The holy city of Haridwar, Uttarakhand, has been declared as the best aspirational district of India by the NITI Aayog. Haridwar has secured first rank in basic infrastructure theme, and has become entitled to receive an additional allocation of Rs 3 crore from the NITI Aayog.
Haridwar was allocated to Piyush Goyal, the Union Minister of Commerce and Industries who has been taking keen interest in making Haridwar the best aspirational district of the country. According to the District Collector, Vinay Shankar Pandey, Haridwar was lagging behind in the health sector among the five parameters—health & nutrition; education; agriculture & water resources; financial inclusion & skill development; and infrastructure. Therefore, the allocated money would be utilised to improve the health sector, including the sub-district hospitals in Roorkee and Haridwar District Hospital.
The government is committed to raising the living standard of the people of Haridwar through inclusive growth for all, i.e., ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas aur Sabka Vishwas’.
What is Aspirational Districts Programme?
Aspirational Districts Programme was launched by the Prime Minister of India in January 2018 in order to quickly and effectively transform the 112 districts most under-developed in key socio-economic areas across India. The main idea of the programme is centred around the three C’s: convergence of the central and state schemes; collaboration of the central and state level Prabhari Officers, and District Collectors; and competition among districts through monthly delta ranking. This programme is essentially aimed at localising the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs), and leading the nation towards progress.
This programme focuses on the strength of each district through identifying its easy-to-solve problems for immediate improvement and measuring progress by ranking districts through monthly delta ranking. (The delta ranking of the aspirational districts consists of the innovative use of data with pragmatic administration. The ranking is based on the incremental progress made through 49 key performance indicators (KPIs) under the above-mentioned five parameters.)
Aspirational districts are encouraged to first catch up with the best district within their state, and subsequently aspire to become one of the best cities in the country. NITI Aayog works closely with the respective ministries and various development partners to ensure quick progress at the district level. Various programmes, such as Saksham Bitiya Abhiyan, Anemia Mukt Bharat, and Surakshit Hum Surakshit Tum, are some of the flagship initiatives taken up by the NITI Aayog in this regard. These districts are also encouraged to develop and replicate best practices that drive improvement across the socio-economic themes.
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