Aspirational District Programme (ADP)

  Jul 11, 2022

Q. Why is this in news?

A. The PM has hoped to extend the Aspirational District Programme (ADP) to block and city levels.

Q. What is Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP)?

A. 

• Launched in January 2018, the ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ initiative aims to remove this heterogeneity through a mass movement to quickly and effectively transform these districts.
• The broad contours of the program are Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers & District Collectors), and Competition among districts driven by a spirit of mass Movement.
• With States as the main drivers, this program will focus on the strength of each district, identify low-hanging fruits for immediate improvement, measure progress, and rank districts.

Q. What about selection of districts?

A. 

• A total of 117 Aspirational districts have been identified by NITI Aayog based upon composite indicators.
• The objective of the program is to monitor the real-time progress of aspirational districts based on 49 indicators (81 data points) from the 5 identified thematic areas.

Weightage has been accorded to these districts as below:

• Health & Nutrition (30%)
• Education (30%)
• Agriculture & Water Resources (20%)
• Financial Inclusion & Skill Development (10%)
• Basic Infrastructure (10%)

Q. What is the Strategy of the ADP?

A. The core Strategy of the program may be summarized as follows.

• Making development a mass movement in these districts
• Identify low hanging fruits and the strength of each district, to act as a catalyst
• for development.
• Measure progress and rank districts to spur a sense of competition.
• Districts shall aspire to become State’s best to Nation’s best.

Q. What are the Features of the ADP?

A. 

• It has transformed into a Jan Andolan.
• The ADP is different in trying to monitor the improvement of these districts through real-time data tracking.
• The programme seeks to develop convergence between selected existing central and state government programmes.
• District performance in the public domain and experience building of the district bureaucracy is another notable feature.
• The programme is targeted, not towards any single group of beneficiaries, but rather towards the population of the district as a whole.

Q. What makes this program special?
A. The program reflects what has become of the development project in India under neoliberalism, especially after the end of planning.

• Long overdue sectors have been given more emphasis.
• It is not a tailor-made program with one-size-fit strategy. More onus has been laid on the districts. It has a district-intervention strategy.
• It works on the principle of SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity and threats) model and comparison with national best parameters for effective resource management.
• It is the most reviewed programme by the Prime Minister.
• A general idea behind the idea is that a good work never goes un-noticed. It is duly appreciated on social media as well as by the officials.

Q. What are the Issues with the programme?

A. 

• Using the case of Bihar, they argue that the programmes selection of districts itself is problematic.
• In fact, it actually excludes the most backward districts because per capita income, the most basic measure of development, has not been considered.
• There seems to be some ambiguity around the issue of whether the programme is concerned only with improved access or also with the quality of service provided.
• The indicators used are not defined relationally, rather they are static human development indicators that do not see people mired in dynamic social relations.
• It is also accused that the state is not making any new or focused public investment (except for possible use of Flexi-funds) into these districts, on the other hand, it is moralizing about their inability to improve (through rankings).
• The programme is carrying the burden of proving the government’s “developmental” work without addressing any of the fundamental issues around achieving equitable development.