Gujarat’s Dahod tops among the 108 aspirational districts in Niti Aayog delta ranking; Kupwara placed at lowest

New Delhi, June 30: Dahod district in Gujarat has been adjudged as the top ranking district among the 108 'aspirational districts' by Niti Aayog on the basis of its incremental performance in the past two months since March 31.

 

Notably, the NITI Aayog on Friday launched the first Delta ranking for the Aspirational Districts in which Gujarat’s Dahod has been adjudged as the top ranking district among the 108 'aspirational districts' while Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district is placed at the lowest.

 

Apart from Dahod, other districts including West Sikkim (Sikkim), Ramanathapuram (Tamil Nadu), Vizianagaram (Andhra Pradesh), and YSR Kadapa district (Andhra Pradesh) have shown marked improvement on five developmental parameters in the months of April and May 2018. All these districts are ranked second to fifth respectively.

 

However, Asifabad district of Telangana which was ranked 100 in baseline ranking released in March this year, made significant improvements in past two months and stood at 15 in Delta ranking. Unfortunately, Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir stood at the bottom of the table, while other worst performing districts were Begusarai (Bihar), Ranchi in Jharkhand, Simdega, Khagaria (Bihar).

 

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant after releasing the delta rankings said, “The purpose of this ranking is to spur a sense of competition among the dynamic teams in the districts. Since these districts face many challenges including legacy, unexploited or weak resource base, deficit of manpower at different levels due to difficult living conditions etc, the ranking is also a tool to identify sectors and indicator specific challenges so that Team India, which is driving this programme, can take immediate corrective measures.”

 

Importantly, Niti Aayog’s first Delta ranking (incremental progress) for the list of Aspirational Districts was based on self-reported data of districts between March 31, 2018 to May 31, 2018, across five developmental areas of health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion and skill development and basic infrastructure.