| New Delhi/Jamshedpur: East Singhbhum district has attained the second status in the implementation of health and nutrition scheme related to the Transformation of Aspirational Districts with India�s pursuit of Global Sustainable development Goals (SDGs). During a conference held in this regard, deliberations were held on key SDGs� and best practices to be adopted to help achieve targets. East Singhbhum Dc Amit Kumar was felicitated on the occasion. |
The conference included deliberations on key SDGs and best practices to help achieve the same and will featured presentations by State representatives who have done well on the SDG India Index on key themes of health, education and water resources.
Amitabh Kant felicitated eighteen fast moving Aspirational Districts on the basis of delta rankings calculated in November � December 2018 and December 2018 – January 2019 on basis of the Champions of Change dashboard.
These delta rankings reflect overall improvements made across sectors and sector specific ranks in the domains of Health & Nutrition, Agriculture & Water Resources, Education, Skill Development & Financial Inclusion and Basic Infrastructure.
The Aspirational Districts programme has evolved from the principle of �Convergence of Schemes� to provision of additional financial resources to the Districts to undertake innovative projects that significantly improve the indicators.
Earlier this year, Department of Public Enterprises notified rules mandating 60% of CSR allocation of CPSEs under health, nutrition and education to be spent on projects in Aspirational Districts. Today, additional funding to the tune of about Rs 1,000 crores was announced for two years for projects under challenge method to be rewarded to top performing districts every month as per improvement made in the delta ranking.
Promoting the spirit of competitive and cooperative federalism, the districts will be supplied supplementary funding from the Government of India to focus on key projects in their districts. There will also be a team of experts housed in NITI Aayog, who will provide necessary technical assistance for preparing feasibility reports, monitoring and evaluation support to the projects to ensure transparent and targeted expenditure.
The funding allocation has been designed in a manner such that districts having mineral fund accrual annually of more than Rs. 30 crores do not receive this additional allocation but are encouraged to continue focusing on bettering governance structures and implementation efficiency. However, they were recognized for their performance by the NITI Aayog through a special commendation during the conference. States have also been requested to ensure that additional allocation of equivalent amount from DMF is made available to these districts.
Launched by the Prime minister in January 2018, the �Transformation of Aspirational Districts� programme aims to quickly and effectively transform the most underserved 112 districts across India.
