NITI launches ranking of ‘aspirational’ 101 districts

NEW DELHI, Mar 28: NITI Aayog has come up with a mechanism under which 101 most underdeveloped districts of the country termed as ‘aspirational’ would be competing with each other in terms of performance and they will be ranked on 49 indicators based on various data points.
The 49 indicators on 81 data points will cover five development areas of health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion and skill development and basic infrastructure.
From the beginning of next fiscal year from April 1, this real-time data collection and monitoring will be open for public viewing.
The ranking of districts follows the launch of ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January with an aim to quickly and effectively transform some of the most underdeveloped districts in the country.
As per the baseline ranking, Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh is ranked highest with score of 48.13 per cent while Mewat in Haryana tails at the end with 26.02 per cent.
Among others, Asifabad (Telengana), Singrauli (Madhya Pradesh), Kiphire (Nagaland), Shrawasti, Siddarthnagar and Balrampur (Uttar Pradesh), Namsai (Arunachal Pradesh), Sukma (Chattisgarh) are ranked at bottom of the list.
While on top of the list among others include Rajnandgaon (Chhattisgarh), Osmanabad (Maharashtra), Cuddapah (Andhra Pradesh), Ramanathapuram (Tamil Nadu), Udham Singh Nagar (Uttarakhand), Mahasamund (Chhattisgarh), Khammam (Telangana), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh).