The DMs shared their experience which has led to improvement of performance of their districts on a host of indicators. The Prime Minister sought direct feedback from them about the key steps taken by them which has resulted in success in the districts, and about the challenges faced by them in this endeavour. He also asked them about how working under the aspirational districts programme has been different from their work done earlier. The officers discussed how JanBhagidari has been a key factor behind this success. They spoke about how they kept people working in their team motivated on a daily basis, and made efforts to develop the feeling that they were not doing a job but were performing a service. They also spoke about increased inter-departmental coordination and benefits of data driven governance.
CEO, NITI Aayog gave an overview of the progress and implementation of the Aspirational District programme. He mentioned how the programme leveraged competitive and cooperative federalism, driven by a Team India spirit. The efforts have resulted in these districts performing remarkably better in every parameter, a fact which has been recognized independently by global experts as well. The best practises like smart classroom initiative from Banka, Bihar; Mission Aparajita to prevent child marriages in Koraput, Odisha etc. were replicated by other districts as well. Analysis of performance of districts vis-a-vis stability of tenure of key officials of the district was also presented.
Rural Development Secretary gave a presentation on a mission to uplift 142 selected districts, on the lines of the focussed work done in the aspirational districts. Centre and State will work together to uplift these identified districts to address the pockets of under-development. 15 sectors corresponding to 15 Ministries and Departments were identified. In the sectors, key performance indicators (KPIs) were identified. The aim of the government is to ensure that the KPIs in the selected districts surpass the state average in the next one year and that they come at par with national average in two years. Each concerned Ministry/Department has identified its set of KPIs, on the basis of which, districts were selected. The initiative is aimed at achieving saturation of various schemes by various departments in the districts in mission mode, in convergence with all stakeholders. Secretaries of various Ministries and Departments presented an overview of an action plan about how their ministries will go about in achieving these targets.
Addressing the officials, the Prime Minister noted that when the aspirations of others become your aspirations, when fulfilling the dreams of others becomes the measure of your success, then that path of duty creates history. Today we are seeing this history being made in the aspirational districts of the country, he added.
The Prime Minister noted that various factors led to a situation where aspirational districts, in the past, started lagging behind. In order to facilitate holistic development, special hand-holding was done for the aspirational districts. The situation has changed now as today, Aspirational Districts are eliminating the barriers of the progress of the country. The Aspirational Districts are becoming an accelerator instead of an obstacle. The Prime Minister underlined the expansion and redesigning that has taken place due to the campaign in the Aspirational Districts. This has given a concrete form to the federal spirit and culture of the Constitution, the basis of which is the team work of centre-state and local administration, the Prime Minister said.
Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb in his tweet said “Attended the VC in which Hon PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji interacted with DMs of aspirational districts. The PM reviewed the performance of various ongoing projects & directed the officials to achieve the saturation of schemes at mission mode in collaboration with all stakeholders. I am sure all district magistrates of #Tripura will follow the steps suggested by the Hon’ble PM and we will ensure the effective delivery of government schemes to the beneficiaries”.