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Updated: Feb 04, 2020 05:35 IST

The government wants to promote business and economic opportunities in the second phase of its developmental push in 112 of the country’s poorest districts it is developing as aspirational districts, according to officials aware of the matter. These 112 districts are home to roughly 150 million people.

Proposals to boost economic and business opportunities in these backward districts were discussed at a meeting on what bureaucrats described as “Aspirational Districts 2.0” at the Cabinet secretariat on last Friday.

Apart from cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba, government think tank Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant and secretaries of select ministers were present at the meeting. Rakesh Ranjan, an advisor to the Niti Ayog, also participated in the meeting.

Kant said the government wants to identify one economic activity, which would be the “key driver” in each of the districts. He made it clear that a one-size-fits-all approach would not be taken while picking economic opportunities in these backward districts as every district has its own strength and requirements.

“We have laid a lot of emphasis on education and health. We laid some emphasis on basic infrastructure. But eventually, we have to see long-term economic growth. Eventually, we need to create jobs and transform the districts. I personally feel, in many of the districts, we need some economic activities to be a key driver. So we have asked these districts to identify one potential area which we can make as a key economic driver,” Kant said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the programme in January 2018. The broad contours of the programme are convergence and collaboration of central and state schemes and machinery and competition to nudge the districts to perform better. So far, the Centre had focused on problems in these districts in terms of health, nutrition, education, agriculture, water resources, financial inclusion, skill development and the creation of basic infrastructure.

There is also a debate on whether the scheme should be expanded to another 100 districts or have added focus on the existing areas. So far, districts in Uttar Pradesh have recorded 57% or highest improvement in the socio-economic parameters followed by Kerala (53%) between March 2018 and December 2019, according to officials cited above.

“We have partnered with Tata Trusts, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. We are judging districts on 49 indicators and see which district is going up and going down,” Kant said.

Aspirational districts prominently figured in this year’s budget speech of Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and President Ram Nath Kovind’s Parliament address before budget session. Sitharaman announced some pilot projects for these areas. PM spoke about the development push in the 112 of the country’s poorest districts at the HT Leadership Summit in December. Previous governments left large parts of our country blank. These regions were the most backward... But we are working on development and governance parameters…when their future improves, India’s future will improve.”