Lok Sabha Question No. 4730 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-24
Subject: Aspirational Districts
Ministry: PLANNING
Asked by: Alok Kumar Suman, Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PLANNING

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4730

TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.03.2021

## ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS

## 4730. DR. ALOK KUMAR SUMAN: SHRI RAM MOHAN NAIDU KINJARAPU:

Will the Minister of PLANNING be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  112  districts  were  chosen  for  the  Aspirational  Districts  Programme  (ADP) based  through  a  transparent  process  on  composite  index,  calculated  using  published and appropriately weighted data sets and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the details of the works started in these districts in Bihar and the progress made so far thereunder;
- (c) the details of the total number of districts selected and the total amount sanctioned and released in this regard in Bihar;
- (d) the  details  of  score  of  Srikakulam  and  Gopalganj  district  (Bihar)  based  on  the  same composite index;
- (e) the details of comparative score of Srikakulam and Gopalganj with the current score of the 112 districts selected for the ADP; and
- (f) the reasons for not including Gopalganj in the Aspirational Districts, which is one of the most backward district of Bihar and is adversely impacted due to floods?

## 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)

- (a) Yes  Sir.  Under  the  Aspirational  Districts  Programme,  112  districts,  across  26  states and  1  union  territory,  were  selected  based  on  a  Composite  Index  of  backwardness created from the database in the public domain. Out of the 112 districts, 35 districts were  recommended  by  the  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs  on  the  basis  of  their  being adversely affected by the Left Wing Extremism. The list of data sets and the weights attached to them for selection of districts is attached at Annexure - I. While selecting the districts, it was also ensured that at least one district is selected from every State (except  for  Goa)  and  many  districts  are  not  selected  from  the  same  State.  After selection, the list was shared with the respective State Governments with a request to

recommend  any  change  based  on  any  objective  criteria.  Subsequently,  these  were incorporated while finalizing the list.

- (b) The  Aspirational  Districts  Programme  being  a  governance  measure  for  greater efficiency,  large  infusion  of  additional  fund  from  Government  of  India,  is  not envisaged. The programme aims at effective convergence of the existing Centre and State Government Schemes, in these Districts through collaboration between Centre, State, District Administration and the citizens. Under the Programme, each Aspirational District is monitored on 49 indicators, entailing 81 data points, across 5 sectors  -  Health  &  Nutrition,  Education,  Agriculture  &  Water  Resources,  Financial Inclusion & Skill Development and Basic Infrastructure. However, in order to promote the  spirit  of  competition  between  the  Districts,  Government  of  India  implements  a special initiative under which additional allocation is being provided to the Aspirational Districts on the basis of performance. Every month, districts are assessed on  the  basis  of  monthly  incremental  progress  and  the  best  performing  Districts  in overall terms and in each of the five sectors are identified. The first and second rankers in overall terms are awarded Rs. 10 cr and 5 cr respectively. The first ranker from each of  the  five  sectors  is  awarded  Rs.  3  cr  each.  Therefore,  every  month,  Rs.  30  cr  is utilised from the JICA funds and given to these Aspirational Districts. As on date, total around Rs. 230 crores has been sanctioned to 81 Aspirational Districts in FY 2019-20 and  FY  2020-21  for  undertaking  projects  across  the  five  focus  sectors  and  meeting critical gaps.  This includes 7 districts in Bihar as given below under answer (c) The projects are under various stages of implementation.
- (c) Thirteen  Districts  were  identified  from  the  State  of  Bihar  under  the  Aspirational Districts  Programme.  The  list  of  these  districts  is  attached  at Annexure  -  II . The following districts in Bihar have been sanctioned additional allocation on the basis of their performance in monthly rankings:
- (d) While shortlisting the Aspirational Districts, the districts of Srikakulam and Gopalganj did not fall within the 112 districts based on Composite index of backwardness. Based on  data  set  available  in  Jan  2018,  the  overall  ranking  in  terms  of  backwardness  of Srikakulam  was  9th  among  13  districts  in  Andhra  Pradesh  and  Gopalganj  was  30th among the 32 districts in Bihar.  Since 29 districts were relatively more backward than Gopalganj  in  Bihar,  hence  the  district  was  not  selected.    No  recommendation  for

| District   | Amount eligible for allocation (in Rs.)   |   Amount Sanctioned (in Rs. Cr) |
|------------|-------------------------------------------|---------------------------------|
| Begusarai  | 5 crores                                  |                            5    |
| Gaya       | 3 crores                                  |                            2.93 |
| Jamui      | 3 crores                                  |                            3    |
| Nawada     | 3 crores                                  |                            1.14 |
| Araria     | 1 crore                                   |                            0.97 |
| Purnia     | 3 crores                                  |                            2.63 |
| Katihar    | 3 crores                                  |                            3    |

inclusion  of  Gopalganj  district  and  Srikakulam  district  was  received  from  the  State Government.

- (e) After  selection  of  districts,  the  Aspirational  Districts  Programme  calculates  and maintains ranking of only 112 Aspirational Districts. Ranking of other Districts are not calculated under the programme.
- (f) While Sitamarhi, Araria, Purnia, Katihar, Begusarai, Khagaria and Sheikhpura districts were chosen on the basis of their ranking in the Composite Index of Backwardness, the remaining  six  namely  Aurangabad,  Banka,  Gaya,  Jamui,  Muzaffarpur  and  Nawada were also selected due to them being most affected by the Left Wing Extremism. As stated above, as per the available data sets enumerated in Annexure-I and their value as on January 2018, other districts were relatively poor performing than Gopalganj.

*****

## Annexure - I

## List of data sets and weights used for selection of Aspirational Districts

| DATABASES                                                                                    | SECTOR                    | WEIGHT   |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------|----------|
| Landless households dependent on Manual labour (Socio Economic Caste Census - Deprivation 7) | Deprivation (25 %)        | 25%      |
| Ante natal care (National Health and Family Survey (NHFS) - 4)                               | Health & Nutrition (30 %) | 7.5%     |
| Institutional delivery (NHFS-4)                                                              | Health & Nutrition (30 %) | 7.5%     |
| Stunting of children below 5 years (NHFS-4)                                                  | Health & Nutrition (30 %) | 7.5%     |
| Wasting in children below 5 years (NHFS-4)                                                   | Health & Nutrition (30 %) | 7.5%     |
| Elementary dropout rate (Unified District Information System for Education (U-DISE) 2015-16) | Education (15 %)          | 7.5%     |
| Adverse pupil teacher ratio (U-DISE 2015-16)                                                 | Education (15 %)          | 7.5%     |
| Un-electrified households (Ministry of Power)                                                | Infra (30 %)              | 7.5%     |
| Households without individual toilets (Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation)            | Infra (30 %)              | 7.5%     |
| Un-connected PMGSYvillage (Ministry of Rural Development)                                    | Infra (30 %)              | 7.5%     |
| Rural Household without access to water (Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation)          | Infra (30 %)              | 7.5%     |
| Total                                                                                        |                           | 100%     |

## List of 13 Aspirational Districts in Bihar

|   Sl. No. | District    |
|-----------|-------------|
|         1 | Sitamarhi   |
|         2 | Araria      |
|         3 | Purnia      |
|         4 | Katihar     |
|         5 | Muzaffarpur |
|         6 | Begusarai   |
|         7 | Khagaria    |
|         8 | Banka       |
|         9 | Sheikhpura  |
|        10 | Aurangabad  |
|        11 | Gaya        |
|        12 | Nawada      |
|        13 | Jamui       |

## Annexure - II