•  Niti Aayog has released the Second Delta Ranking of the Aspirational Districts Programme. The ranking details the incremental progress achieved by the districts during June to October this year across six key development sectors.

How are districts ranked?

• The districts have been ranked in a transparent basis on parameters across various performance indicators like Health and Nutrition, Education, Skill Development and Basic Infrastructure among others.
• The rankings are based on the data that is publicly available through the Champions of Change Dashboard, which includes data entered on a real-time basis at the district level.

Important highlights:

• Virudhunagar (Tamil Nadu), Naupada (Odisha) and Sidharthnagar (Uttar Pradesh) have emerged as the top three districts.
• Pakur (Jharkhand), Hailakandi (Assam) and Chatra (Jharkhand) are three least improved aspirational districts, according to the second delta ranking released by the Aayog.
• The delta rankings measures the incremental progress made by 111 aspirational districts between June 1, 2018, and October 31, 2018, across six developmental areas.
• The development areas include health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion, skill development, and basic infrastructure.
• The first delta ranking for aspirational districts was released in June 2018.
• Most improved top three districts in health and nutrition are Chitrakoot (Uttar Pradesh), Barwani (Madhya Pradesh) and Vidisha (Madhya Pradesh), while the least improved three districts are Chatra (Jharkhand), Pakur (Jharkhand) and Hazaribagh (Jharkhand).
• Also, most improved top three districts in agriculture and water resources are Sitamarhi (Bihar), Gajapati (Odisha) and Dhalal (Tripura) while the least improved three districts are Giridih (Jharkhand), Hailakandi (Assam) and Begusarai (Bihar).

About ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ programme

• This programme is launched in January this year with the main aim 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.