Par panel asks NITI Aayog to improve data quality for evaluating backward districts

A Parliamentary panel has asked government think tank NITI Aayog to improve the quality of data and use technology while evaluating and ranking backward districts under the Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP). A report of the Standing Committee on Finance, chaired by BJP MP Jayant Sinha, said the panel in its earlier report has continuously highlighted its concerns regarding the staff crunch and quality of data that is being collected by NITI Aayog.

It said the committee would like to reiterate its earlier recommendation that more emphasis needs to be placed and concrete steps undertaken to improve the quality of data.

''The Committee recommend that NITI Aayog should have necessary and qualified staff at the district level to ensure that high-quality data is supplied for evaluating and ranking the backward districts under ADP,'' the report said. The committee further desires that greater use of technology be made in data collection and such data be verified through actual field workers, it added.

Aspirational Districts Programme, launched in January 2018, aims to transform 112 districts that have shown relatively lesser progress in key social areas.

The ranking of 112 aspirational districts is done every month by NITI Aayog.

In its action taken reply, the Ministry of Planning said, ''In order to ensure that ground level data are reflected accurately, NITI Aayog has worked out a series of measures which include spot verification by an independent party to ascertain whether the benefit of the scheme has already reached the households.'' Meanwhile, YSR District in Andhra Pradesh has topped the list of aspirational districts ranked by NITI Aayog for the month of June 2022.

Barwani (Madhya Pradesh) and Chattarpur (Madhya Pradesh) have been ranked at the second and third positions, respectively, NITI Aayog said in a tweet on Tuesday.

Visakhapatnam (Andhra Padesh) and Dhalai (Tripura) were at the fourth and fifth places, respectively The rankings took into account incremental progress made by over 112 aspirational districts across six developmental areas.

Health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion, skill development and basic infrastructure were the development areas that were taken into consideration for the ranking.