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 Page 1


POLICIES AND 
PROGRAMMES
SECTION-II
Page 2


POLICIES AND 
PROGRAMMES
SECTION-II
INTRODUCTION
NITI Aayog plays an integrative role—with 
the active involvement of States, the civil 
society, and other think tanks—in the 
development of a shared vision of national 
priorities and strategies in critical areas of 
human and economic development.
One of the main objectives of NITI Aayog 
is to design strategic and long-term policy 
and programme frameworks and initiatives 
and monitor their progress and efficacy. 
In 2021–22, NITI Aayog took the lead in 
setting up sectoral targets and fostering an 
environment of innovation and cooperation 
by bringing together technology, enterprise, 
and efficient management at the core of 
policy formulation and implementation.
POLICIES AND 
PROGRAMMES
13
Annual Report 2021–22
Page 3


POLICIES AND 
PROGRAMMES
SECTION-II
INTRODUCTION
NITI Aayog plays an integrative role—with 
the active involvement of States, the civil 
society, and other think tanks—in the 
development of a shared vision of national 
priorities and strategies in critical areas of 
human and economic development.
One of the main objectives of NITI Aayog 
is to design strategic and long-term policy 
and programme frameworks and initiatives 
and monitor their progress and efficacy. 
In 2021–22, NITI Aayog took the lead in 
setting up sectoral targets and fostering an 
environment of innovation and cooperation 
by bringing together technology, enterprise, 
and efficient management at the core of 
policy formulation and implementation.
POLICIES AND 
PROGRAMMES
13
Annual Report 2021–22
ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME
The Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) completed four years in January 2022—with nearly two 
of those years in the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic. As such, the ADP has been part of an 
unprecedented period in the lifetime of the Districts—and what has emerged is promising.
Since its launch, the Programme has been devising strategies to work with the Districts based on its 
three ‘Cs’ approach: studying ways to enable convergence of District, State and Central-level initiatives; 
facilitating collaborations between civil society organizations, communities and District Administrations 
towards a common goal; and fostering a healthy spirit of competition by releasing monthly ranks on 
the Districts’ performances.
Despite being severely affected by the second wave, the Districts showed remarkable agility in 
maintaining their focus on the delivery of basic services. The Districts have managed to revive 
performance on various key indicators under the Programme, despite the arduous task of vaccinating 
the eligible population, which was an additional responsibility for them this year. 
The Champions of Change dashboard—which monitors the performance of all 112 Aspirational 
Districts on the key performance indicators under the five thematic categories of ‘Health and Nutrition’, 
‘Education’, ‘Agriculture and Water Resources’, ‘Skill Development and Financial Inclusion’ and ‘Basic 
Infrastructure’—in its upgraded version facilitates advanced data analytics and additionally provides 
monthly performance and data quality reports to the Districts.
Since the inception of the Programme, all the Aspirational Districts have shown improvement across 
socio-economic indicators, overall- and sector-wise, as illustrated below.
Overall
Health and Nutrition
Education
Agriculture & Water Resources
14
Annual Report 2021–22
POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES
Page 4


POLICIES AND 
PROGRAMMES
SECTION-II
INTRODUCTION
NITI Aayog plays an integrative role—with 
the active involvement of States, the civil 
society, and other think tanks—in the 
development of a shared vision of national 
priorities and strategies in critical areas of 
human and economic development.
One of the main objectives of NITI Aayog 
is to design strategic and long-term policy 
and programme frameworks and initiatives 
and monitor their progress and efficacy. 
In 2021–22, NITI Aayog took the lead in 
setting up sectoral targets and fostering an 
environment of innovation and cooperation 
by bringing together technology, enterprise, 
and efficient management at the core of 
policy formulation and implementation.
POLICIES AND 
PROGRAMMES
13
Annual Report 2021–22
ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME
The Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) completed four years in January 2022—with nearly two 
of those years in the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic. As such, the ADP has been part of an 
unprecedented period in the lifetime of the Districts—and what has emerged is promising.
Since its launch, the Programme has been devising strategies to work with the Districts based on its 
three ‘Cs’ approach: studying ways to enable convergence of District, State and Central-level initiatives; 
facilitating collaborations between civil society organizations, communities and District Administrations 
towards a common goal; and fostering a healthy spirit of competition by releasing monthly ranks on 
the Districts’ performances.
Despite being severely affected by the second wave, the Districts showed remarkable agility in 
maintaining their focus on the delivery of basic services. The Districts have managed to revive 
performance on various key indicators under the Programme, despite the arduous task of vaccinating 
the eligible population, which was an additional responsibility for them this year. 
The Champions of Change dashboard—which monitors the performance of all 112 Aspirational 
Districts on the key performance indicators under the five thematic categories of ‘Health and Nutrition’, 
‘Education’, ‘Agriculture and Water Resources’, ‘Skill Development and Financial Inclusion’ and ‘Basic 
Infrastructure’—in its upgraded version facilitates advanced data analytics and additionally provides 
monthly performance and data quality reports to the Districts.
Since the inception of the Programme, all the Aspirational Districts have shown improvement across 
socio-economic indicators, overall- and sector-wise, as illustrated below.
Overall
Health and Nutrition
Education
Agriculture & Water Resources
14
Annual Report 2021–22
POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES
Financial Inclusion & Skill Development Basic Infrastructure
The ADP has also been striving towards bridging the uneven growth among the Districts. The 
Programme has consequently emerged as a platform for collaboration with the community, including 
civil society organizations, NGOs, and development partners, to resolve District-specific issues. Whether 
it is the improvement of foundational literacy and numeracy or health and nutrition outcomes, the ADP 
has enabled focused efforts towards long-standing development goals. Identification of a core set of 
indicators has facilitated the alignment of priorities of the Government as well as non-government 
organizations. Notably, as a development partner, Piramal Foundation has collaborated to work across 
all the 112 Aspirational Districts.
This forms part of the future course that the Programme has been charting for itself. Specifically, the 
Programme has been focusing on outreach activities and the involvement of communities in bringing 
about transformation in these Districts. This has resulted in the creation of the Aspirational Districts 
Collaborative by involving hyper-local contributors and community stakeholders to drive social-behaviour 
change at scale, and to achieve better results in the parameters of ‘Education’ and ‘Health and 
Nutrition’. The initiative involves association with local institutional players (like local NGOs, colleges, 
media, women self-help groups, panchayat samitis and faith leaders) to leverage deep community 
knowledge and facilitate behaviour change at the community level.
To date, 914 NGOs have been onboarded to channelize their 
efforts towards meeting the emerging needs of the Districts 
and to ensure that there is no duplication of efforts.
Another direction in which the Programme will continue to 
focus its efforts is towards guiding all State Governments in 
replicating the ADP template at the block level. Special focus 
on development at the block level is crucial for the rapid and 
sustainable transformation of these Districts—but sustainably. 
While block-level governance has been a matter of discussion 
for decades, the Programme’s focus on the same in some of 
the most backward Districts, along with enabling them to build 
technological capacity, holds immense potential. NITI Aayog has 
created a handbook for the transformation of under-developed 
blocks, which has been shared with the Chief Secretaries of 
all the States and the District Magistrates/Collectors of all the 
Aspirational Districts. 
15
POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES
Annual Report 2021–22
Page 5


POLICIES AND 
PROGRAMMES
SECTION-II
INTRODUCTION
NITI Aayog plays an integrative role—with 
the active involvement of States, the civil 
society, and other think tanks—in the 
development of a shared vision of national 
priorities and strategies in critical areas of 
human and economic development.
One of the main objectives of NITI Aayog 
is to design strategic and long-term policy 
and programme frameworks and initiatives 
and monitor their progress and efficacy. 
In 2021–22, NITI Aayog took the lead in 
setting up sectoral targets and fostering an 
environment of innovation and cooperation 
by bringing together technology, enterprise, 
and efficient management at the core of 
policy formulation and implementation.
POLICIES AND 
PROGRAMMES
13
Annual Report 2021–22
ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS PROGRAMME
The Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) completed four years in January 2022—with nearly two 
of those years in the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic. As such, the ADP has been part of an 
unprecedented period in the lifetime of the Districts—and what has emerged is promising.
Since its launch, the Programme has been devising strategies to work with the Districts based on its 
three ‘Cs’ approach: studying ways to enable convergence of District, State and Central-level initiatives; 
facilitating collaborations between civil society organizations, communities and District Administrations 
towards a common goal; and fostering a healthy spirit of competition by releasing monthly ranks on 
the Districts’ performances.
Despite being severely affected by the second wave, the Districts showed remarkable agility in 
maintaining their focus on the delivery of basic services. The Districts have managed to revive 
performance on various key indicators under the Programme, despite the arduous task of vaccinating 
the eligible population, which was an additional responsibility for them this year. 
The Champions of Change dashboard—which monitors the performance of all 112 Aspirational 
Districts on the key performance indicators under the five thematic categories of ‘Health and Nutrition’, 
‘Education’, ‘Agriculture and Water Resources’, ‘Skill Development and Financial Inclusion’ and ‘Basic 
Infrastructure’—in its upgraded version facilitates advanced data analytics and additionally provides 
monthly performance and data quality reports to the Districts.
Since the inception of the Programme, all the Aspirational Districts have shown improvement across 
socio-economic indicators, overall- and sector-wise, as illustrated below.
Overall
Health and Nutrition
Education
Agriculture & Water Resources
14
Annual Report 2021–22
POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES
Financial Inclusion & Skill Development Basic Infrastructure
The ADP has also been striving towards bridging the uneven growth among the Districts. The 
Programme has consequently emerged as a platform for collaboration with the community, including 
civil society organizations, NGOs, and development partners, to resolve District-specific issues. Whether 
it is the improvement of foundational literacy and numeracy or health and nutrition outcomes, the ADP 
has enabled focused efforts towards long-standing development goals. Identification of a core set of 
indicators has facilitated the alignment of priorities of the Government as well as non-government 
organizations. Notably, as a development partner, Piramal Foundation has collaborated to work across 
all the 112 Aspirational Districts.
This forms part of the future course that the Programme has been charting for itself. Specifically, the 
Programme has been focusing on outreach activities and the involvement of communities in bringing 
about transformation in these Districts. This has resulted in the creation of the Aspirational Districts 
Collaborative by involving hyper-local contributors and community stakeholders to drive social-behaviour 
change at scale, and to achieve better results in the parameters of ‘Education’ and ‘Health and 
Nutrition’. The initiative involves association with local institutional players (like local NGOs, colleges, 
media, women self-help groups, panchayat samitis and faith leaders) to leverage deep community 
knowledge and facilitate behaviour change at the community level.
To date, 914 NGOs have been onboarded to channelize their 
efforts towards meeting the emerging needs of the Districts 
and to ensure that there is no duplication of efforts.
Another direction in which the Programme will continue to 
focus its efforts is towards guiding all State Governments in 
replicating the ADP template at the block level. Special focus 
on development at the block level is crucial for the rapid and 
sustainable transformation of these Districts—but sustainably. 
While block-level governance has been a matter of discussion 
for decades, the Programme’s focus on the same in some of 
the most backward Districts, along with enabling them to build 
technological capacity, holds immense potential. NITI Aayog has 
created a handbook for the transformation of under-developed 
blocks, which has been shared with the Chief Secretaries of 
all the States and the District Magistrates/Collectors of all the 
Aspirational Districts. 
15
POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES
Annual Report 2021–22
In September 2020, the Programme was independently appraised by the United Nations Development 
Programme (UNDP), which released its report on the ADP in June 2021. The appraisal was largely 
positive and reaffirmed several key strategies deployed. The UNDP said that the Programme was 
‘proving to be a successful model for stimulating local development’ and recommended replication 
across the globe to attain Sustainable Development Goals equitably at the grassroots level. The 
report’s evaluation further concluded that the Aspirational Districts, on average, have been on an 
upward trajectory since the inception of the Programme and have even outperformed other Districts. 
Capacity-Building at the grassroots level and improvement in the quality of data were highlighted as 
areas that require further work. Consequently, NITI Aayog is devising strategies to tackle these in the 
next phase of the Programme.
16
Annual Report 2021–22
POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES