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The Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) was launched in January 2018 with the vision that renewed focus on interventions in the most backward districts of India. Anchored by NITI Aayog, the programme rests on the three pillars:

• Convergence (of Central and State Schemes)
• Collaboration (between Centre, State, District and Citizens)
• Competition (among the districts through NITI Aayog’s Champions of Change dashboard)

This edition of Burning Issues focuses on Best Practices that have been compiled by the Aspirational Districts Programme team of NITI Aayog under various areas of focus that include-

In the cut-throat competition of civil services, each mark counts. “How can I make my answers different from the lot?”  is every aspirant’s constant worry. One way to do so is by quoting EXAMPLES in your answer. So, scroll down and find a list of contemporary best practices in various social sectors. Use these practices as examples in your mains papers to get that extra edge.

 

[I] HEALTH AND NUTRITION

 

1) Arogya Kunji (Chatra Dist. Jharkhand)

Arogya Kunji initiative is an endeavor to ensure accessibility and availability of healthcare facilities in the district. It aims to extend the outreach and efficacy of timely medical aid and healthcare services in rural areas of this district through medical kits.

2) Centralised Kitchens for Better Nutrition (Nandurbar Dist. Maharashtra) 

In order to tackle deep-rooted problems of Malnourishment and Anaemia in the tribal-dominated district, the District Administration has established a Centralised Kitchen to provide hot and nutritious meals to children in residential schools, also known as Ashram Shalas.

3) Model Anganwadi Centres (Ramgarh Dist. Jharkhand)

The District Administration has established Model Anganwadi Centres across blocks to encourage best practices in management and improve learning outcomes.

These Anganwadis host regular outreach and awareness campaigns in the community to promote better health and hygiene, such as VHSNDs (Village, Health, Sanitation & Nutrition Days) that have been benefiting families across blocks. The Model Anganwadis include an upgraded in-house kitchen where nutritious meals are prepared for children to ensure a balanced diet.

4) ‘Hamar Swasthya’ App (Rajnandangaon in Chhattisgarh)

It helps for early detection of Non-Communicable diseases (NCDs) and registers the medical record of patients so that doctors and health workers have access to the medical history of patients and initiate timely treatment and subsequent follow-ups.

5) Hostels for pregnant tribal women (Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh)

The District Administration has constructed Hostels for pregnant women of these villages. All the frontline workers including ASHAs and Anganwadis are creating awareness among the villagers about these Hostels. Pregnant women are brought to the Hostel one month prior to the Expected Delivery Date (EDD). There, they are provided with home-like care and support along with nutritional food and intensive medical care, under the close observation of gynaecologists.

6) Kanya Taru Yojana (Hailakandi in Assam)

For encouraging Hospital Delivery parents of girl children born in any of the Government Hospitals are gifted with 5 saplings (Coconut, Litchi, Assam Lemon, Guava & Amla).

Parents are asked to take care of the saplings like their daughters. The fruits of the trees can be used to feed the child to develop her immunity through Vitamin C in Amla, fight malnutrition by Coconut and the profits earned from the sales could be redirected to investing in the girl’s education and improving green cover of the district.

[II] EDUCATION

 

1) Aakar Residential School for differently-abled (Sukma in Chhattisgarh)

To ensure inclusion of differently-abled students and to reduce their dropout rates, the District has started Aakar Residential School. The School undertakes other special activities catering to the overall need of these children including therapies for their cognitive development.

2) Bal Sansad (Shrawasti and Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh)

Bal Sansad has been established in more than 3,200 schools across the District of Shrawasti in Uttar Pradesh. It provides a platform to young students to express their views on various issues like family, school, society, good values among other things. Students are not only informed about their rights as a citizen but also encouraged to speak freely about them.

3) BALA- Building as Learning Aid (Shrawasti in Uttar Pradesh)

It is an innovative concept for teaching through child-friendly, learning and fun-based physical environment by building new infrastructure or refurbishing the existing School and Anganwadi buildings. The concept was originally developed by Vinyas, Centre for Agricultural Research and Design with the support of UNICEF. BALA includes the development of the entire physical environment of the School – indoor, outdoor and semi-open spaces.

4) Project Second Innings (Dahod in Gujarat)

Project Second Innings was launched by the District Administration to increase attendance of students in schools and their learning outcomes. Retired teachers voluntarily sign-up for teaching primary and upper primary classes in various subjects including languages and Mathematics.

5) Shiksha Saarthi Yojna (Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh)

Shortage of teachers in schools of rural areas is a major reason for poor learning outcomes. The main reason for the shortage is that teachers from urban areas are unwilling to move to rural areas due to lack of infrastructural facilities. To address this issue and ensure the availability of teachers in primary schools, Shiksha Saarthi Yojna was launched.

After the appointment of Shiksha Saarthis, student enrolments, attendance and proficiency level in all subjects have risen.

[III] AGRICULTURE AND WATER RESOURCES

 

1) Agriculture Entrepreneur Scheme (Ramgarh in Jharkhand)

It is a promising example of coordination between District Administration, CSOs and local citizens to develop a sustainable and scalable model of Agricultural development. The scheme involves imparting training to selected ‘Agri-Entrepreneurs’ for the incorporation of best practices in farming for a cost-effective and profitable model of Agricultural development.

2) Horticulture Price Agreement Initiative (Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh)

To make farming a profitable venture, this initiative was launched. The initiative has forward and backward linkages and guarantees procurement at maximum price & partnership in local microprocessing units for farmers, while generating employment for the local youth. The target groups in this Scheme are small and marginal farmers, families with female heads, families with specially challenged people as head of the family and farmers of deprived castes.

3) Sarvajal Project (Udham Singh Nagar in Uttarakhand)

The project involves the installation of customised and decentralized drinking water solutions.

It leverages technology to bring community-level safe drinking water to the underserved. The solar-powered, cloud-connected water dispensing kiosks installed under the project have enabled citizens residing in remote areas, accessibility to clean palatable water.

4) ‘Taanka’ technique for rainwater harvesting and water conservation (Sonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh)

Taankas are underground rainwater storage tanks up to the capacity of 25,000 litres. This initiative follows the standard rainwater harvesting technique wherein rainwater from rooftops is collected through gutters and then made to pass through a sieve before being stored. Use of taankas has helped the district save enough water for lean summer months when the water demand is at its peak and supply invariably falls short.

[IV] FINANCIAL INCLUSION AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT

 

1) Solar MAMAs (Gumla in Jharkhand)

In the remote district, few hamlets have not yet been electrified due to scattered settlements, difficult topography and challenges of inaccessibility. To mitigate this challenge, the District Administration had organised local women in SHGs and trained them with skills needed for fabrication of solar panels, lights and photovoltaic circuits. These women are fondly addressed as Solar Mamas.

2) Khawa cluster concept (Osmanabad in Maharashtra)

In order to keep themselves afloat during severe droughts, farmers, within a Khawa cluster have come together, as an alternative to selling only milk. Khoya or Khawa (reduced dry milk) as a product has more demand and shelf life than milk and every farmer makes a profit for every litre. Farmers have organised themselves in cooperatives and are pooling their cattle for making Khawa (milk solids) from their daily milk production.

[V] BASIC INFRASTRUCTURE

 

1) Green technologies in Road Construction (Goalpara in Assam)

Depleting natural resources and closure of stone quarries had gravely hampered the progress of all-weather road construction. Despite this challenge, in order to provide all-weather connectivity to citizens, the district adopted various Green technologies for the construction of roads. Through this measure, apart from reducing dependence on natural resources and recycling waste plastic, the district has also been able to bring down the cost of construction and maintenance.

The technologies deployed by the district for construction of roads are-  Waste Plastic Technology, Cell Filled Concrete Technology, Geogrid Technology (Tenax 3D Grids), Cold Mix Technology and Interlocking Concrete Pavement Block (ICBP).

2) ‘Liter of Light’ Portable Lights (Ranchi in Jharkhand)

Here, women of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) are being trained to lighten the lives of villagers in the district by producing portable room lights, designed and developed by the students of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai.

Recycled plastic bottles filled with water and a bit of bleach are fitted into the roof to provide lighting during the day, while at night, the same is upgraded with an LED bulb, micro-solar panels and a battery to provide a low-cost night lighting system.

3) Patsendri: A model colony under PMAY (Mahasamund in Chhattisgarh)

A Model Colony has been developed under the PM Awas Yojana (PMAY), with convergence between various physical work-related schemes and social sector schemes. Further expanding on this initiative, the District Administration has initiated convergence of various social sector schemes in Patsendri, and created a self-sustainable model for capacity building, employment generation, development & positive use of social capital, with a focus on the Patsendri Community.

Firstly, the convergence of schemes has led to the development of a Model Colony, wherein the houses, community hall, drainage, CC road have been built under PMAY, toilets are built under NREGA, electricity connection is provided under the Saubhagya Yojana, transformers, poles, etc. are provided under the Mukhya Mantri Majra-Tola Vidyutikaran Yojana, & water supply is provided under the Nal-Jal Yojana by the Public Health Department.

4) Swajal Water Testing (Barpeta, Assam)

The greatest threat to public health from Arsenic originates from contaminated groundwater. High levels of inorganic Arsenic is naturally present in the groundwater of the Aspirational District of Barpeta in Assam. Contaminated water used for the purpose of food preparation and drinking poses a great threat to the public. With community ownership and through participative planning, villagers, especially women in Barpeta, were sensitized about safe water practices and trained to use Field Testing Kits to ascertain the quality of drinking water.

[VI] GOVERNANCE

 

1) BDO Scorecards (Hazaribagh in Jharkhand)

To motivate the Block Development Officers (BDOs) who are the true foot soldiers of rural development in our country, here the District Administration has taken a first-of-its-kind initiative by devising a ‘BDO Scorecard’ to assess the performance of the BDOs in a transparent manner while taking into account the officers’ self-assessment.

Civil Servants are the first point of contact for citizens with the Government, and a motivated civil service is the best instrument to achieve outcomes desired by the State and society.

2) Lok Sewak App (Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh)

This district has established a new dimension in the direction of good governance by using the Lok Sewak App; an e-attendance and field monitoring tool that uses Geo-tagging technology. Through this App, the district has ensured the presence of Government officials at workplace thereby leading to significant improvement in the quantum and quality of work and facilitating their accessibility to the public.

The App has also ensured the availability of ASHA, Anganwadi workers, teachers and other key frontline workers involved in the implementation of various programmes.

3) Infrastructure Snapshot App (Goalpara in Assam)

Infrastructure Snapshot App, an innovative Android-based mobile application is a one-of-its-kind application developed specifically for the monitoring of Public Institutions like Government Offices, Schools, Health Centres and effective implementation of Government Schemes.

The App has smart features like GPS location-based service to capture current location in both online and offline modes with data sync facility, filing grievances for issues pertaining to infrastructure, recording absence of Government personnel like doctors, teachers, Anganwadi workers, etc. along with pictorial evidence.

The objective of the App is to reduce the gap between the public and the Administration and provide stepping stones for good governance through harnessing ICT.

The App has led to an increment in the resolution of public grievances and fast service delivery to the public. The App has also multiplied the community’s involvement in uplifting and ameliorating the District Infrastructure.

The App also serves as a platform for registering any emergency including disaster alerts, reporting issues pertaining to domestic violence, etc.

4) Maha Land Bank System (Washim in Maharashtra)

This district has created a unique repository of Government Land on a Portal, as a part of a State-wide programme in Maharashtra. The Land Bank serves as a repository of information for taking policy decisions on the allocation of Government Land such as the provision of Affordable Housing, Irrigation, Public Supply, Self-supplied Industries, Aquaculture, Mining, Tree Plantation, etc.

5) Meekosam Meal Scheme (Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh)

Labourers and daily wage workers coming to file their grievances and attend proceedings of the grievance cell, from places as far as 100 km will henceforth not have to return empty stomach.

For a meal worth ` 28/-, ` 10/- is collected from the petitioner and balance ` 18 is directly paid to the owner of the canteen. This initiative has resulted in a sharp rise in the number of petitioners attending grievance cell meetings.

For more insights into other best practices, you can refer to the document below. But the list above is also comprehensive and sufficient for mains exams.

With inputs from:

NITI Aayog Report on Best Practices in Aspirational Districts