aspirational District Programme that make this analysis
analysis on select H&N and FI indicators using possible.

24 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

Qualitative
Data Collection
and Analysis

5
 Qualitative Data Collection
and Analysis

Semi- structured interviews were conducted with District also conducted with district magistrates of non-ADs so as
Magistrates or District Collectors, Prabhari officers, to gain useful insights for facilitating comparisons of best
knowledge partners, development partners, and practices in these districts. For each interview, the
Aspirational District Fellows (ADFs) and UN Volunteers following approach was adopted:
(UNVs) working in these districts. A few interviews were

Table 7: Framework for qualitative analysis

Each qualitative interview aimed to:
• Document the interventions in the 5 core sectors of ADP and their programme
model.
• Identify best practices deployed by the programmes, including intervention
Programmatic models, local partnerships, stakeholder engagement, and community participation.
Level • Capture challenges encountered in programme life cycle and how they were
resolved.
• Assess the scalability and replicability of the programme across the country/other
districts.

These qualitative interview sought to:

• Understand which interventions are being implemented, and how they align with
ADP’s goals, objectives and vision.

Administrative Level • Explore the rationale behind undertaking specific interventions or their processes.
(Implementation • Capture details about internal capacities, strengths, limitation, with regards to
level) implementation and funding of the programme.
• Understand how administrative capacities plan to improve their work in the core
areas
• Determine the scope of further engagement opportunities with central and state
level organizations, NITI Aayog and knowledge partners.

All information obtained from the interviews was district commissioners who are in charge of the overall
thematically analyzed and fed into content analysis functioning of the district and hence responsible for the
framework using the OECD-DAC criteria and the key effective administration of these programmes and have
research questions. Thematic coding was employed for in-depth knowledge of the revenue and funding
the analysis, as it was deemed most suitable for this processes for the states. Similarly, we also interviewed
evaluation to identify and group information into themes Prabhari officers who serve as a key point of contacts and
or ideas. Since our aim for this evaluation was to identify facilitators between district and the centre. In addition to
patterns across districts, some of the major themes used this, DMs from non-aspirational districts were added to
were successes, challenges, knowledge gaps, support the sample to provide comparative insights on the
required, replicability and acceptability of interventions, functioning of ADP. Non-governmental stakeholders
administration capacities, and governance approaches. included knowledge partners, development partners, UN
volunteers, and ADFs working in these districts. The
sampling frame mentioned in Table 8, was adopted to
5.1. Respondents and provide a thorough understanding of the ADP along with
Sampling for Qualitative on ground examples and case studies for our evaluation.
Data Collection
As the study focuses on district level implementation, the
stakeholders for this evaluation comprised of district level
officials, such as district magistrates, district collectors, or

26 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

Table 8: Sampling used for qualitative interviews

Respondent Number of Rationale / Areas of Focus or Inquiry

stakeholders
participated*

• DMs/DCs/DOs are crucial to the functioning of any programme

in the districts as they are responsible for decision making and
District Magistrates overall administration of the districts.
(DMs) / District
Collectors/ District • Interviews focused on inquiring about the district’s
11
Commissioners(DC) administrative and internal capacities, support required, themes
of Aspirational
and programmes being focused on currently. They also inquired
Districts
about the strengths, weaknesses, and areas of improvements
required.

• The aim of conducting interviews with government officials from

non-ADP districts was to inquire about the processes and focus
District Magistrates
(DMs)/ District on what sets non-ADs in a more favorable position over ADs.
2
Collectors (DCs)
• We also inquired about successful interventions and
of non-ADs
governance approaches that could be borrowed from the
non-ADs .

• As a key feature of the ADP is the supervision and support

provided by Prabhari Officers, these interviews were helpful to
Prabhari inquire about their perceptions of ADs, especially regarding
4
Officers (POs) sustainability and replicability of the programme.

• We also inquired about state and district capabilities and the

support required to drive change.

• Knowledge Partners and Development Partners are important

as they work at the grassroots level and possess a good
understanding of the requirements and perception for
implementation of programmes. Therefore, interviews focused
on understanding the role of civil society organizations in
Knowledge supporting ADP goals and visions. We also inquired about the
Partners and
10 ease of coordinating with different levels of government and
Development
partners support received or challenges encountered while working in
the ADs.

• As these organizations work in multiple districts, group

interviews were conducted for some organizations with
members of different teams and field offices participating in
each interview.

• Interviews with ADFs and UNVs focused on implementation of

Aspirational
the ADP at the grassroots level. Focus was also laid on
District Fellows
(ADFs) and United 20 understanding the capacities and requirements of the districts.
Nations Volunteers
(UNVs) • Group interviews were conducted for ADFs and written forms
submitted from UNVs of different districts.

A total of 47stakeholders provided their insights and

Total 47*
experiences on working with the programme.

QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 27

 training for staff or better medical equipment at the
5.2. Findings centres.

A majority of the work undertaken across the sectors has

been in the areas of Health and Nutrition, Education, and
Agriculture and Water Conservation. Almost all districts
officials interviewed mentioned a number of programmes
and activities implemented across these three sectors
and identified them as better performing areas or
strengths in some cases. They are also the three largest
sectors within the Aspirational districts programme, and
together constitute 80% of the programme weightage.
Therefore, improvements in these sectors may be
viewed as a positive indication of meeting the
programme’s targets of development.

However, while most districts have mentioned that a Additionally, the fact that some of the districts admitted to
majority of their efforts were focused across the sectors of coping better with the COVID-19 situation due to better
Health and Nutrition, Education, and even Agriculture and healthcare infrastructure introduced through ADP, is also
Water resources, the sectors of Skill Development and an indication that Aspirational Districts Programme is
Financial Inclusion require immediate prioritisation among contributing to strengthening of healthcare and nutrition
the ADs to reach their full goals. This trend in sectoral services. For instance, the district of Malkangiri in Odisha,
disparity was observed across all the districts interviewed. which is located in close proximity to both neighbouring
As per the findings of the interviews, stakeholders states of Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, became an
mentioned a number of initiatives in the sector of Basic entry point for several migrant workers returning back to
Infrastructure indicating significant improvements. the state during the initial phases of lockdown in India.
However, there is still scope for further improvement in The district official in this case, claimed to have used their
the sector. This is especially the case with the more new infrastructure facilities (both in healthcare and
remote districts among the Aspirational districts, and otherwise) to serve as institutional quarantine centres for
those plagued with the double burden of countering LWE the migrants. Other districts such as Goalpara in Assam
activities. Districts located in more favourable geographic saw more pro-active and synchronised efforts of different
areas, such as proximity to national highways or cities departments due to existing foundations of convergence
have been able to reap more benefits and implement model laid by the programme. A similar example was
more infrastructural projects than those in very remote provided by a development partner, Piramal Health which
areas. works across 25 Aspirational districts in the area of
Healthcare and Nutrition. While the development partner
5.2.1. Mapping Sector-wise growth faced severe setbacks in projects during the initial 30-40
days of the pandemic (mainly during the nationwide
Health and Nutrition: lockdown), they soon leveraged their prior engagement
Findings of the qualitative interviews indicate that with District Commissioners, panchayats, and community
significant improvements have been made in the sector. leaders to build a strong COVID-19 response and cope
In fact, almost all the district officials interviewed, with the challenges of the pandemic. The development
mentioned some of the major programmes implemented partner especially credited the role played by religious
over the last three years to have been in the area of leaders within the community in contributing towards
Healthcare and Nutrition. The most common creating better awareness and understanding of health
achievements among these initiatives involve setting up issues over the last three years.
model anaganwadi centres, efforts to increase the
number of institutional deliveries, reduction in Severe Education:
Acute Malnutrition (SAM) among infants and children, The Education sector has also experienced substantial
improving ANC coverage for pregnant women and improvement among the aspirational districts. The credit
improving service delivery in PHCs in remote areas. For lies in the initiatives taken by several districts to adapt and
instance, a common example given by district officials innovate, leading to the development of bespoke
during the interviews was improvements in the method of programmes best suited for their district’s requirement. A
measuring and recording infants’ weight and height using suitable example of this is the development of
standardised index and protocol at Anganwadi centres Gyanodaya app and Rath in Godda district of Jharkhand.
rather than staff using their own judgement to determine Inspired by the award winning Unanyan Banka App37
if infants were malnourished or underweight .This change developed in Banka district of Bihar, the Gyanodaya app
according to the district officials has come about due to aims to promote digital learning by converting the
two reasons; first, better monitoring of these indicators as Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) Board’s approved
required by the Aspirational districts programme and; syllabus into smart classes format for over 260 schools
second, the prioritization of these sectors has led to and covering over 70,000 students. According to the
better identification of gaps and requirements such as officials, this initiative was the chief reason for the

37
Unnayan Banka’ is an initiative that envisages ‘quality education for all’, using latest technologies. It is a multi-platform model, where students receive
educational content on various technology platforms like LCD/LED TVs, projectors, laptops and especially on mobile phones. The initiative won the
Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management Award (CAPAM) in 2018.

28 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

significant improvement in the district’s performance in partners was collaboration among the different
the delta rankings. Another example of technology and development partners in providing services across
innovation includes the ‘HamaraVidhyalaya’ in Namsai sectors, while specialising in one area, much like the
district of Arunachal Pradesh, which is adapted from the convergence model being used for district administration.
HamaraVidhyalaya model developed in Ahmedabad. As
per the initiative, a school prabhari is appointed for each
school in the district to ensure monitoring, performance
assessment, and guidance for the school. As a result of
this initiative, the district witnessed tremendous
improvements in the learning outcomes and overall
teaching practices. Both these initiatives are examples of
successful use of technology and innovation. More
importantly, it is also an example of replication of best
practices across districts, which is a key tenet of the
Aspirational Districts Programme.

Basic Infrastructure:
Although this sector has lesser weightage within the ADP,
it has nevertheless witnessed substantial focus. In fact,
interviews with district officials of remote areas suggested
that basic infrastructure is a priority as it is essential for
improving connectivity in their districts. For instance,
districts such as Bijapur (Chhattisgarh) and Malkangiri
(Odisha) have improved their roadways and infrastructure
projects as an attempt to reduce LWE activities. Other
districts such as Goalpara (Assam) have significantly
improved their roadways in the last 3 years, resulting in an
Agriculture and Water Resources: addition of 234 kms of new roads which coincidently is
Given that most of the rural areas depend on agriculture the same number of roads constructed in last 18 years.
for income, it is no surprise that many districts have been
making considerable efforts to improve services and
infrastructure within this sector. Interviews with district
officials provided a varied range of initiatives being
undertaken. For instance, while districts like Washim have
collaborated with private organisations to develop cost
effective methods of better irrigation and water resources
such as recharge pits, others like Chanduali (Uttar
Pradesh), Simdega (Jharkhand) and Godda (Jharkhand)
have used their unique topographic features to harvest
crops best suited for their regions. Many of these are high
value crops that can be exported or used in different
industries, such as the production of lemongrass in
Godda. Still other districts such as Goalpara in Assam,
have used technology to develop a digital platform,
called ‘Goalmart’ for local producers to sell their products This is a clear indication of the impact of Aspirational
online instead of being confined to physical market Districts in bringing about swift and effective sector wise
spaces. growth. Similarly, the district of Namsai (Arunachal
Pradesh) has achieved 100% household electricity and
However, while district officials may have mentioned an 90% road connectivity under the PMGSY scheme.
impressive set of initiatives, development partners as well Instances such as these, indicate towards the increased
as findings from other studies38 highlight the scope for focus on sectors such as basic infrastructure in remote
further improvement in the sector. An interesting areas, which may have been neglected previously.
suggestion received from development partners was that However, according to district officials the challenges for
the sector of Agriculture and Water sanitation, should be this sector lie with the fact that infrastructure projects
allotted the same amount of weightage as Health and especially for districts with forest reserves require
Education under the ADP. Reason given for this, was that additional approvals and clearance procedures. This was
agriculture directly impacts socio-economic conditions of cited as one of the reasons for delays in a number of
beneficiaries which in-turn, leads to higher investments in projects implemented in the sector. Another potential
education, or increased health and nutrition priorities of challenge is the lack of sufficient technical capacity
households. Another suggestion by development leading to complete reliance on the state for all the

38
Haque, T., & Joshi, P. K. (2018). Comparative analysis of districts in Bihar: agricultural transformation in aspirational districts of India. Economic and Political
Weekly, 53(51).

QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 29

 development work. For districts that may not be In the case of skill development, feedback from
technically strong or lack human resource capacity, this stakeholders points to the lack of supplementary factors
absence of development or CSR partners poses more such as absence of market demand for skills, or lack of
difficulties. suitable employment opportunities at appropriate
industries within a district, despite the training provided.
Financial Inclusion and Skill Development: This results in either migration of residents to bigger cites
in search of skilled job opportunities, or lesser uptake of
the skills training programme due to lack of opportunities.
Therefore, indicators developed for skills training must be
revised to suit the requirements of each district. The
quote below by a previous district commissioner, best
explains this situation:

“Washim is an agrarian district. So, in this district if

we provide training for beauty parlours or IT sector,
there is no industry to support those jobs in the
district. So, for skill development indicators we
need to do much better”

-Former District Commissioner of Washim district39

Among the Aspirational Districts, the sectors of Financial Furthermore, according to stakeholders, sustainable and
Inclusion and Skill Development require more focus. actual improvements in Financial Inclusion (and not just
Although the two sectors comprise only 10% of registration of bank accounts) is linked to socio-economic
weightage under the Aspirational Districts Programme, factors such as low literacy and income levels among
development in these sectors is the need for the future. many rural households, both of which may require
Discussions with Prabhari officers, knowledge partners initiatives that bear fruit only after a few years and not in a
and development partners provided useful insights for period of 2-3 years. Additionally, banking services are
the potential lag in these sectors. One of the chief often sparse in rural and remote areas, which is the case
reasons highlighted for the sectors progressing at a with most Aspirational Districts. More importantly, even if
slower pace has been the lack of dedicated departments these factors are addressed, a crucial reason highlighted
for the two sectors at the district level, unlike in the case by development partners was the general lack of trust
of all other sectors. This implies that activities related to among beneficiaries in availing banking services and the
the two sectors must be coordinated with different lower priority for availing banking services over other
departments within the district, with no one department to services such as healthcare or education.
claim ownership for the responsibilities. This lack of
coordination at the district level has undoubtedly created There is a need for better outreach programmes on
a gap or inconsistency in the provision of services. sectors such as financial inclusion and skills training in
Development partners such as Microsave, mentioned order for it to gain priority among both beneficiaries and
during the interviews that they have tried to resolve this service providers. Development partners such as
issue by appointing dedicated personnel to coordinate Microsave seem to be already implementing such
among the different administrative departments. strategies by providing counselling services on financial
Although the development partner mentioned this has inclusion and establishing a network of bank agents to
been a successful strategy, they also highlighted the create awareness and help in accessing the services.
need for a dedicated department at district level as the Another effective solution could be introducing bespoke
ideal way forward. programmes based on the needs of each district, just as
it has been done in the districts for the sectors of health,
education and agriculture.

5.3. Governance,
Administration and
Capacity building
5.3.1. The 3Cs Approach:
As mentioned earlier, a core ideology of the ADP’s is the
triple approach of Convergence, Competition, and
Collaboration in achieving the targets. Discussion with
different stakeholders presented varied insights into the
merits of these three approaches:

39
While the localized nature of skilling programmes cannot be ignored, skilling schemes – such as Deen Dayal Gramin Kaushal Yojana – are relevant for all
districts across the country and therefore would require homogenous measurement indicators.

30 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

 commissioned by NITI Aayog, but also include local
NGOs and CSO organisations. In addition to the
expertise offered by different organisations, district
administrations especially credited the constant
support received from Aspirational Districts Fellows
(ADFs) for the programme. In fact, a key suggestion
provided by district administrations and development
partners was the appointment of dedicated personnel
like ADFs in each district to support day to day project
implementation activities. Overall, the collaboration
model has potential to be explored further under the
♦ Convergence: Almost all the officials interviewed ADP, as many districts highlighted the need for more
mentioned that the Convergence approach has been partners or Technical Support Unit (TSU) deployed in
one of the positive effects of the ADP. The approach is the district. This finding although consistent among all
said to have bolstered better administration and has districts, is more relevant for those located in remote
helped transition to a synchronised method of working areas as they face larger gaps in human resources
rather than in silos. However, other stakeholders such capacities. In fact, the engagement of development
as development partners, Aspirational District Fellows partners, especially local and smaller CSOs may be a
(ADFs) and United Nations Volunteers (UNVs) working useful method for building capacities among the ADP
in the districts shared a slightly different viewpoint. districts.
Although, these stakeholders acknowledged the
improvements in governance through the Amongst Development Partners, a few of them have
convergence model, they also highlighted that they been outstanding and stand out in terms of the
continue to face difficulties in navigating through the manpower deployed in Aspirational Districts, like
many administrative and bureaucratic processes. This Piramal Foundation deployed its team in 27
Aspirational Districts to support the District
is especially the case for sectors such as Agriculture
Administration in Health, Nutrition, Education and
and Water Resources, as they comprise an
Water Resources Management. Similarly
amalgamation of multiple departments (from
Microsave (through BMGF) placed teams in these
horticulture to animal husbandry) making coordination
Districts for supporting Financial Inclusion. Such
among different departments and approval processes collaborations are unique examples of Public
time consuming. Another aspect which seemed to Private Partnership (PPP) in the area of core
pose minor difficulties for both district officials and governance.
development partners was the mismatch of priorities or
thematic areas of focus set by states and those ♦ Competition: This approach seemed to espouse
mandated by the ADP. This mismatch hinders the mixed opinions from stakeholders. While all
growth for ADPs, as district officials are required to stakeholders were of the belief that competition has
strike a balance between the two. increased districts’ efforts to perform better and
enabled better monitoring mechanisms, it however
For development partners such mismatch often may not be the best approach in assessing
development efforts. This view was consistent among
results in delays for approvals and programme
the different stakeholders - district officials, Prabhari
implementation. Overall, in spite of the issues, all officials, knowledge partners, development partners
stakeholders agreed that the convergence model has and UNVs.
been one of the positive contributions of the ADP and
One of the chief reasons cited for this was that, despite
must be propagated further.
Aspirational Districts being grouped together on the
♦ Collaboration: Although most states stressed on the criteria of lower performance, they nevertheless
success of convergence, collaboration was seen as a comprise districts that differ on geographic, political,
promising approach moving forward. Districts economic and cultural contexts40. These variations
appreciated the collaborative efforts of different may pose several internal challenges such as
development partners in providing sector specific countering LWE conflicts or even geographic or
technical expertise. It should be noted that the list of topographic differences leading to economic or
infrastructural challenges. Other concerns raised were
partners collaborated with do not just include
around excessive reliance on competition and
development partners and knowledge partners

40
While districts are different and state policies also vary, it may be noted that all the KPIs except agriculture are equally relevant in all districts. Furthermore, the
delta ranking mechanism has – so far – calculated ranks on the basis of movement in percent points. This automatically favours the lesser developed districts
as progress from a lower base appears more striking. However, the matter of incorporation of differential contexts is worth consideration for refinement.
41
It is, however, important to note that with the possible exception of law and order, the current indicators nevertheless indicate holistic improvement in districts.

QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 31

 rankings leading to improvements centred only on geographic and socio-political reasons, other potential
indicators being measured instead of achieving reasons could be the employment of successful
sustainable or holistic growth that may be most strategies used by some of best performing districts. For
relevant to the district41. Still others pointed to the instance, a key reason for these significant improvements
possibility of data discrepancies and misreporting in the areas of Healthcare, Education and Agriculture
caused due to excessive competition. Therefore, among some of the best performing districts can be
several stakeholders suggested that competition be attributed to the pre-existing schemes and facilities within
used only to promote monitoring mechanisms and not the sectors, making it possible for the districts to adopt
serve as an indicator of development. the strategy of “achieving the low hanging fruits” first.
Other efficient strategies were constant monitoring and
innovation. The quotes below, from officials of some of
the best performing districts best illustrate this:

Government of India launched the Externally Aided

Programme on Sustainable Development Goals
(EAP-SDG) in 2019 for rapid socio-economic
“We have been following a two pronged strategy: one,
transformation of Aspirational Districts. The
in terms of setting achievable goals, focusing on low
programme is funded by Official Development
hanging fruits, putting in place Data Driven systematic
Assistance (ODA) from Japan International
systemic improvements and the other in terms of Big
Cooperation Agency (JICA) for approximately 15
Bang interventions and innovations”.
billion Yen. The additional allocation under challenge
method is allocated to districts on the basis of rank - District Magistrate, Goalpara (Assam)
declared every month on Champions of Change
Dashboard. The districts which rank 1 and 2 in the “There were a lot of low hanging fruits in the district,
overall ranking get Rs. 10 crores and Rs. 5 crores which we knew existed but could never be prioritised.
respectively and districts ranking first in sectoral The Aspirational Districts Programme has provided a
ranking get Rs. 3 crores each. Organizations such as direction to place focus on the low hanging fruits by
UNDP and ADB are providing technical support to seamlessly incorporating them into to the
districts in formulating proposals for this scheme and programme's indicators especially across the priority
thereby facilitating access to these funds. By sectors of health, nutrition and education which has
November 2020, proposals from approximately 65 enabled us to achieve these indicators with work
districts have been approved under this allocation pending in those which require long term structural
window. This has proven to be a successful strategy changes such as RTI Mechanisms in schools”
in incentivising districts to compete and score more in - Team member of District Magistrate’s Team
the Key Performance Indicators. for Ranchi (Jharkhand)

5.3.2. Targeting the low hanging

fruits:
In addition to sectoral disparities, there exists significant
disparity in strategy adopted by the districts. This is
expected in a federal set up where states have significant
autonomy in policy choices. The KPIs provide an
over-arching but non-prescriptive framework which can
facilitate planning and policy prioritization at the
implementing level. While one of the reasons for the
disparity could be due to the difficulties posed by

32 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

5.3.3. Monitoring and Measurement responsible for their districts’ performance. While this
is an effective strategy to focus the attention of district
Methods: administrations on ADP goals, it is also important to
All stakeholders interviewed strongly agreed that
note that DMs and DOs are tasked with several other
monitoring has helped improve and identify internal
responsibilities. Therefore, this strategy faces the risk
capacities and activities within the districts. In fact, to
of becoming a person-centred approach and poses
quote the District Magistrate of Goalpara, (one of the top
challenges when official appointments are subject to
performing districts) on the topic, “What gets measured,
frequent changes as in the case in India. Hence,
gets done”. Interviews with district officials revealed that
appointing a set of dedicated personnel (such as
constant monitoring and training for measurement
Aspirational District Fellows) or a Technical Support
methods have been key to improving the indicators. Of
Unit within each district was suggested by many
importance is also the focus on trainings provided to
stakeholders as an effective solution to countering
many stakeholders on measurement and data collection
both issues of human resources and moving from a
methods as stakeholders faced confusions ADP
person driven model.
indicators in the initial stages. In fact, the interviews with
the stakeholders highlighted the need for regular training ♦ Flexibility in recruitment policies: Discussions with
sessions, and most importantly the need for dedicated many of the officials highlighted the need for relaxing
personnel for the programme. Many district officials hiring policies so that vacancies can be filled. Officials
mentioned that Aspirational District Fellows have been also suggested the use of better incentives to attract
instrumental in this, providing technical skills and suitable persons for remote districts.
documentation, support for the programme, especially
since district officials are likely to change during the ♦ Learning programmes for administrative officers
course of the entire programme. Given such instances, and ADP fellows: Another important suggestion
having a dedicated office or a set of personnel for the provided by many Prabhari officers and district
ADP was seen as the best way forward. officials was to introduce learning programmes to
share best practices. These could be visits to best
performing districts to learn about the successful
5.3.4. Capacity building: strategies, best practices and methods.
There is no doubt that the ADP programme has helped
districts improve their internal capacities across sectors ♦ Technical skills trainings: Officials expressed need
and departments. In addition to sectoral improvements for technical training requirements at block and district
mentioned earlier in the report, instances of internal levels. Some of the skills mentioned are digitalisation,
capacity building comprise of examples ranging from data analysis, bid writing skills, and coordination at the
training of frontline healthcare workers in using grassroots level. Currently the Aspirational District
appropriate measurement methods, providing schools Fellows and UNVs provide some of the skills, but there
with technology enabled interactive platforms to even is need for further technical expertise and hand
supporting junior administrative officials in using online holding support. In fact, one of the major capacity
project management and data collection tools such as building requirements mentioned was bid/proposal
google forms. Additionally, it even includes providing development, as traditionally this is not a task
support and guidance to district magistrates from executed at the district level.
experienced Prabhari officers to facilitate better planning
and policy implementation. However, despite these Hence, appointing a set of dedicated personnel (such
positive contributions, many districts continue to struggle as Aspirational District Fellows) or a Technical
with insufficient human resources to achieve their full Support Unit within each district was suggested by
potential. This need for capacity building is more many stakeholders as an effective solution to
prominent among districts located in remote and countering both issues of human resources and
challenging areas as they lack connectivity and facilities moving from a person driven model.
common to urban pockets. This, according to many
district officials has been the chief barrier in attracting
suitable human resources leading up to 40% vacant
posts. Therefore, despite the three-pronged approach of 5.4. The role of Champions of
the 3Cs, or successful strategies of achieving the low
hanging fruits, most districts continue to stay
Change (CoC) Dashboard in
incapacitated from achieving their full potential. Some data driven decision making
suggestions received from different stakeholders in
countering this issue are: Data driven decision making has been one of the key
features of the Aspirational Districts Programme, be it for
♦ Dedicated Personnel or unit: The ADP designates
the purpose of competition or self-monitoring activities.
the District Magistrates or District Collectors as directly

QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 33

 The Champions of Change (CoC) dashboard was monthly indicators were entered by many districts in the
developed solely for the purpose of tracking and initial days of the programme. Although the districts have
measuring growth. Qualitative interviews with gained better understanding of the indicators over time,
stakeholders found that most districts use the portal for some errors and misreporting practices are still reported
both data entry (as mandated under the programme), and to exist. A possible solution suggested by stakeholders
also for basic data analysis, as it displays monthly was frequent training programmes on indicators.
progress on the indicators. The district of Ranchi for
Effectiveness of indicators: Among the issues
instance, has developed its own dashboard enabling a
highlighted by stakeholders, some were regarding the
more in-depth data analysis and tracking of indicators at
need for revision of some indicators. Development
the block level. This is yet another example of how the
partners suggested the removal of certain indicators that
ADP has successfully brought in a culture of
have reached saturation for most districts, such as
accountability and transparency among the districts.
“electrification of households”. Revision maybe required
However, this data driven aspect is not without its
for such indicators and new indicators need to be added
disadvantages and stakeholders highlighted a few
to the list. Development partners also highlighted that
features that may need improvement. These are as
there is a need to move from input-based indicators to
follows:
outcome indicators. Within the education sector,
Relevance of Delta rankings: Although most stakeholders suggested the inclusion of indicators on
stakeholders admitted to using the Champions of girl’s education, co-curricular and vocational programmes
Change (CoC) portal, they also mentioned that their as they need to be implemented in aspirational districts,
usage of the portal for data analysis had decreased over and even community engagement in education activities
time. The chief reason cited for this was the frequent and as it is an influencing factor. However, inclusion of such
drastic changes in delta rankings leading to indicators is likely to be affected by practicality and
inconsistencies. This has led to districts developing their availability of data at the district level on frequent intervals.
own platforms for data analysis. In line with this,
Many of the suggestions provided were pertaining to the
stakeholders suggested that updates be monitored
sector of Agriculture and Water resources. For example, it
quarterly or bi-annually rather than on a monthly basis as
was highlighted that micro irrigation indicator has an
very few improvements can be achieved through 30 days
in-built disadvantage for some geographical areas as it is
period.
recorded only for locations where irrigated land is
Data analysis and reporting: In addition to the available. Therefore, it does not present the ground
unpredictability of delta rankings, stakeholders realities. In line with this issue, one of stakeholders
mentioned that discrepancies in data existed due to suggested that the “Ideal denominator should be total
possible misinterpretations or misreporting of indicators. irrigated land in a district, and then the numerator can be
For instance, errors such as annual estimates instead of the micro irrigated land of the district”.

34 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

The Impact of
Aspirational Districts
Programme and
What Sets It Apart

6
 The Impact of Aspirational Districts
Programme and What Sets It Apart
Based on the insights of the different stakeholders, it is regular support from NITI Aayog are beneficial elements
evident that Aspirational Districts Programme has that previous programmes and non-Aspirational Districts
resulted in sectoral growth and improvements in lack. This was especially highlighted by district officials
governance and administration. Discussions with with experience in serving in both ADP and non-ADP
stakeholders illustrate the fact that a key feature that sets districts.
the ADP apart from other development programmes is
the framework it provides to the districts through the More importantly, the programme was launched with the
categorical focus on sectors and a pre-determined set of objective of reducing inter and intra-state disparities and it
indicators to be achieved. District administration officials is on track of achieving it. The unique features of
with experience of serving in both aspirational as well introducing competition, handholding support from the
non-aspirational districts especially highlighted the fact centre and state and collaboration with various agencies
that the set of pre-determined indicators provided by the is proving successful in realising the vision of holistic
programme has helped them focus on specific targets development. This is clearly demonstrated by the
and sectors instead of broad government schemes or Difference-in-Difference methodology adopted in this
new initiatives as in the case of previous programmes. evaluation. When compared with other districts with
Furthermore, a chief finding on the difference between similar socio-economic indicators, aspirational districts
Aspirational and non-Aspirational districts programme have fared much better on all development indicators
has been the political salience given to aspirational since the launch of the programme.
districts. This could be due to the pressures faced by
states and districts to perform well in the ranking system, However, stakeholders such as Prabhari officers and
or simply due to the support provided by different development partners also warned that the momentum
components of the programme. For instance, while gained at the inception of the programme is starting to
certain differences in priorities or focus areas exist among diminish and efforts must be made to motivate the
different states and the aspirational districts, overall it was districts. In fact, as the programme has completed 3 years,
found that the level of political support has increased for it may be advisable to introduce re-training and learning
the districts as states also face the pressure of displaying programmes on best practices among the districts to
better results and do not want their districts to be ranked regain momentum and work towards achieving the
low. Moreover, discussions with district officials revealed remaining targets.
that the appointment of Prabhari officers for districts and

District administration officials with experience of serving in both aspirational as well

non-aspirational districts especially highlighted the fact that the set of pre-determined indicators
provided by the programme has helped them focus on specific targets and sectors instead of broad
government schemes or new programmes as in the case of previous initiatives.

36 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

Recommendations
for the Way Forward:
countering the
existing gaps and
challenges

7
 Recommendations for the Way Forward:
countering the existing gaps and
challenges
While it is evident that the ADP has positively impacted addressed. While some of the challenges have been
the development targets, it should be noted that there mentioned in the sections above, this section provides
are still some challenges and issues that need to be a compilation of the challenges.

While the Aspirational districts programme has helped strengthen

Disparities crucial Healthcare and Education sectors, those with lesser weightage
among
sectors need significant focus and improvement. A realignment of sectors and
focus is therefore required.
As mentioned earlier, one of the disadvantages of the Aspirational
Districts has been the disparities among districts which does not facilitate
Disparities fair competition and comparisons. In order to counter these issues,
among districts could be further grouped together based on their common
districts
characteristics and be supported accordingly.
The commencement of ADP brought with it few challenges relating to
monitoring and data collection, one of which is the discrepancy in data
collected and recorded. Discussions with different stakeholders have
Data
discrepancies highlighted the need for revising indicators, as well as reduced focus on
and a competitive approach, as they are likely to result in misreporting of data
adverse effects
of competition by districts. Apart from this there is also the need for further trainings and
learning programmes.

One of the major issues highlighted across the districts irrespective of

performance has been the lack of human resources and technical
capacities at the district and block level. Even though districts have been
provided support from the Prabhari officers and NITI Aayog, there is a
need for capacity building at the grassroots level. This can be resolved
Lack of by providing districts with dedicated personnel such as Aspirational
human
resources District Fellows or representatives of the programme. This would bring in
additional accountability and ownership for the programme, while also
providing support to DMs and DOs, as they are already tasked with
several responsibilities. Adopting more flexible methods of the hiring
was also suggested as potential solution for improving capacities.
Given the disparities in sectors, districts and also capacities, furthering
collaboration with different organisations may provide the immediate
Scope
for and required support to districts. This can especially be provided for
collaboration districts located in remote and challenging areas.

A useful suggestion from the Aspirational District Fellows (ADFs) who

work closely with the programme was to include additional sectors or
themes cantered around key topics of environment and gender. This,
Addition
of sectors according to the stakeholders, should not just be targeted for the
or themes beneficiaries of the programmes, but also integrated within the
governance model as indicators of inclusive and sustainable growth.

38 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

Best
Practices

8
 Best Practices

8.1. Health and Nutrition

Much of the work undertaken under the Aspirational
districts programme has been focused on the Healthcare
and Nutrition sector. Initiatives range from improving
infrastructure at Anganwadi centers to ensuring the
availability of ambulance services in remote areas,
designating specific days for work on VHSND (Village
Health Sanitation and Nutrition Day) or ensuring an
increase in institutional deliveries. Some districts have
even developed apps for tracking progress in the
nutrition sector. The best practices listed in this report are
the final phase of testing, malaria incidences in Bijapur
only a selected few and the ones that show potential for
had been reported to reduce by 71.3% and 54% in
scalability and replicability. There are other initiatives as
Dantewada.
well which have performed well.
2. Model Anganwadis for holistic child development --
1. Ensuring community well-being though the
West Singhbhum district (Jharkhand)
‘Malaria Mukt Bastar Abhiyan’ - Bijapur and
Dantewada districts (Chhattisgarh)
While several Anganwadis among the Aspirational
Given that approximately 72% of all malaria cases districts have seen improvement under the
in the country are diagnosed in the Bastar region, programme, the district of West Singhbhum was
this large-scale project and its successful among the first to focus on the improvement of
implementation was mentioned during two of our Anganwadis for health and nutrition activities of
interviews children and mothers. One of the key elements of this
has been training of Anganwadi Sevikas (staff) which
The Malaria Mukt Bastar Abhiyan is a program
included an 80-hour training module regarding holistic
implemented by the National Health Mission and development of each and every child44. Salaries of
covers all the districts of Bastar, Kanker and staff were also increased to serve as an incentive.
Kondagaon regions. Given that approximately 72% of Currently, 650 anganwadi centres have been
all malaria cases in the country are diagnosed in the improved in the West Singhbhum district and include
Bastar region42, this large-scale project and its features such as a mobile science laboratory, digital
successful implementation was mentioned during our literacy, digital literacy workshops and increased
interviews with two districts’ DMs – Bijapur and number of healthcare centres. Students have also
Dantewada. It should be noted that both Bijapur and been provided with textbooks stationery, learning toys
Dantewada are located in remote areas and are and classroom accessories. The goal of the initiative is
severely affected by Left Wing Extremist (LWE) to reach 1000 Anaganwadis.
activities. Needless to say, such factors make
programme implementation more challenging,
especially if using door to door campaigning as
required under the programme. However, despite
these challenges and the Covid-19 pandemic, health
workers covered 100% of the area, which involves
6,000 villages to conduct malaria tests. As
asymptomatic malaria is known to cause anaemia and
malnutrition, testing is a crucial method for early
diagnosis and treatment. As a result of the
programme, the region saw a 65% year-on-year
decline in the total cases of malaria recorded43, and by

42
Figures citied by Health Department in article by ANI, January 2020. https://www.aninews.in/news/national/general-news/malaria-prevention-to-help-in-
alleviation-of-malnutrition-anaemia-bhupesh-baghel20200125230939/
43
Article in The Print, titled ‘While Covid raged, Chhattisgarh covered over 6,000 villages under ‘Malaria MuktBastar’ project’, November 2020.
44
Article in The New Indian Express on 3rd May 2020 ,titled, ‘This Jharkhand man is changing the face of primary education with innovative ideas’.

40 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

 key features of the Aspirational district programme
3. Tracking nutrition outcomes through the Poshan itself, i.e. use of a dashboard to constantly monitor
App - Ranchi district (Jharkhand) progress among the schools, provide regular
mentoring for schools by an appointed school
While many districts have focussed on improving their Prabhari officer and rank schools based on their
anaganwadi centres under the Poshan Abhiyan, the performance. Using monitoring and mentoring, the
district of Ranchi has been a step ahead. The Poshan program aimed to improve teacher and student
App was introduced in Ranchi with the aim of absenteeism, increase parent’s engagement in school
optimizing the resources at Malnourishment management meetings, and encourage students by
Treatment Centres (MTCs). Keeping with the identifying good performers for School Olympiad to
Aspirational district programme’s ideology of be conducted at block level and district level.
monitoring progress, the Poshan App is a
comprehensive real-time data analytics digital Moreover, the program makes use of an online
platform which monitors the bed occupancy, child platform, named “Yathasarvam”, developed by
growth charts and the inventory of each and every technology partner–Eckovation, and is linked to a
MTC centre in the district. This app also tracks the Mobile app for data entry pertaining to assessment
attendance of the MTC staff and doctors’ visits are also data, attendance of teachers & students, and the
tagged to the MTCs. The introduction of the app has learning outcome marks by the School Prabhari on a
led to the bed occupancy levels increasing over 90% quarterly basis during the “Hamara Vidyalaya Week”.
at healthcare centres, and the inventory being tracked The data is then automatically analysed by the
and managed better. platform and brief reports generated on each criterion,
Keeping with the ADP’s approach of monitoring similar to the Champions of Change dashboard.
progress, the Poshan App is a comprehensive real-time
data analytics digital platform which monitors the bed 2. Improving education through interactive learning
occupancy, child growth charts, and the inventory of methods by GyanodayaGodda App - Godda district
each and every MTC centre (Jharkhand)

The key belief of the programme is that teaching alone

is not sufficient to ensure that students have grasped
8.2. Education the concept, hence teaching must be supplemented
with assessments and feedback to improve learning
outcomes.
While the Healthcare sector may have seen an increase
in the number of success stories, it is the education sector
where the most innovative practices have been
implemented. Districts have improved their performance
in this sector by utilizing both technology and monitoring
methods. Examples of the most innovative practices are
mentioned below:

With key features like a dashboard to constantly

monitor schools’ progress, the Hamara Vidyalaya
Program comprises all the features of the ADP, and in
a way, is the implementation of the ADP programme
itself within the education sector of the district.

1. Encouraging better school performance through

Hamara Vidyalaya Programmme - Namsai District Inspired by the Unnayan Banka Project in Bihar, the
(Arunachal Pradesh) district administration of Godda implemented the
The Hamara Vidyalaya Programme of the Namsai Gyanodaya Project in the District of Godda to improve
district in Arunachal Pradesh has been a game the quality of education. The App provides an
changer programme for a district that was previously attractive digital learning platform as per Jharkhand
plagued with huge school infrastructure gap, high Academic Council (JAC) Board syllabus for grades 6 to
dropout rates amongst the lowest socio-economic 12. It also involves audio-visual lessons with animated
groups, high teacher absenteeism, low and contextualized lectures followed by daily
parent-teacher coordination and ranked amongst the assessments to provide quality education. This was
lowest three performing districts in learning outcomes undertaken to increase students’ access to education
according to NAS. Recognizing these issues, the material, as well as improve the performance of
district administration initiated this programme with students. The key belief of the programme is that

BEST PRACTICES 41
 teaching alone is not sufficient to ensure that students well. The district administration with support from
have grasped the concept well, and hence it must be private foundation, Thinkerbell labs installed the first
supplemented with assessments and feedback to smart class for the visually impaired at the
improve learning outcomes. As a result, daily Government School for visually impaired in Ranchi city.
assessments are completed by students to gain The initiative utilised the District Innovation Fund, and
feedback on improving their learning gap. In fact, since the installation it has seen a drastic rise in the
based on the data points generated by the App, learning outcomes of students in the school as it
students are provided with AI based enabled Class 5 students to also write in Braille, which
recommendations to help them strengthen their weak was previously taught only to Class 10 students. The
topics. The AI built into the app analyses each braille devices installed are enabled with both Hindi
student’s performance while mapping it to the course and English as the medium of instruction and also
curriculum and also benchmarking it with not just that comes with gamified content for students’
district, but with the country wide data on the same self-learning.
curriculum. Further, the AI system generates unique
actionable feedback for each and every student. 8.3. Agriculture and
Currently the app caters to over 70,000 students
across 260 schools for Maths, Science, Social Science Water Resources
and Linguistic subjects. The programme also involves
Agriculture and Water resources is a sector that is fast
“The Gyanodaya Rath” which identifies 200 best
gaining importance among the Aspirational districts.
performing girls and boys from 10th grade in the
Innovative practices and initiatives among ADs range
district. These students are provided with residential
from improving irrigation facilities, farmer education, and
school facilities and additional preparatory classes in
to improving yield. Among the many practices mentioned
the last two months leading to the 10th grade board
by the stakeholders, this report has highlighted case
examinations.
studies from districts have adopted specific initiatives to
counter their challenges or improve on their strengths.
3. ANNIE Smart Classes for visually impaired
Although these initiatives may be too specific to a region
students– Ranchi district (Jharkhand)
to replicate or scale up among other aspirational districts,
While most districts have focused on improving their
they must nevertheless be applauded for their innovation.

1. Promoting local products through e-commerce

portal - Goalpara district (Assam)

The GoalMart initiative is an e-commerce portal

introduced to promote ethnic and agrarian
products of the district in the national and global
markets.

learning outcomes, teaching methods or infrastructure

facilities in schools, the district of Ranchi adopted a
Similar to the technological initiatives in the education
truly inclusive approach by focusing on improving the
and healthcare sectors, the GoalMart initiative is an
quality of education for differently abled students as
e-commerce portal set up by the district administration

42 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

 of Goalpara in Assam. The GoalMart initiative was returns for farmers, the district encouraged farmers to
introduced to promote rural, ethnic and agrarian produce high quality black rice as it provides high
products of the district and to provide a platform for profits. Black rice as such is not native to the area and
farmers and retailers to venture into the national and is actually produced in high quantities in Manipur.
global markets. The aim is to boost economic growth However, given the increasing demand for the
of the district. The initiative has been particularly product in the global markets, the district
helpful in Covid 19 times as it relieves the farmers and administration promoted the product among a small
retailers from being dependent on a physical group of 300 farmers. According to district officials
marketplace to sell their products and instead interviewed, per kg of the product is priced at
increase their reach throughout the country or approximately INR 200, which is double that of normal
globally. For instance, Goalpara is one of the districts rice sold in the local markets. With the success of the
producing black rice, which is profitable and in high initiative, high quality black rice produced in the district
demand for exporting in the international market. is now ready to be exported to Australia and New
While the GoalMart initiative is gaining popularity, it is Zealand and will soon be exported to other countries
definitely a step in the right direction to improve as well.
access to agricultural markets and opportunities within
the district.
8.4. Basic Infrastructure
2. Improving irrigation facilities through recharge pits Although Basic Infrastructure comprises only 10%
- Washim district (Maharashtra) weightage in the ADP, it is nevertheless a crucial facilitator
of development in the districts, and one which is
Although the concept of recharge pits is not new, it interlinked to all other sectors. Best practices in this sector
is a noteworthy initiative in the case of Washim as it range from improving connectivity for socio-economic
optimizes the use of resources. activities to even ensuring security and safety within the
district. The examples mentioned in this report highlight
As part of improving irrigation facilities and water these aspects.
conservation efforts, the district administration of
Washim in collaboration with private partners 1. Utilization of green technologies for better
employed a large number of recharge pits in the connectivity – Goalpara district (Assam)
district. A ‘recharge pit’ is a closed well like structure,
covered by stones and other material when land is The initiative is both unique and environmentally
dug to make pits. Although the concept of recharge friendly as it is an example of how single use
pits is not new, it is a noteworthy initiative in the case of plastic waste can be recycled and used for major
Washim as it optimizes the use of resources. An productive endeavors such as building roads.
increase in infrastructure development, especially
construction of roadways and highways in the district The Goalpara district of Assam has many far-flung
led to the opportunity to create recharge pits as a places comprising both plains and some areas of
suitable option for water conservation. The initiative undulating terrain along the Assam Meghalaya
has proved to be of low cost as well, with foothills where rural road connectivity has always
approximately INR 30,000 per structure as they were been an issue for the public as well as administration.
constructed by private partners already engaged in In line with this concern the green technologies
infrastructure development. Given the issues of water initiative is a one-of-a-kind initiative by the district
scarcity and cost of developing irrigation facilities, the administration of Goalpara to improve basic
concept of recharge pits is proving to be an effective infrastructure by using plastic waste and eco-friendly
solution for the district. methods for the construction work. The initiative is
both unique and environmentally friendly as it is an
3. Enhancing agricultural productivity through high example of how single use plastic waste can be
profit products - Chandauli district (Uttar Pradesh) recycled and used for productive endeavors such as
building roads. Along with using recycled plastic
With the success of the initiative, high quality black technology, the initiative made use of green
rice produced in the district is now ready to be technologies such as cell filled concrete technology,
exported to Australia and New Zealand; therefore, geogrid technology, interlocking concrete pavement
bringing in double the profit gained from normal blocks, and cold mix technology. In addition to
rice production. reducing environment pollution, the initiative is also
The district of Chanduali is known as the ‘rice bowl’ of said to reduce the cost of the construction. In fact,
eastern Uttar Pradesh and has a large section of the Goalpara was the first district in India to construct a
population dependent on agriculture for their ‘green road’ and has constructed over 183 kms of
livelihood. Therefore, in order to improve agricultural roads built under environment friendly technology
45
Government of Goalpara, 2019. ‘Implementation of Green Technologies in Road Construction in Goalpara, Assam’

BEST PRACTICES 43
 antenatal Care to Immunization activities. The cell was
operationalised using the Innovation Fund under
National Health Mission. The NHM provides the BPO a
list of pregnant women to reach out to for sensitising
them on healthy dietary practice, health check-ups,
precautions etc. On an average 50 calls are made
every day to the pregnant women. In addition, calls
are made to the frontline healthcare workers such as
Anganwadi Workers, ANM, and PRI representatives to
check for any challenges. The BPO cell also
coordinates between the different institutions and
beneficiaries for improving institutional delivery and
care, ensuring high risk cases are given special
attention such as counselling on delivery and early
over the last three years thus providing 433 numbers childcare, breast feeding etc. In cases where
of habitations with access to all weather roads since emergency referral transportation is required, the call
April 201845. The roads have been built under the centre also coordinates with ambulance services.
scheme State-Owned Priority Development (SOPD), a More recently, the BPO was helpful in providing
part of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana information and surveillance for during the COVID-19
(PMGSY) program. pandemic as well. The district plans to expand these
services for other sectors as well, such as education.
8.5. Skill Development and 2. Engagement of community members to improve
Financial Inclusion financial inclusion - Ranchi district (Jharkhand)

1. Providing skill development and community

outreach through the YuvaBPO - Dantewada district
(Chhattisgarh)

The Yuva BPO is noteworthy for its multi-pronged

approach of providing skill development and
employment opportunities for the youth, as well as
ensuring community engagement and outreach
activities for crucial issues pertaining to health and
well-being.

Dantewada district in Bastar Division of Chhattisgarh is

a district rich in natural resources and cultural diversity.
However, it is also a remote district affected by Left The initiative found that rural beneficiaries
Wing Extremism activities, and not a location that one preferred Bank Sakhis to address their banking
would expect to find a BPO centre. However, the Yuva queries, due to their existing interpersonal
BPO initiative which provides skill development and relationships in rural areas and due to the local
employment opportunities for the youth in the district language.
and also nearby districts is an outstanding initiative for
its multi-pronged approach in countering several
In order to promote financial inclusion and financial
challenges. While the initiative directly bridges the
literacy among rural households, the district
gaps of skill development and employment for the
administration of Ranchi deployed women SHGs as
youth, it is also a good means to prevent youth
‘Bank Sakhis’, or banking correspondents. The aim of
engagement in LWE activities. However, the most
the initiative was to promote financial literacy. As part
notable feature of the BPO is its role of information
of the initiative, a Bank Sakhi is placed at a rural bank
dissemination on health issues or community
branch to assist the local population with their banking
outreach activities.
requirements and while also educating them on
various aspects of banking. The initiative found that
A key component of the BPO is undertaking
rural beneficiaries preferred Bank Sakhis to address
healthcare related outreach activities on behalf of the
their banking queries, due to their existing
district administration. Currently the BPO houses a
interpersonal relationships in rural areas and use of
separate cell of executives trained to provide
the local language. The Bank Sakhis conduct regular
information on maternal health services such as
evening classes in their villages on financial literacy
institutional delivery facilities within the district,
and on digital banking. The SHGs have conducted

44 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

 various drives in the village, teaching rural citizens on similar challenges it is not expected that districts reinvent
the use of UPI and the Bhim App. Rural Women SHGs the wheel, rather they learn from each other and find
have been deployed as banking correspondents in solutions to common problems. Some of these practices
specifically those villages where banking systems are so efficient in achieving their goals, they can be
were unable to penetrate effectively. scaled not just in aspirational but other (non-aspirational)
districts as well. Dissemination of such practices can also
8.6. Scalability happen through international forums like High Level
Political Forum (HLPF) of the United Nations as innovative
Aspirational Districts Programme aims to promote the approach for local area development in developing
model of cooperative federalism and sharing of best countries.
practices and its subsequent replication by other districts
form the basis of it. Since these districts are plagued with

Some of these practices are so efficient in achieving their goals, they can be scaled not just in aspirational but other
(non-aspirational) districts as well.

BEST PRACTICES 45
 Appendix

Table A.1 Data Points Used for Net Resilience index

Note:
• Data points marked with asterisks (*) have been omitted from the index. These include price related
indicators in agriculture and caste-subdivision in skill development indicators. These may vary
substantially between districts and distort the analysis due to district level idiosyncrasies.

Sector Total Indicators Type of 2018 (67) 2020 (68)

(87) Indicator
Agriculture 1.1) Percentage Positive 1.1. Percentage 1.1. Percentage of area under
of area under of area under micro-irrigation
micro-irrigation micro-irrigation

Agriculture 1.2) No. of water Positive 1.2. No. of water 1.2. No. of water bodies
bodies bodies rejuvenated under MGNREGA
rejuvenated rejuvenated during this period
under MGNREGA under MGNREGA
during this period during this period

Agriculture 10) Number of Positive 10. Number of 10. Number of Soil Health
Soil Health Cards Soil Health Cards distributed
distributed Cards distributed

Agriculture 2.1) Crop Positive 2.1. Crop Data not available in March
Insurance- Insurance- 2020
Kharif: Kharif:
Percentage of net Percentage of net
sown area under sown area under
Pradhan Mantri Pradhan Mantri
Fasal Bima Fasal Bima
Yojana (PMFBY) Yojana (PMFBY)

Agriculture 2.2) Crop Positive Data not 2.2. Crop Insurance Rabi:
Insurance Rabi: available in Percentage of net sown area in
Percentage of net March-Dec 2018 Rabi under Pradhan Mantri
sown area in Rabi Fasal BimaYojana (PMFBY)
under Pradhan
Mantri Fasal
Bima Yojana
(PMFBY)

Agriculture 3.1) Percentage Positive 3.1. Percentage 3.1. Percentage increase in

increase in increase in agricultural credit
agricultural credit agricultural credit

Agriculture 3.2) Certified Positive 3.2. Certified 3.2. Certified quality seed
quality seed quality seed distribution
distribution distribution

Agriculture 4) Number of Positive 4. Number of 4. Number of Mandis in the

Mandis in the Mandis in the District linked to Electronic
District linked to District linked to Market
Electronic Market Electronic Market

Agriculture* 5.1) Wheat: Positive 5.1. Wheat: 5.1. Wheat: Percentage change
Percentage Percentage in Price Realization (defined as

46 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

 change in Price change in Price the difference between Farm
Realization Realization Harvest Price (FHP) and
(defined as the (defined as the Minimum Support Price
difference difference (MSP))
between Farm between Farm
Harvest Price Harvest Price
(FHP) and (FHP) and
Minimum Minimum
Support Price Support Price
(MSP)) (MSP))

Agriculture* 5.2) Paddy Positive 5.2. Paddy 5.2. Paddy (Common):

(Common): (Common): Percentage change in Price
Percentage Percentage Realization (defined as the
change in Price change in Price difference between Farm
Realization Realization Harvest Price (FHP) and
(defined as the (defined as the Minimum Support Price
difference difference (MSP))
between Farm between Farm
Harvest Price Harv est Price
(FHP) and (FHP) and
Minimum Minimum
Support Price Support Price
(MSP)) (MSP))

Agriculture* 5.3) Paddy Positive 5.3. Paddy 5.3. Paddy (Grade A):
(Grade A): (Grade A): Percentage change in Price
Percentage Percentage Realization (defined as the
change in Price change in Price difference between Farm
Realization Realization Harvest Price (FHP) and
(defined as the (defined as the Minimum Support Price
difference difference (MSP))
between Farm between Farm
Harvest Price Harvest Price
(FHP) and (FHP) and
Minimum Minimu m
Support Price Support Price
(MSP)) (MSP))

Agriculture 6) Percentage Positive Data not 6. Percentage share of high

share of high available in value crops to total sown area
value crops to March-Dec 2018 in district
total sown area in
district

Agriculture 7.1) Agricultural Positive 7.1. Agricultural Data not available in March
productivity of productivity of 2020
Major Crop1 in Major Crop1 in
Kharif Kharif

Agriculture 7.2) Agricultural Positive 7.2. Agricultural Data not available in March
productivity of productivity of 2020
Major Crop2 in Major Crop2 in
Kharif Kharif
Agriculture 7.3) Agricultural Positive Data not 7.3. Agricultural productivity of
productivity of available in Major Crop1 in Rabi
Major Crop1 in March -Dec 2018
Rabi

APPENDIX 47
 Agriculture 7.4) Agricultural Positive Data not 7.4. Agricultural productivity of
productivity of available in Major Crop2 in Rabi
Major Crop2 in March-Dec 2018
Rabi
Agriculture 8) Percentage of Positive 8. Percentage of 8. Percentage of animals
animals animals vaccinated
vaccinated vaccinated
Agriculture 9) Artificial Positive 9. Artificial 9. Artificial insemination
insemination insemination coverage
coverage coverage
1) Percentage of Positive 1. Percentage of Data not available in March
Basic households with households with 2020
Infrastructure electricity electricity
connection connection
Basic 2) Percentage of Positive 2. Percentage of 2. Percentage of gram
Infrastructure gram panchayats gram panchayats panchayats with internet
with internet with internet connection
connection connection
Basic 3.1) Percentage Positive 3.1. Percentage 3.1. Percentage of habitations
Infrastructure of habitations of habitations with access to all weather roads
with access to all with access to all under PMGSY
weather roads weather roads
under PMGSY under PMGSY
Basic 3.2) Cumulative Positive 3.2. Cumulative 3.2. Cumulative number of
Infrastructure number of number of kilometers of all-weather road
kilometers of all- kilometers of all- work completed as a
weather road weather road percentage of total sanctioned
work completed work completed kilometers in the district under
as a percentage of as a percentage PMGSY
total sanctioned of total sanctioned
kilometers in the kilometers in the
district under district under
PMGSY
PMGSY

Basic 4) Percentage of Positive 4. Percentage of 4. Percentage of households

Infrastructure households with households with with individual household
individual individual latrines
household latrines household latrines
Basic 5) Percentage of Positive 5. Percentage of 5. Percentage of rural
Infrastructure rural habitations rural habitations habitations with access to
with access to with access to adequate quantity of potable
adequate quantity adequate quantity water (40 lpcd) drinking water
of potable water of potable water
(40 lpcd) drinking (40 lpcd) drinking
water
water

Basic 6) Percentage Positive 6. Percentage 6. Percentage coverage of

Infrastructure coverage of coverage of establishment of Common
establishment of establishment of Service Centres at Gram
Common Service Common Service Panchayat level
Centres at Gram Centres at Gram
Panchayat level Panchayat level
Basic 7) Percentage of Positive 7. Percentage of 7. Percentage of pucca houses
Infrastructure pucca houses pucca houses constructed for households

48 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

 constructed for constructed for that are shelterless or have one
households that households that roo m with kuchha wall and
are shelterless or are shelterless or roof or have 2 rooms with
have one room have one room kuchha wall and roof
with kuchha wall with kuchha wall
and roof or have and roof or have
2 rooms with 2 rooms with
kuchha wall and kuchha wall and
roof roof

Education 1.1) Transition Positive 1.1. Transition Data not available in March
rate from primary rate from primary 2020
to upper primary to upper primary
school level school level

Education 1.2) Transition Positive 1.2. Transition Data not available in March
rate from upper rate from upper 2020
primary to primary to
secondary school secondary school
level level

Education 2) Toilet access: Positive 2. Toilet access: 2. Toilet access: percentage

percentage percentage schools with functional girls’
schools with schools with toilets
functional girls’ functional girls’
toilets toilets
Education 3.1) Mathematics Positive Data not Data not available in March
performance in available in 2020
class 3 March-Dec 2018
Education 3.2) Language Positive Data not Data not available in March
performance in available in 2020
class 3 March-Dec 2018
Education 3.3) Mathematics Positive Data not Data not available in March
performance in available in 2020
class 5 March-Dec 2018
Education 3.4) Language Positive Data not Data not available in March
performance in available in 2020
class 5 March-Dec 2018
Education 3.5) Mathematics Positive Data not Data not available in March
performance in available in 2020
class 8 March-Dec 2018
Education 3.6) Language Positive Data not Data not available in March
performance in available in 2020
class 8 March-Dec 2018
Education 4) Female literacy Positive Data not Data not available in March
rate (15+ age available in 2020
group) March-Dec 2018
Education 5) Percentage of Positive 5. Percentage of 5. Percentage of schools with
schools with schools with functional drinking water
functional functional facility
drinking water drinking water
facility facility
Education 6) Percentage of Positive 6. Percentage of 6. Percentage of schools with
schools with schools with functional electricity facility at
functional functional secondary level
electricity facility electricity facility
at secondary level at secondary level

APPENDIX 49
 Education 7) Percentage of Positive 7. Percentage of 7. Percentage of elementary
elementary elementary schools complying with RTE
schools complying schools complying specified Pupil Teacher Ratio
with RTE specified with RTE specified
Pupil Teacher Pupil Teacher
Ratio Ratio

Education 8) Percentage of Positive 8. Percentage of 8. Percentage of schools

schools providing schools providing providing textbooks to children
textbooks to textbooks to within 1 month of start of
children within 1 children within 1 academic session
month of start of month of start of
academic session academic session

Financial 1) Total Positive Data not 1. Total disbursement of Mudra

Inclusion disbursement of available in loan (in Crore rupees) per 1
Mudra loan (in March -Dec 2018 lakh population
Crore rupees) per
1 lakh population

Financial 2) Pradhan Positive 2. Pradhan 2. Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti

Inclusion Mantri Jeevan Mantri Jeevan Bima Yojana (PMJJBY):
Jyoti Bima Jyoti Bima number of enrolments per 1
Yojana Yojana lakh population
(PMJJBY): (PMJJBY):
number of number of
enrolments per 1 enrolments per 1
lakh population lakh population

Financial 3) Pradhan Positive 3. Pradhan 3. Pradhan Mantri Suraksha

Inclusion Mantri Suraksha Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY):
Bima Yojana Bima Yojana number of enrolments per 1
(PMSBY): (PMSBY): lakh population
number of number of
enrolments per 1 enrolments per 1
lakh population lakh population

Financial 4) Atal Pension Positive 4. Atal Pension 4. Atal Pension Yojana (APY):
Inclusion Yojana (APY): Yojana (APY): number of beneficiaries per 1
number of number of lakh population
beneficiaries per beneficiaries per
1 lakh population 1 lakh population

Financial 5) Percentage of Positive 5. Percentage of 5. Percentage of accounts

Inclusion accounts seeded accounts seeded seeded with Aadhaar to total
with Aadhaar to with Aadhaar to bank accounts
total bank total bank
accounts accounts
Financial 6) Number of Positive 6. Number of 6. Number of accounts opened
Inclusion accounts opened accounts opened under Pradhan Mantri Jan
under Pradhan under Pradhan Dhan Yojana per 1 Lakh
Ma ntri Jan Dhan Mantri Jan Dhan population
Yojana per 1 Yojana per 1
Lakh population Lakh population

Health and 1.1) Percentage Positive Data not 1.1. Percentage of pregnant
Nutrition of pregnant available in women receiving 4 or more
women receiving March-Dec 2018 antenatal care check-ups to the

50 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

 4 or more total no. of pregnant women
antenatal care registered for antenatal care
check-ups to the
total no. of
pregnant women
registered for
antenatal care
Health and 1.2) Percentage Positive 1.2. Percentage 1.2. Percentage of ANC
Nutrition of ANC of ANC registered within the first
registered within registered within trimester against Total ANC
the first trimester the first trimester Registration
against Total against Total
ANC Registration ANC Registration
Health and 1.3) Percentage Positive 1.3. Percentage 1.3. Percentage of pregnant
Nutrition of pregnant of pregnant women (PWs) registered for
women (PWs) women (PWs) ANCs to total estimated
registered for registered for pregnancies
ANCs to total ANCs to total
estimated estimated
pregnancies pregnancies
Health and 10.1) Percentage Positive Data not Data not available in March
Nutrition of Breastfeeding available in 2020
children receiving March-Dec 2018
adequate diet
(6-23 months)

Health and 10.2) Non- Positive Data not Data not available in March
Nutrition breastfeeding available in 2020
children receiving March-Dec 2018
adequate diet-
(6-23 months)

Health and 11) Percentage of Positive 11. Percentage of 11. Percentage of children fully
Nutrition children fully children fully immunized (9-11 -months)
immunized (9-11 immunized (BCG+ DPT3 + OPV3 +
months) (BCG+ 9-11 months) (BCG+ Measles1)
DPT3 + OPV3 DPT3 + OPV3
+ Measles1) + Measles1)
Health and 12.1) Positive 12.1. 12.1. Tuberculosis (TB) case
Nutrition Tuberculosis Tuberculosis notification rate (Public and
(TB) case (TB) case Private Institutions) as against
notification rate notification rate estimated cases
(Public and (Public and
Private Private
Institutions) as Institutions) as
against estimated against estimated
cases cases
Health and 12.2. TB Positive 12.2. TB 12.2. TB treatment success rate
Nutrition treatment success treatment success among notified TB patients
rate among rate among (public and private)
notified TB notified TB
patients (public patients (public
and private) and private)

Health and 13.1) Proportion Positive 13.1. Proportion 13.1. Proportion of of sub-
Nutrition of sub- of sub- centers/PHCs converted into

APPENDIX 51
 centers/PHCs centers/PHCs Health & Wellness Centers
converted into converted into (HWCs)
Health & Health &
Wellness Centers Wellness Centers
(HWCs) (HWCs)

Health and 13.2) Percentage Positive 13.2. Percentage 13.2. Percentage of Primary
Nutrition of Primary of Primary Health Centers compliant to
Health Centers Health Centers Indian Public Health Standards
compliant to compliant to
Indian Public Indian Public
Health Standards Health Standards

Health and 13.3) Proportion Positive 13.3. Proportion 13.3. Proportion of functional
Nutrition of functional of functional FRUs (First Referral Units)
FRUs (First FRUs (First against the norm of 1 per
Referral Units) Referral Units) 500,000 population (1 per
against the norm against the norm 300,000 in hilly areas)
of 1 per 500,000 of 1 per 500,000
population (1 per population (1 per
300,000 in hilly 300,000 in hilly
areas) areas)

Health and 13.4) Proportion Positive 13.4. Proportion 13.4. Proportion of specialist
Nutrition of specialist of specialist services available in district
services available services available hospitals against IPHS norms
in district in district
hospitals against hospitals against
IPHS norms IPHS norms

Health and 13.5) Percentage Positive 13.5. Percentage 13.5. Percentage of

Nutrition of of Anganwadis/UPHCs reported
Anganwadis/UP Anganwadis/UP to have conducted at least one
HCs reported to HCs reported to Village Health Sanitation &
have conducted have conducted Nutrition day / Urban Health
at least one at least one Sanitation & Nutrition day
Village Health Village Health outreach in the last one month
Sanitation & Sanitation &
Nutrition day / Nutrition day /
Urban Health Urban Health
Sanitation & Sanitation &
Nutrition day Nutrition day
outreach in the outreach in the
last one month last one month

Health and 13.6) Proportion Positive 13.6. Proportion 13.6. Proportion of

Nutrition of Anganwadis of Anganwadis Anganwadis with own
with own with own buildings
buildings buildings

Health and 13.7) Percentage Positive 13.7. Percentage 13.7. Percentage of First
Nutrition of First Referral of First Referral Referral Units (FRU) with
Units (FRU) with Units (FRU) labour rooms and obstetrics
labour rooms and with labour OT NQAS certified (meet
obstetrics OT rooms and LaQShyaquidelines)
NQAS certified obstetrics OT
(meet NQAS certified
LaQShyaquidelin (meet
es) LaQShyaquidelin
es)

52 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

Health and 2) Percentage of Positive 2. Percentage of 2. Percentage of pregnant
Nutrition pregnant women pregnant women women regularly taking
regularly taking regularly taking Supplementary Nutrition under
Supplementary Supplementary the ICDS programme
Nutrition under Nutrition under
the ICDS the ICDS
programme programme
Health and 3.1) Percentage Positive 3.1. Percentage 3.1. Percentage of Pregnant
Nutrition of Pregnant of Pregnant women having severe anemia
women having women having treated, against PW having
severe anemia severe anemia severe anemia tested cases
treated, against tr eated, against
PW having severe PW having
anemia tested severe anemia
cases tested cases
Health and 3.2) Percentage Positive Data not 3.2. Percentage of pregnant
Nutrition of pregnant available in women tested for Hemoglobin
women tested for March-Dec 2018 4 or more times in respective
Hemoglobin 4 or ANCs to total ANC
more times in registration
respective ANCs
to total ANC
registration
Health and 4.1) Sex Ratio at Positive 4.1. Sex Ratio at 4.1. Sex Ratio at birth
Nutrition birth birth
Health and 4.2) Percentage Positive 4.2. Percentage 4.2. Percentage of institutional
Nutrition of institutional of institutional deliveries to total estimated
deliveries to total deliveries to total deliveries
estimated estimated
deliveries deliveries
Health and 5. Percentage of Positive 5. Percentage of 5. Percentage of deliveries at
Nutrition deliveries at home deliveries at home home attended by an SBA
attended by an attended by an (Skilled Birth Attendance)
SBA (Skilled Birth SBA (Skilled Birth trained health worker to total
Attendance) Attendance) home deliveries
trained health trained health
worker to total worker to total
home deliveries home deliveries
Health and 6.1) Percentage Positive 6.1. Percentage 6.1. Percentage of newborns
Nutrition of newborns of newborns breastfed within one hour of
breastfed within breastfed within birth
one hour of birth one hour of birth
Health and 6.2) Percentage Negative 6.2. Percentage 6.2. Percentage of low birth
Nutrition of low birth of low birth weight babies (less than 2500g)
weight babies weight babies
(less than 2500g) (less than 2500g)
Health and 6.3) Percentage Positive 6.3. Percentage 6.3. Percentage of live babies
Nutrition of live babies of live babies weighed at birth
weighed at birth weighed at birth
Health and 7. Percentage of Negative 7. Percentage of 7. Percentage of underweight
Nutrition underweight underweight children under 6 years
children under children under
6 years 6 years

APPENDIX 53
 Health and 8.1) Percentage Negative Data not Data not available in March
Nutrition of stunted available in 2020
children under 6 March-Dec 2018
years

Health and 8.2) Percentage Positive Data not Data not available in March
Nutrition of children under available in 2020
5 years with March-Dec 2018
Diarrhea treated
with ORS

Health and 8.3) Percentage Positive Data not Data not available in March
Nutrition of children under available in 2020
5 years with March-Dec 2018
Diarrhea treated
with Zinc

Health and 8.4) Percentage Positive Data not Data not available in March
Nutrition of children under available in 2020
5 years with March-Dec 2018
Acute Respiratory
Infections (ARI)
taken to a health
facility in the last
2 weeks

Health and 9.1) Percentage Negative 9.1. Percentage 9.1. Percentage of Severe Acute
Nutrition of Severe Acute of Severe Acute Malnourishment (SAM) in
Malnourishment Malnourishment children under 6 years to total
(SAM) in children (SAM) in children children under 6 years
under 6 years to under 6 years to
total children total children
under 6 years
under 6 years

Health and 9.2) Percentage Negative 9.2. Percentage 9.2. Percentage of Moderate
Nutrition of Moderate of Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) in
Acute Acute children under 6 years to total
Malnutrition Malnutrition children under 6 years
(MAM) in (MAM) in
children under 6 children under 6
years to total years to total
children under 6 children under 6
years years

Skill 1) Percentage of Positive 7. Percentage of 7. Percentage of youth certified

Development youth certified in youth certified in in short term or long-term
short termor short term or training schemes to no. of
long-term long -term youth in district in age group
training schemes training schemes 15 -29*
to no. of youth in to no. of youth
district in age in district in age
group 15-29* group 15-29*

Skill 2) Percentage of Positive 8. Percentage of 8. Percentage of certified youth

Development certified youth certified youth employed# to no. of youth
employed# to employed# to trained under short term or
no. of youth no. of youth long-term training
trained under trained under
short term or short term or
long-term training long-term training

54 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

Skill 3) Number of Positive 9. Number of 9. Number of apprenticeships
Development apprenticeships apprenticeships completing to total number of
completing to completing to trainees registered on the portal
total number of total number of
trainees registered trainees registered
on the portal on the portal

Skill 4) No. of people Positive 10. No. of 10. No. of people certified
Development certified under people certified under Recognition of Prior
Recognition of under Learning to non-formally
Prior Learning to Recognition of skilled workforce
non-formally Prior Learning to
skilled workforce non-formally
skilled workforce
Skill 5.1) Percentage Positive 11.1. Percentage 11.1. Percentage certified
Development certified trained: certified trained: trained: women
women women

Skill 5.2) Percentage Positive 11.2. Percentage 11.2. Percentage certified

Development* certified trained: certified trained: trained: SC
SC SC
Skill 5.3) Percentage Positive 11.3. Percentage 11.3. Percentage certified
Development* certified trained: certified trained: trained: ST
ST ST
Skill 5.4) Percentage Positive 11.4. Percentage 11.4. Percentage certified
Development* certified trained: certified trained: trained: OBC
OBC OBC
Skill 5.5) Percentage Positive 11.5. Percentage 11.5. Percentage certified
Development* certified trained: certified trained: trained: minorities
minorities minorities
Skill 5.6) Percentage Positive 11.6. Percentage 11.6. Percentage certified
Development* certified trained: certified trained: trained: differently abled
differently abled differently abled

APPENDIX 55
 Table A.2: Ranking of districts based on change in net resilience since
March 2018 to March 2020

State District Rank

Jharkhand Ranchi 1
Uttar Pradesh Chandauli 2
Jharkhand Simdega 3
Uttar Pradesh Sonbhadra 4
Madhya Pradesh Rajgarh 5
Assam Goalpara 6
Uttar Pradesh Fatehpur 7
Arunachal Pradesh Namsai 8
Karnataka Raichur 9
Jharkhand Godda 10
Assam Darrang 11
Bihar Muzaffarpur 12
Odisha Nabarangapur 13
Bihar Araria 14
Bihar Aurangabad 15
Odisha Rayagada 16
Odisha Koraput 17
Madhya Pradesh Guna 18
Uttar Pradesh Balrampur 19
Manipur Chandel 20
Jharkhand Khunti 21
Bihar Sheikhpura 22
Telangana Bhoopalapalli (Warangal) 23
Rajasthan Karauli 24
Uttar Pradesh Chitrakoot 25
Uttar Pradesh Shrawasti 26
Assam Baksa 27
Jharkhand Latehar 28
Jharkhand Lohardaga 29
Jammu & Kashmir Kupwara 30
Uttarakhand Hardwar 31
Odisha Dhenkanal 32
Rajasthan Sirohi 33
Madhya Pradesh Vidisha 34
Bihar Jamui 35
Mizoram Mamit 36
Tamil Nadu Virudhunagar 37
Meghalaya Ribhoi 38
Uttar Pradesh Siddharthnagar 39
Madhya Pradesh Singrauli 40
Assam Dhubri 41
56 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL
Bihar Begusarai 42
Jharkhand Pakur 43
Assam Hailakandi 44
Jharkhand Giridih 45
Odisha Gajapati 46
Madhya Pradesh Damoh 47
Uttarakhand Udham Singh Nagar 48
Jharkhand Chatra 49
Kerala Wayanad 50
Tamil Nadu Ramanathapuram 51
Karnataka Yadgir 52
Jharkhand Purbi Singhbhum 53
Jammu & Kashmir Baramula 54
Assam Barpeta 55
Chhattisgarh Sukma 56
Jharkhand Dumka 57
Odisha Kandhamal 58
Punjab Moga 59
Jharkhand Palamu 60
Bihar Purnia 61
Jharkhand Bokaro 62
Odisha Kalahandi 63
Bihar Banka 64
Assam Udalguri 65
Haryana Mewat 66
Jharkhand Hazaribagh 67
Bihar Khagaria 68
Chhattisgarh Rajnandgaon 69
Chhattisgarh Mahasamund 70
Chhattisgarh Uttar Bastar Kanker 71
Andhra Pradesh Visakhapatnam 72
Punjab Firozpur 73
Bihar Katihar 74
Odisha Balangir 75
Odisha Nuapada 76
Telangana Bhadradri-Kothagudem 77
Gujarat Narmada 78
Chhattisgarh Korba 79
Maharashtra Osmanabad 80
Uttar Pradesh Bahraich 81
Andhra Pradesh Y.S.R. 82
Jharkhand Garhwa 83
APPENDIX 57
 Gujarat Dohad 84
Himachal Pradesh Chamba 85
Tripura Dhalai 86
Sikkim West District 87
Bihar Gaya 88
Madhya Pradesh Barwani 89
Chhattisgarh Kondagaon 90
Andhra Pradesh Vizianagaram 91
Chhattisgarh Narayanpur 92
Rajasthan Dhaulpur 93
Jharkhand Ramgarh 94
Chhattisgarh Bastar 95
Rajasthan Jaisalmer 96
Maharashtra Nandurbar 97
Madhya Pradesh Khandwa (East Nimar) 98
Rajasthan Baran 99
Jharkhand Sahibganj 100
Maharashtra Gadchiroli 101
Telangana Asifabad (Adilabad) 102
Odisha Malkangiri 103
Maharashtra Washim 104
Madhya Pradesh Chhatarpur 105
Jharkhand Pashchimi Singhbhum 106
Bihar Sitamarhi 107
Jharkhand Gumla 108
Chhattisgarh Dakshin Bastar Dantewada 109
Chhattisgarh Bijapur 110
Bihar Nawada 111

58 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

Table A.3: List of Aspirational Districts (Treatment Group for Difference in
Difference Evaluation)

S.no State District 33 Bihar Jamui

1 Jammu & Kashmir Kupwara 34 Sikkim West Sikkim

2 Jammu & Kashmir Baramula 35 Nagaland Kiphire

3 Himachal Pradesh Chamba 36 Manipur Chandel

4 Punjab Moga 37 Mizoram Mamit

5 Uttarakhand Udham Singh Nagar 38 Tripura Dhalai

6 Uttarakhand Haridwar 39 Meghalaya Ribhoi

7 Haryana Mewat 40 Assam Goalpara

8 Rajasthan Dholpur 41 Assam Barpeta

9 Rajasthan Karauli 42 Assam Hailakandi

10 Rajasthan Jaisalmer 43 Assam Baksa

11 Rajasthan Sirohi 44 Assam Darrang

12 Rajasthan Baran 45 Assam Udalguri

13 Uttar Pradesh Chitrakoot 46 Jharkhand Garhwa

14 Uttar Pradesh Fatehpur 47 Jharkhand Chatra

15 Uttar Pradesh Bahraich 48 Jharkhand Giridih

16 Uttar Pradesh Shrawasti 49 Jharkhand Godda

17 Uttar Pradesh Balrampur 50 Jharkhand Sahibganj

18 Uttar Pradesh Siddharthnagar 51 Jharkhand Pakur

19 Uttar Pradesh Chandauli 52 Jharkhand Bokaro

20 Uttar Pradesh Sonebhadra 53 Jharkhand Lohardaga

21 Bihar Sitamarhi 54 Jharkhand Purbi Singhbhum

22 Bihar Araria 55 Jharkhand Palamu

23 Bihar Purnia 56 Jharkhand Latehar

24 Bihar Katihar 57 Jharkhand Hazaribagh

25 Bihar Muzaffarpur 58 Jharkhand Ramgarh

26 Bihar Begusarai 59 Jharkhand Dumka

27 Bihar Khagaria 60 Jharkhand Ranchi

28 Bihar Banka 61 Jharkhand Khunti

29 Bihar Sheikhpura 62 Jharkhand Gumla

30 Bihar Aurangabad 63 Jharkhand Simdega

31 Bihar Gaya 64 Jharkhand Pashchimi Singhbhum

32 Bihar Nawada 65 Odisha Dhenkanal

APPENDIX 59
 66 Odisha Gajapati 90 Gujarat DAHOD

67 Odisha Kandhamal 91 Gujarat Narmada

68 Odisha Balangir 92 Maharashtra Nandurbar

69 Odisha Kalahandi 93 Maharashtra Washim

70 Odisha Rayagada 94 Maharashtra Gadchiroli

71 Odisha Koraput 95 Maharashtra Osmanabad

72 Odisha Malkangiri 96 Andhra Pradesh Vizianagaram

73 Odisha Nawarangpur 97 Andhra Pradesh Visakhapatnam

74 Odisha Nuapada 98 Andhra Pradesh Y.S.R. Kadapa

75 Chhattisgarh Korba 99 Karnataka Raichur

76 Chhattisgarh Rajnandgaon 100 Karnataka Yadgir

77 Chhattisgarh Mahasamund 101 Kerala Wayanad

78 Chhattisgarh Kanker 102 Tamil Nadu Virudhunagar

79 Chhattisgarh Narayanpur 103 Tamil Nadu Ramanathapuram

80 Chhattisgarh Dantewada 104 Punjab Firozpur

81 Chhattisgarh Bijapur 105 Chhattisgarh Bastar

109 Assam Dhubri 106 Chhattisgarh Kondagaon

82 Madhya Pradesh Chhatarpur 107 Chhattisgarh Sukma

83 Madhya Pradesh Damoh 108 Arunachal Pradesh Namsai

84 Madhya Pradesh Barwani 89 Madhya Pradesh Khandwa

85 Madhya Pradesh Rajgarh 110 Telangana Asifabad

86 Madhya Pradesh Vidisha 111 Telangana Bhopapalli

87 Madhya Pradesh Guna 112 Telangana Bhadradri Kothagudem

88 Madhya Pradesh Singrauli

60 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

Table A.4: Control Group for DiD approach for Health and Nutrition Sector

S.no State District 33 Chhattisgarh Gariyaband

1 Andhra Pradesh Srikakulam 34 Chhattisgarh Janjgir Champa

2 Andhra Pradesh Prakasam 35 Gujarat Gir Somnath

3 Andhra Pradesh East Godavari 36 Gujarat Anand

4 Arunachal Pradesh Dibang Valley 37 Haryana Palwal

5 Assam Chirang 38 Himachal Pradesh Kangra

6 Assam Dima Hasao 39 Jammu & Kashmir Doda

7 Assam Kokrajhar 40 Jammu & Kashmir Kishtwar

8 Assam Karimganj 41 Jharkhand Dhanbad

9 Assam Sonitpur 42 Jharkhand Kodarma

10 Assam Bongaigaon 43 Jharkhand Deoghar

11 Assam Marigaon 44 Jharkhand Saraikela

12 Bihar Darbhanga 45 Jharkhand Jamtara

13 Bihar West Champaran 46 Karnataka Bidar

14 Bihar Jehanabad 47 Karnataka Davanagere

15 Bihar Saran 48 Kerala Kannur

16 Bihar Sheohar 49 Madhya Pradesh Alirajpur

17 Bihar Supaul 50 Madhya Pradesh Burhanpur

18 Bihar Saharsa 51 Madhya Pradesh Jhabua

19 Bihar Bhagalpur 52 Madhya Pradesh Sheopur

20 Bihar Kaimur Bhabua 53 Madhya Pradesh Morena

21 Bihar East Champaran 54 Madhya Pradesh Satna

22 Bihar Patna 55 Madhya Pradesh Harda

23 Bihar Arwal 56 Madhya Pradesh Betul

24 Bihar Vaishali 57 Maharashtra Brihan Mumbai

25 Chhattisgarh Surajpur 58 Maharashtra Nashik

26 Chhattisgarh Bemetra 59 Maharashtra Thane

27 Chhattisgarh Baloda Bazar 60 Maharashtra Chandrapur

28 Chhattisgarh Kawardha 61 Manipur Ukhrul

29 Chhattisgarh Balod 62 Meghalaya East Jaintia Hills

30 Chhattisgarh Surguja 63 Mizoram Saiha

31 Chhattisgarh Balrampur 64 Nagaland Tuensang

32 Chhattisgarh Durg 65 Odisha Sundargarh

APPENDIX 61
 66 Odisha Cuttack 90 Uttar Pradesh Kanpur Nagar

67 Odisha Puri 91 Uttar Pradesh Ghaziabad

68 Odisha Khordha 92 Uttar Pradesh Sambhal

69 Odisha Sambalpur 93 Uttar Pradesh Kashi Ram Nagar

70 Odisha Ganjam 94 Uttar Pradesh Gonda

71 Odisha Keonjhar 95 Uttar Pradesh Barabanki

72 Odisha Baleshwar 96 Uttar Pradesh Farrukhabad

73 Odisha Mayurbhanj 97 Uttar Pradesh Faizabad

74 Odisha Nayagarh 98 Uttarakhand Tehri Garhwal

75 Punjab Tarn Taran 99 Uttarakhand Champawat

76 Punjab Faridkot 100 Uttar Pradesh Etah

77 Rajasthan Pratapgarh 101 Uttar Pradesh Rampur

78 Rajasthan Udaipur 102 Uttar Pradesh Hardoi

79 Rajasthan Jodhpur 103 Uttar Pradesh Lakhimpur Kheri

80 Rajasthan Bikaner 104 Uttar Pradesh Moradabad

81 Rajasthan Kota 105 Odisha Jharsuguda

82 Sikkim East 106 Odisha Anugul

83 Tamil Nadu Dharmapuri 107 Odisha Jagatsinghpur

84 Tamil Nadu Thiruvarur 108 Odisha Deogarh

85 Telangana Medak 109 Odisha Jajapur

86 Telangana Hyderabad 110 Chhattisgarh Bilaspur

87 Telangana Nalgonda 111 Chhattisgarh Koriya

88 Telangana Jogulamba Gadwal 112 Chhattisgarh Raipur

89 Tripura North Tripura 113 Chhattisgarh Jashpur

62 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

Table A.5: Control Group for DiD approach for Health and Nutrition Sector

S.no State District 33 Chhattisgarh Bilaspur

1 Andhra Pradesh Chittoor 34 Chhattisgarh Janjgir - Champa

2 Andhra Pradesh Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore 35 Gujarat Mahisagar

3 Andhra Pradesh Kurnool 36 Gujarat Dawarka Devbhoomi

4 Arunachal Pradesh East Kameng 37 Haryana Jind

5 Assam Kokrajhar 38 Himachal Pradesh Lahul & Spiti

6 Assam Karimganj 39 Jammu & Kashmir Srinagar

7 Assam Bongaigaon 40 Jammu & Kashmir Punch

8 Assam Tinsukia 41 Jharkhand Dhanbad

9 Assam Dima Hasao 42 Jharkhand Jamtara

10 Assam Sonitpur 43 Jharkhand Kodarma

11 Assam Nalbari 44 Jharkhand Saraikela-Kharsawan

12 Bihar Purba Champaran 45 Jharkhand Deoghar

13 Bihar Darbhanga 46 Karnataka Chikkaballapura

14 Bihar Siwan 47 Karnataka Bidar

15 Bihar Madhubani 48 Kerala Malappuram

16 Bihar Saharsa 49 Madhya Pradesh Bhind

17 Bihar Madhepura 50 Madhya Pradesh Morena

18 Bihar Jehanabad 51 Madhya Pradesh Sheopur

19 Bihar Supaul 52 Madhya Pradesh Tikamgarh

20 Bihar Gopalganj 53 Madhya Pradesh Datia

21 Bihar Munger 54 Madhya Pradesh Agar Malwa

22 Bihar Kaimur (Bhabua) 55 Madhya Pradesh Panna

23 Bihar Pashchim Champaran 56 Madhya Pradesh Shivpuri

24 Bihar Bhagalpur 57 Maharashtra Parbhani

25 Chhattisgarh Balrampur 58 Maharashtra Hingoli

26 Chhattisgarh Baloda Bazar 59 Maharashtra Buldana

27 Chhattisgarh Bemetara 60 Maharashtra Bid

28 Chhattisgarh Surajpur 61 Manipur Tamenglong

29 Chhattisgarh Balod 62 Meghalaya North Garo Hills

30 Chhattisgarh Mungeli 63 Mizoram Lawngtlai

31 Chhattisgarh Jashpur 64 Nagaland Mon

32 Chhattisgarh Gariyaband 65 Odisha Kendrapara

APPENDIX 63
 66 Odisha Ganjam 90 Uttar Pradesh Kushinagar

67 Odisha Bargarh 91 Uttar Pradesh Auraiya

68 Odisha Mayurbhanj 92 Uttar Pradesh Moradabad

69 Odisha Kendujhar 93 Uttar Pradesh Muzaffarnagar

70 Odisha Bhadrak 94 Uttar Pradesh Sambhal

71 Odisha Nayagarh 95 Uttar Pradesh Deoria

72 Odisha Debagarh 96 Uttar Pradesh Shamli

73 Odisha Jajapur 97 Uttarakhand Chamoli

74 Odisha Baleshwar 98 Uttarakhand Bageshwar

75 Punjab Pathankot 99 Uttar Pradesh Baghpat

76 Punjab Gurdaspur 100 Uttar Pradesh Azamgarh

77 Rajasthan Dausa 101 Uttar Pradesh Budaun

78 Rajasthan Bikaner 102 Uttar Pradesh Sant Kabir Nagar

79 Rajasthan Churu 103 Uttar Pradesh Etawah

80 Rajasthan Nagaur 104 Odisha Cuttack

81 Rajasthan Jalor 105 Odisha Sundargarh

82 Sikkim North District 106 Odisha Jagatsinghapur

83 Tamil Nadu Ariyalur 107 Odisha Anugul

84 Tamil Nadu Dharmapuri 108 Odisha Puri

85 Telangana Nalgonda 109 Chhattisgarh Koriya

86 Telangana Mahbubnagar 110 Chhattisgarh Surguja

87 Telangana Medak 111 Chhattisgarh Raigarh

88 Tripura Sepahijala 112 Chhattisgarh Kabeerdham

89 Uttar Pradesh Hapur

64 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL

Table A.6: Comparison of means of treatment and
control group for H&N Sector
Indicator AD (Treatment) Control
2018 2018

Percentage of Pregnant Women receiving four or 66.86 65.46

more antenatal care check-ups against total ANC
registrations

Percentage of ANC registered within the first trimester 67.46 61.67

against total ANC registrations

Percentage of Pregnant women having severe 41.2 29.6

anaemia treated against PW having severe anaemia
tested cases

Sex Ratio at birth ((Female Live Births/ Male 35.6 26.4

Live Births) *1000)

Percentage of institutional deliveries out of total 87.2 88.88

estimated deliveries

Percentage of home deliveries attended by an SBA 96.09 94.02

(Skilled Birth Attendance) trained health worker out
of total home deliveries

Percentage of new-borns breastfed within 11.47 11.77

one hour of birth

Percentage of low birth weight babies 93.58 89.22

(Less than 2500 grams)

Proportion of live babies weighed at birth 935.96 925.74

Percentage of children with Diarrhoea treated 18.2 15.1

Table A.7: Comparison of means of treatment and

control group for FI Sector
Indicator AD (Treatment) Control
2018 2018

PMJJBY enrolments per 1 Lakh population 1790.36 1646.82

PMSBY enrolments per 1 Lakh population 6815.16 6686.75

APY beneficiaries per 1 Lakh population 591.1 588.3

% of Account seeded with Aadhaar 77.07 75.75

PMJDY Accounts opened per lakh of population 31100.5 28371.56

APPENDIX 65
 Notes

66 ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME: AN APPRAISAL