Lok Sabha Question No. 1849 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-02-11
Subject: Aspirational Districts Programme
Ministry: PLANNING
Asked by: Dr. Anand Kumar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF PLANNING

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1849 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.02.2026

## ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME

## 1849. DR. ANAND KUMAR:

Will the Minister of PLANNING be pleased to state:

- (a) the criteria and socio-economic indicators that are used for the selection of the districts under the Aspirational Districts Programme;
- (b) the  details  of  the  parameters  and  key  indicators  like  health, education,  nutrition,  agriculture,  infrastructure  and  financial inclusion that are used to assess the progress of development in the aspirational districts;
- (c) whether regular studies /evaluations are being carried out/conducted by the Government to monitor and measure the progress regarding implementation of the Aspirational Districts Programme; and
- (d) if  so,  the  key  findings  of  such  studies  and  the  details  of  the corrective measures that have been taken in the implementation of the programme based on these findings?

## 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 CULTURE

## (RAO INDERJIT SINGH)

- (a) The  Aspirational  Districts  were  selected  through  a  transparent process on the basis of published data. A composite index was prepared comprising challenges faced by the districts in terms of poverty  of  their  citizens,  relatively  poor  health  and  nutrition, education status, and deficient infrastructure.112 districts have been identified on the basis of these transparent criteria. These districts  include  35  districts  affected  by  Left  Wing  Extremism, which were selected by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The list of datasets and the weight attached to them for selection of these districts is attached in Annexure-I.
- (b) The details of the 49 key indicators/ Parameters in the sectors of health  &  Nutrition,  education,  agriculture,  Basic  infrastructure and  Skill  development/  financial  inclusion,  that  are  used  to assess  the  progress  of  development  under  the  aspirational districts, are attached at Annexure - II.
- (c)  &  (d)  There  have  been  two  independent  assessments  of  the functioning and impact of the Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP)
- (i) UNDP made a comprehensive appraisal of this programme

(ii)  Institute  for  Competitiveness  Assessment  (a  team  of  expert led  by  Prof.  Michael  Porter  of  Harvard  Business  school)  made a detailed assessment of the programme

The  UNDP  report  titled  'Aspirational  Districts  Programme:  An Appraisal,' submitted in December 2020, confirmed that significant  progress  has  been  made  in  various  aspects  such  as sector-wise growth, better governance through convergence, and accelerated  development  through  competitive  federalism.  This progress has been driven by factors including strong leadership, real-time  monitoring,  data-driven  decision-making,  and  capacity building. Additionally, the Institute for Competitiveness highlighted  that  nearly  all  districts  in  the  ADP  have  shown improvement  on  key  development  parameters  compared  to  the baseline,  with  the  programme  successfully  advancing  social impact  and  justice  by  targeting  the  benefits  towards  the  most disadvantaged  areas.  The  delta  ranking  system  has  played  a crucial role in fostering a competitive and dynamic culture, which has  motivated  several  low-performing  districts  to  enhance  their standings over the past three years.

Moreover, the Aspirational Districts Programme has developed the Champions  of  Change  Dashboard  to  monitor  the  districts  and capture real-time data on 49 indicators. The progress of all 112 districts  is  monitored  periodically  and  the  performance  data  of the districts is publicly accessible via the Champions of Change

Dashboard (http://championsofchange.gov.in).

## ANNEXURE - I

ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  1849  FOR  11.02.2026  BY  DR.  ANAND KUMAR: REGARDING ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME

| DATABASES                                                                                     | SECTOR                   | WEIGHT   |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------|----------|
| Landless household's dependent on Manual labour (Socio Economic Caste Census - Deprivation 7) | Deprivation (25%)        | 25%      |
| Antenatal care (National Family 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                                                                                         | Infra (30%)              | 100%     |

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

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

## ANNEXURE - II

ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (b)  OF  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  1849  FOR  11.02.2026  BY  DR.  ANAND KUMAR: REGARDING ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME

## List of 49 Key Performance Indicators

|   S. No. | Key Performance Indicators                                                                                                   |
|----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|      1.1 | Percentage of Pregnant Women receiving four or more antenatal care check-ups against total ANC registration                  |
|      1.2 | Percentage of ANC registered within the first trimester against total ANC registration                                       |
|      1.3 | Percentage of pregnant women (PW) registered for ANC against estimated pregnancies                                           |
|      2   | Percentage of pregnant women taking Supplementary Nutrition under the ICDS programme regularly                               |
|      3.1 | Percentage of Pregnant having severe anaemia treated, against PW having severe anaemia tested cases.                         |
|      3.2 | Percentage of Pregnant Women tested for Haemoglobin (Hb) 4 or more times for respective ANCs, against total ANC registration |
|      4.1 | Sex Ratio at birth                                                                                                           |
|      4.2 | Percentage of institutional deliveries out of total estimated deliveries                                                     |
|      5   | Percentage of home deliveries attended by an SBA (Skilled Birth Attendance) out of total home deliveries                     |
|      6.1 | Percentage of new-borns breastfed within one hour of birth                                                                   |
|      6.2 | Percentage of live born infants with a birth weight 2500 gms                                                                 |
|      6.3 | Proportion of live babies weighed at birth                                                                                   |
|      7   | Percentage of underweight children under 5 years                                                                             |
|      8.1 | Percentage of stunted children under 5 years                                                                                 |
|      8.2 | Percentage of children with Diarrhoea treated with ORS                                                                       |
|      8.3 | Percentage of children with Diarrhoea treated with Zinc                                                                      |
|      8.4 | Percentage of children with ARI in the last 2 weeks taken to a health facility                                               |
|      9.1 | Percentage of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM)                                                                                |
|      9.2 | Percentage of Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM)                                                                              |

|   S. No. | Key Performance Indicators                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
|----------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|     10.1 | Breastfeeding children receiving adequate diet (6-23 months)                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
|     10.2 | Non-Breastfeeding children receiving adequate diet (6-23 months)                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
|     11   | Percentage of children fully immunized (9-11 months) (BCG+ DPT3 + OPV3 + Measles1)                                                                                                                                                                                                |
|     12.1 | Tuberculosis (TB) case notification rate (Public and Private Institutions) as against estimated cases                                                                                                                                                                             |
|     12.2 | TB Treatment success rate among notified TB patients (public and private)                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
|     13.1 | Establishment of Health & Wellness Centres (HWCs)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
|     13.2 | Proportion of Primary Health Centers compliant to Indian Public Health Standards                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
|     13.3 | functional FRUs (First referral units) rate                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
|     13.4 | Availability of specialist services in District hospitals against IPHS norms                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
|     13.5 | Conduct of village health, Sanitation, Nutrition Days                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
|     13.6 | Proportion of Anganwadis with own buildings                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
|     13.7 | Percentage of First referral units (FRU) having labour room and obstetrics OT NQAS certified (i.e., meet LaQShya guidelines)                                                                                                                                                      |
|     14.1 | Transition Rate (a) Primary to Upper Primary level                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
|     14.2 | (b) Upper Primary to Secondary level                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
|     15   | Toilet access: %schools with functional girls' toilets                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
|     16   | Learning outcomes (Average in government schools) (a) Mathematics performance in Class 3 (b) Language performance in Class 3 (c) Mathematics performance in Class 5 (d)Language performance in Class 5 (e) Mathematics performance in Class 8 (f) Language performance in Class 8 |
|     17   | Female literacy rate (15+ Age group)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
|     18   | Percentage of schools with functional drinking water facility                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
|     19   | Percentage of schools with functional electricity facility at secondary level                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
|     20   | Percentage of elementary schools complying with RTE specified Pupil Teacher Ratio                                                                                                                                                                                                 |

| S. No.   | Key Performance Indicators                                                                                                |
|----------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 21       | Percentage of schools providing textbooks to children within 1 month of start of the academic session                     |
| 22       | Water Positive investments and Employment                                                                                 |
| (a)      | Percentage of net sown area under micro-irrigation                                                                        |
| (b)      | Number of water bodies rejuvenated under MGNREGA                                                                          |
| 23       | Crop Insurance- Percentage of net sown area under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)                                |
| 24       | Increase in Critical Inputs usage and supply                                                                              |
| (a)      | 3 (a)Percentage increase in agricultural credit                                                                           |
| (b)      | 3 (b) Certified quality seed distribution                                                                                 |
| 25       | Number of mandi in the district linked to electronic market                                                               |
| 26       | A) Percentage change in Price Realization (Wheat) B) Percentage change in Price Realization (Paddy Common, Paddy Grade A) |
| 27       | Percentage share of high value crops to total sown area in district                                                       |
| 28       | Agricultural productivity of 2 major crops                                                                                |
| 29       | Percentage of animals vaccinated                                                                                          |
| 30       | Artificial Insemination coverage                                                                                          |
| 31       | Number of Soil Health Cards distributed                                                                                   |
| 32       | Total Disbursement of Mudra loan (in rupees) per 1 Lakh population                                                        |
| 33       | Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY ): Number of Enrolments per 1 Lakh population                             |
| 34       | Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY): Number of Enrolments per 1 Lakh population                                   |
| 35       | Atal Pension Yojana (APY): Number of Beneficiaries per 1 Lakh population                                                  |
| 36       | Percentage of bank accounts seeded with Aadhaar as a percentage of total banking accounts                                 |
| 37       | Number of accounts opened under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana                                                            |
| 38       | No of youth certified in short term and long-term training schemes / no of youth in district in age group 15-29           |
| 39       | No of certified youth employed /No of youth trained under short term and long-term training                               |

- S. No. Key Performance Indicators

- 40 Number  of  Apprentices  completing/Total  number  of  trainees registered on the portal

- 41 No of people certified under Recognition of Prior Learning / Non formally skilled workforce

- 42 Number of Vulnerable/Marginalized youth certified trained under short term and long-term training

- a) Women - certified trained,

- b) SC - certified trained

- c) ST - certified trained

- d) OBC - certified trained

- e) Minorities - certified trained

- f) Differently abled - certified trained) / Total Number of youth certified trained

- 43 Percentage of households with electricity connection

- 44 Percentage of Gram panchayats with internet connection

- 45 a) Percentage of habitations with access to all weather roads under PMGSY

- b) Cumulative number of kilometres of all-weather road work completed as a percentage of total sanctioned kilometres in the district under PMGSY

- 46 Percentage of households with Individual Household Latrines

- 47 Percentage  of Rural habitations with access  to  adequate quantity of potable water - 40 lpcd drinking water in rural

- 48 Coverage/  establishment  of  Common  Service  Centres  at  Gram Panchayat level

- 49 Number  of  pucca  houses  constructed  for  household  who  are shelter-less  or  having  one  room  with  kuchha  wall  and  kuchha roof or having 2 room with kuchha wall and roof

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