Lok Sabha Question No. 5717 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-04-06
Subject: Aspirational Districts of Uttar Pradesh
Ministry: PLANNING
Asked by: Shyam Yadav Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PLANNING

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5717

TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.04.2022

## ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS OF UTTAR PRADESH

## 5717.   SHRI SHYAM SINGH YADAV:

Will the Minister of  PLANNING  be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the developmental works carried out in the Aspirational Districts of  Uttar Pradesh along with the details of the institutes/agencies carrying out the said works;
- (b) whether the Government has any proposal to cover more districts under the said programme in view of high unemployment rate in various districts of  Uttar Pradesh; and
- (c) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION; MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS

## (RAO INDERJIT SINGH)

- (a) There  are  8  districts  of  Uttar  Pradesh,  included  under  the  Aspirational  Districts  Programme.  These districts  are  Chitrakoot,  Balrampur,  Shrawasti,  Fatehpur,  Siddharthnagar,  Chandauli,  Sonbhadra  and Bahraich.

The programme aims at rapid transformation of these relatively underdeveloped districts across sectors which are critical for improving quality of life or economic productivity of citizens. These sectors are Health  and  Nutrition,  School  Education  and  Basic  Infrastructure,  and  also  Agriculture  and  Water Resources  and  Financial  Inclusion  &  Skill  Development.  49  key  performance  indicators  have  been selected across these sectors and a district's performance is monitored on the basis of progress made on these  indicators  on  a  monthly  basis  which  is  available  in  the  public  domain  on  the  Champions  of Change Dashboard (http://championsofchange.gov.in/site/coc-home/).

The broad strategy of the Aspirational Districts Programme is to not to run any additional scheme, but to ensure that development works under the existing schemes of Central and the State Governments are implemented efficiently to make improvement in the key performance indicators. Hence it rests on the 3 Cs - Convergence (between Central and State Schemes), Collaboration (between Centre, State, District Administration, Development Partners and Citizens) and Competition (between Districts). Every month, districts  are  ranked  on  the  basis  of  progress  made  on  the  key  performance  indicators  and  become eligible for a performance grant/ additional allocation, and this instills them with a sense of competition which  results  in  rapid  improvement.  Another  strategy  of  the  programme  is  nomination  of  Joint Secretary/Additional Secretary level officials from Government of India as Central Prabhari Officers for each of the district. The role of these Prabhari Officers is to guide the district administration on basis of their long experience.

In a short span of time, due to close monitoring and competition, the Aspirational Districts of UP have made significant progress across different sectors.

- (b) & (c) As mentioned above, the indicators under focus in this programme are of different sectors which improve quality of life or the economic productivity of the citizens in these relatively underdeveloped districts.  By  ensuring  general  development,  the  programme  helps  in  addressing  the  problem  of unemployment  in  these  backward  districts.  While  at  present,  there  is  no  proposal  to  include  more districts under the Programme, the focus on existing districts to further accelerate progress continues.