NEW DELHI: India boasts of the second largest population in the world and has a critical role to play in the world’s achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). An assessment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) shows that it has worked to galvanise the socioeconomic improvement of the most underdeveloped districts in the country.
“ADP marks an important shift from pursuing economic growth per se to focusing on achieving meaningful social progress,” says Professor Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School. “It benchmarks in 112 less developed Indian districts, and enables partnerships among states in driving success. The program focuses on practical and measurable social progress outcomes that are critical to expanding shared prosperity among all citizens,” he says.
Accelerate improvement
Launched in January 2018 to accelerate improvement in the socio-economic indicators of the most underdeveloped districts of the country, the programme has been implemented in 112 of India’s 739 districts, spread across the country. The ADP is a collective effort.
At the Central level, NITI Aayog is anchoring the programme and individual ministries have assumed responsibilities to drive the progress of the districts. Yet it is the state governments that are the main drivers of change. Each state has formed a committee under their respective Chief Secretary to implement as well as track the programme.
Besides, for each district a central Prabhari Officer of the rank of Additional Secretary/Joint Secretary has been appointed to provide feedback and recommendations based on their local level findings.
According to a recent assessment of the programme by Michael Green, Chief Executive Officer at the Centre for Environmental Health, and Dr. Amit Kapoor, Chair of the Institute for Competitiveness and a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, the ADP has worked to galvanise socioeconomic improvement of the most underdeveloped districts in the country. “We find that there are several ways the project contributes to enhancing the social progress of the region, says a study by the two.
Social parameters
By measuring the current state of various social parameters and highlighting the most pressing issues, the programme recognises that focusing solely on economic parameters will not lead to inclusive development in India. These social challenges might hamper future economic growth as well, the authors feel.
By focusing on underdeveloped pockets of India, it will help in addressing the issue of regional disparities. And by embedding partners within the institutional rubric of the Government and encouraging them to integrate with the district administration, instead of them functioning as external practitioners of development, the programme adopts a unique approach that can lead to maximum social and human development.
Future focus areas
The assessment of the programme reveals insights that can provide direction to the programme leaders and implementing agencies about future focus areas; it can help in unlocking the full potential of the programme and can provide guidance for replicating the programme across different geographies. This study also sheds light on the economic benefits that the country can derive by addressing social challenges.
In health and nutrition, for example, the economic impact of reducing Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) among children is felt through the effects on productivity and lifetime learning. The overall economic impact for all the states (only looking at Aspirational Districts) of reducing SAM is estimated to be a mammoth1.43 lakh crore. Similarly, the impact of providing household latrines is around Rs. 400 crore.
The study underlines that competition through district rankings provides a way to progress; the districts at a lower level that are catching up are able to progress faster
