Guj’s Dahod tops Niti Aayog’s list of aspirational districts

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

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

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.

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).

The Niti Aayog has ranked 108 districts on the basis of the improvements achieved in five developmental areas by them between March 31 to May 31, 2018.

The delta rankings were released on Friday by Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant.

Mr Kant said that out of 115 aspirational districts, only 108 particiapated in the first Delta ranking. While 3 districts of West Bengal did not participate in the ranking, Odisha and Kerala had sent their entries late and hence they could not be included in the ranking exercise.

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.