PM to review 30 underdeveloped districts on Nov 6

NEWDELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 6 will review the performance of 30 of the 117 most underdeveloped districts in the country on various indicators such as health, nutrition, education and agriculture.

These districts were identified by the Niti Aayog and come under the government’s “Transformation of Aspirational Districts Programme” “This is first time that the focus would be exclusively on 30 aspirational districts,” a senior government official said.

Twenty have shown ‘best improvement’ and 10 ‘ l ow progress’ on various development indices, according to a communique to the ministries and departments concerned. It stated that the prime minister has decided to include the aspirational districts programme as one of the agenda items in the forthcoming PRAGATI meeting, scheduled to be held on November 6.

PRAGATI is an interactive platform to address grievances and review programmes. The PM will interact with chief secretaries and secretaries to review the progress made by these 30 most underdeveloped districts on various indicators like health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion and skill development and basic infrastructure, officials said. “The identification of 10 districts and their selection has been arrived at on the basis of slow improvement, as well as, the district not having been able to secure any rank for getting an additional allocation, the commuique said.