Lok Sabha Question No. 4342 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-18
Subject: Aspirational Districts in Bihar
Ministry: PLANNING
Asked by: Shri Ramprit Mandal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PLANNING

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 4342 TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.03.2026

## ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS IN BIHAR

## 4342. SHRI RAMPRIT MANDAL:

Will the Minister of PLANNING be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the number of aspirational districts in Bihar at present is only thirteen;
- (b) if so, basis on which the said thirteen districts were selected as aspirational districts and the remaining twenty-five districts were left out; and
- (c) the details of the criteria adopted for selecting all the aspirational districts of Bihar?

## ANSWER

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

## (RAO INDERJIT SINGH)

- (a) Yes Sir. At present there are thirteen districts from Bihar out of 112 districts that have been selected under the Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP). The list of these thirteen districts is at Annexure I.
- (b) and (c) The aspirational districts including districts from Bihar were selected through a transparent process on the basis of published data.

List of data sets and the weight attached to them for selection of these districts is attached in Annexure II.

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## ANNEXURE I

ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  of  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4342 FOR 18.03.2026 BY SHRI RAMPRIT MANDAL REGARDING ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS IN BIHAR

List of 13 Aspirational Districts in Bihar

|   SN | Aspirational 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

## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (b) & (c) of LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4342 FOR 18.03.2026 BY SHRI RAMPRIT MANDAL REGARDING ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS IN BIHAR

## 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%      |
| Antenatal care (National Family and Health survey (NFHS) - 4)                                | Health & Nutrition (30%) | 7.5%     |
| Institutional delivery (NFHS-4)                                                              | Health & Nutrition (30%) | 7.5%     |
| Stunting of children below 5 years (NFHS-4)                                                  | Health & Nutrition (30%) | 7.5%     |
| Wasting in children below 5 years (NFHS-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 PMGSY village (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%     |

## The sources of the data set are as follows:

1. http://secc.gov.in/categorywiseDeprivationReport?reportType=SC %20Category# (SECC 2011- Deprivation Datasheet)
2. http://rchiips.org/NFHS/districtfactsheet\_NFHS-4.shtml (NFHS 4 Datasheet)
3. http://udise.in/drc2015-16.htm (U-DISE 2015-16 Datasheet)

4. http://saubhagya.gov.in/ (Saubhagya Website)
5. http://pmgsy.nic.in/ (PMGSY Website)

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