Lok Sabha Question No. 1458 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-11-27
Subject: District Action Plan for Wayanad District
Ministry: PLANNING
Asked by: Rahul Gandhi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PLANNING

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1458 TO BE ANSWERED ON 27.11.2019

## DISTRICT ACTION PLAN FOR WAYANAD DISTRICT

## 1458. SHRI RAHUL GANDHI:

Will the Minister of PLANNING be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  empowered  Committee  chaired  by  the  CEO,  NITI  Aayog  has initiated any measures to ensure the convergence of schemes and address issues brought  up  by  the  Central  Prabhari  officer  in  Wayanad  district  under  the aspirational districts programme;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether one of the stated strategies is to work on the strength of each district and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the  details  of  the  key  strengths  identified  in  the  District  Action  Plan  for Wayanad district; and
- (e) the measures taken to foster collaboration between citizens, Central and State Governments?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

(RAO INDERJIT SINGH)

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(a)&(b)  The  Empowered  Committee  of  Secretaries  for  the  on-going  Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) has been constituted inter alia to review the performance of  the  Programme.  This  entails  reviewing  the  progress  in  a  district  across  49  key performance indicators which are captured regularly on a web portal championsofchange.gov.in.  These  indicators  are  selected  from  the  sectors  which affect  quality  of  life  or  economic  productivity  of  citizenry  viz.  health  &  nutrition, school  education,  agriculture  and  water  resources,  financial  inclusion  and  skill development  and  basic  infrastructure.  The  list  of  these  indicators  catalogued  in  a primer is at http://championsofchange.gov.in/publications.

The Central Prabhari Officer of Wayanad district had inter alia recommended that  district  should  formulate  an  action  plan,  its  data  collection  mechanism  should improve and there should be convergence and team spirit in the district administration.  These  recommendations  are  in  line  with  the  directions  of  the Empowered Committee which reviews the Programme from time to time.

In compliance of the above, the district team has formulated an action plan for development of Wayanad district which is being implemented through convergence of  different  schemes  subject  to  availability  of  resources  to  the  district.    As  regards improvement  in  data  collection mechanism,  since  the  ADP  is  a  data  driven Programme  under  which  districts  compete  on  basis  of  their  performance,  data collection mechanism has been strengthened and progress are regularly captured on web portal championsofchange.gov.in

(c)  Yes.  A  key  element  of  strategy  is  to  identify  strength  in  each  district  and  to incorporate the same in the vision and plan for the district.

(d)  A  brief  collation  of  strengths  identified  in  the  district  action  plan  is  placed  at Annexure-A.

(e) Making development a mass movement is an important aspect of strategy of this initiative  and  Niti  Aayog  has  requested  the  State  Government  to  take  measures  to involve  citizenry  in  this  Programme.  As  stated  above,  the  web  portal  capturing progress in key performance indicator namely championsofchange.gov.in is available in  public  domain  and  citizens  concerned  may  see  the  progress  made  in  the  district under  the  Programme.  In  addition,  Government  of  India  has  nominated  Central Prabhari Officer for every Aspirational district and their functions inter alia include coordination between district, State and Central Government.

## Annexure - A

## Excerpts from the District Action Plan identified as Strengths.

1. 'Wide  scope  of  tourism  development  coupled  with  indigenous  traditional customs  and  rituals  of  tribes  and  tourist  friendly  climate  and  large  area  of forests  coupled  with  wild  life  with  a  variety  of  medicinal  plants,  are  the strengths of Wayanad district. Availability of sufficient rain enables the crops and farm land to become more fertile and productive'. (para 1.13)
2. Sectors Identified on the basis of Strengths (para2.1)
- A) Financial Inclusion

## Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana

-  Projected Availability Of Resources For Different Sources- Branch Networks, Financial Literacy Counsellors, Business Correspondents, Akshaya Centres
-  Broad  Strategy  Envisaged-  Conduction  Camps  For  Target  Groups  On  An Ongoing  Basis,  Giving  Individual  Targets  To  The  Branches  And  Continuous Monitoring Of The Targets

## Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana

-  Projected Availability Of Resources For Different Sources- Branch Networks, Financial Literacy Counsellors, Business Correspondents, Akshaya Centres
-  Broad  Strategy  Envisaged-Conduction-Camps  For  Target  Groups  On  An Ongoing  Basis,  Giving  Individual  Targets  To  The  Branches  And  Continuous Monitoring Of The Targets

## Atal Pension Yojana

-  Projected Availability Of Resources For Different Sources- Branch Networks, Financial Literacy Counsellors, Business Correspondents, Akshaya Centres
-  Broad Strategy Envisaged-Conduction-Conduction Camps For Target Groups On  An  Ongoing  Basis,  Giving  Individual  Targets  To  The  Branches  And Continuous Monitoring Of The Targets

## B) Education

Education Sector in Wayanad district is quite well organised. There are a total of 301 Schools in this district, consisting of 149 Lower Primary Schools, 79 Upper Primary Schools,  29  High  Schools,  32  Higher  Secondary  Schools,  6  Vocational  Higher Secondary Schools and 6 Special Schools. Wayanad is single Education District with One Deputy Director, One District Education Officer, and three Assistant Educational Officers. It has also a District Institute of Education and Training, located at Sulthan Bathery. Besides, a Kendriya Vidyalaya, a Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya and 8 CBSE Schools and 1 ICSE School are functioning in this District. (para 4.1)

Transition  rate  from  primary  to  upper  primary  school  level  (yearly)-  99.55% (para2.1)

-  Projected  Availability  Of  Resources  For  Different  Sources-  Various  Schemes by SSK and General Education Department
-  Broad Strategy EnvisagedProgrammes like Dropout free Wayanad, Appointment of Mentor Teaches & Ooru vidhya Volunteers

Mathematics performance in class 3- 67.02%, Mathematics performance in class 559.78% (para 2.1)

-  Broad Strategy Envisaged Ganitha Vijayam Programme

Language performance in class 3 and Class 5 and Class 8 - 66.87% and 63.81% and 60.54%

-  Broad  Strategy  Envisaged-  Malayalathilakkam,  Hello  English  Programme, Hello English Programme

Female literacy rate (15+ age group) is 85.70 %

-  Broad Strategy Envisaged- Kerala Saksharatha Mission, Saksharatha Classes conducted at different centers.

However, tribal education in the district is  a major concern due to low enrolments and high dropout rates.

## 3. Agriculture

Strengths as mentioned in the District Action Plan (para 5.3.1)

-  Agriculture is the main source of livelihood of rural people
-  Involvement of Tribal people in agriculture especially in paddy cultivation
-  Geographical indication obtained for Wayanadan Scented Rice
-  Better farmer-extension-research linkage
-  Adoption of integrated and mixed farming system to maximize income from unit acreage
-  Climatic conditions favorable for growing both tropical and temperate crops
-  Strong Linkage of Agriculture with Animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries
-  Willingness of farmers to adopt novel technologies in Agriculture
-  Increasing demand for Wayanadan crop produces like coffee, ginger, turmeric, scented rice and spices