PM Launches Aspirational Block Programme Aimed at Spurring Development Parameters: The government’s Aspirational Block Programme (ABP), which was announced by the prime minister, aims to boost the performance of blocks that are falling behind on several development parameters. The Aspirational Blocks Programme is on the lines of the Aspirational District Programme that was launched in 2018 and covers 112 districts across the country.
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
About Aspirational Block Programme (ABP):
- The Centre had announced its intention to launch this initiative in the Union Budget 2022-23.
- The programme will cover 500 districts across 31 states and Union Territories initially.
- Six states account for more than half of these blocks: West Bengal (29), Bihar (61), Madhya Pradesh (42), Jharkhand (34) and Uttar Pradesh (68). (29).
- However, states can add more blocks to the programme later.
Ranking of these Blocks:
NITI Aayog in partnership with the states will release a quarterly ranking of these blocks based on their performance on development indicators covering sectors such as health, education and nutrition among others.
About Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP):
- Launched in January 2018, the ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ initiative aims to remove this heterogeneity through a mass movement to quickly and effectively transform these districts.
- The program’s main tenets include convergence (of central and state schemes), collaboration (between central, state-level “Prabhari” officers, and district collectors), and competition (among districts) fostered by a spirit of mass movement.
- 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.
Features of the ADP:
- It has transformed into a Jan Andolan.
- The ADP is different in trying to monitor the improvement of these districts through real-time data tracking.
- The programme aims to create convergence between a few current programmes of the federal and state governments.District performance in the public domain and experience building of the district bureaucracy is another notable feature.
- The programme is targeted, not towards any single group of beneficiaries, but rather towards the population of the district as a whole.
Selection of districts:
Based on composite metrics, NITI Aayog has recognised 117 Aspirational districts in total. The objective of the program is to monitor the real-time progress of aspirational districts based on 49 indicators (81 data points) from the 5 identified thematic areas.
Weightage has been accorded to these districts as below:
- Health & Nutrition (30%)
- Education (30%)
- Agriculture & Water Resources (20%)
- Financial Inclusion & Skill Development (10%)
- Basic Infrastructure (10%).
