- The NITI Aayog on December 27, 2018 released the Second Delta ranking for the Aspirational Districts which measures the incremental progress made by them between June 1, 2018 and October 31, 2018, across six developmental areas of Health and Nutrition, Education, Agriculture and Water Resources, Financial Inclusion, Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure.
- The ranking factors in validated data from Household Surveys conducted by NITI Aayog’s knowledge partners, namely, TATA Trusts and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (IDInsight).
- The Surveys were carried out in all Aspirational Districts during the month of June 2018 covering more than 1,00,000 households. These surveys were used to validate critical data-points and provide inputs for nine further data-points for which district-level data is not readily available at regular intervals.
In the overall ranking, the most improved districts are as follows:
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Rank District State 1 Virudhunagar Tamil Nadu 2 Nuapada Odisha 3 Siddharthnagar Uttar Pradesh 4 Aurangabad Bihar 5 Koraput Odisha
The Second Delta ranking also details the following districts as Least Improved over the period of June – October 2018:
| District | State |
| 107 | Kiphire | Nagaland |
| 108 | Giridih | Jharkhand |
| 109 | Chatra | Jharkhand |
| 110 | Hailakandi | Assam |
| 111 | Pakur | Jharkhand |
The districts which have shown great initiative and displayed a qualitative jump in their scores between June and October 2018, have been dubbed as ‘Fast Movers’:
| District, State | June 2018 | October 2018 |
| Kupwara, Jammu and Kashmir | 108 | 7 |
| Ranchi, Jharkhand | 106 | 10 |
| Siddharthnagar, Uttar Pradesh | 103 | 3 |
| Jamui, Bihar | 99 | 9 |
| Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh | 82 | 25 |
What is ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ programme?
- Launched by the Prime Minister in January 2018, the ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ programme aims to quickly and effectively transform some of the most underdeveloped districts of the country.
- The broad contours of the programme are Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers & District Collectors), and Competition among districts driven by a Mass Movement or a Jan Andolan. 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.
- To enable optimum utilization of their potential, this program focuses closely on improving people’s ability to participate fully in the burgeoning economy. Health & Nutrition, Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial Inclusion & Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure are this programme’s core areas of focus.
- After several rounds of consultations with various stakeholders, 49 key performance indicators have been chosen to measure progress of the districts. Districts are prodded and encouraged to first catch-up with the best district within their state, and subsequently aspire to become one of the best in the country, by competing with, and learning from others in the spirit of competitive & cooperative federalism.
