THE ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROJECT IS TRANSFORMATIVE

health and nutrition, education, financial inclusion, agriculture and water resources, skill development and basic infrastructure. Not all dimensions are considered equal in the construction of the composite index for each district, acknowledging the specific nature of India’s development challenges. Second, through its efforts to collect, distill and disseminate data, the programme is grounded thoroughly in evidence. The NITI Aayog has created a dashboard to monitor real-time progress in the districts. Till date, no other developing country has undertaken a data-driven programme of this massive scale to advance the holistic development of one-fifth of its population.

Third, the ADP echoes the government’s belief that states and districts should have a greater voice in their development. It truly embodies

India’s shift toward cooperative federalism. The local, state and central governments work together to design, implement and monitor measures to drive development in the districts. The strong belief that underlies this strategy is that each district’s advantages and challenges are different.

The local government is in a unique position to understand the complexities of the districts. They can experiment with different measures to enhance socio-economic development on the ground. Fourth, the programme is a collaborative effort between government, various foundations and civil society.

On April 14, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Bijapur in Chhattisgarh. The district, affected by Leftwing extremism and poor connectivity, is one of 115 ADP districts. Despite challenges, the district has achieved progress. The PM visit acknowledged the importance of such districts for India’s economy. Together, over 250 million people reside in these aspirational districts. Without improving human development and strengthening the economic situation of these regions, India as a whole cannot achieve significant progress.