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This story is from December 28, 2018

Tamil Nadu’s Virudhunagar tops list of 111 aspirational districts

Virudhunagar, Vizianagaram, Asifabad, Kanker and Siddharthanagar reported the sharpest improvement in average mathematics while Virudhunagar, Mamit, Rajnandgaon, Kondgaon and Asifabad displayed the maximum improvement in average language scores. Pakur (Jharkhand), Hailakandi (Assam) and Chatra (Jharkhand) are three least improved aspirational districts.
Tamil Nadu’s Virudhunagar tops list of 111 aspirational districts
Key Highlights
  • The government think tank Niti Aayog launched the Aspirational Districts programme in January 2018 with the aim of fast tracking the socio-economic status of 112 districts.
  • West Bengal has opted out of the exercise and three districts which had been selected have been dropped.
NEW DELHI: Virudhunagar in Tamil Nadu has topped the chart of aspirational districts which have shown the most improvement in the six parameters on which the survey is based.
The government think tank Niti Aayog launched the Aspirational Districts programme in January 2018 with the aim of fast tracking the socio-economic status of 112 districts. West Bengal has opted out of the exercise and three districts which had been selected have been dropped.
In the current survey, 111 districts have been ranked as Wayanad in Kerala could not be assessed due to the floods.

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said most of the districts had shown tremendous improvement compared to the June survey and some districts needed to catch up and improve their rankings. Referring to the top two positions bagged by Kupwara and Baramulla in J&K on the financial inclusion criteria, Kant said these two districts had made tremendous strides in digital transactions as well as other financial inclusion instruments.
Niti Aayog and its partners Tata Trusts and BMGF also carried out household surveys in all the aspirational districts on health and education. Under health, the districts are assessed on the percentage of stunted children under six years and percentage of breast-feeding children receiving adequate diet. In education, the survey maps learning outcomes which includes average performance of Class 3,5 and 8 students in mathematics and language. Female literacy is also assessed under the education parameter.

The survey showed that 71 districts reported improvement in mathematics and language in class, 67 in Class 5 and 61 in Class 8. Average marks scored by students in Class 3 has shown significant improvement. At least 50 districts reported improvement in Class 3 marks, nine in Class 5 and five districts in Class 8.
Virudhunagar, Vizianagaram, Asifabad, Kanker and Siddharthanagar reported the sharpest improvement in average mathematics across class 3, 5 and 8, while Virudhunagar, Mamit, Rajnandgaon, Kondgaon and Asifabad displayed the maximum improvement in average language scores in class 3, 5 and 8.
Pakur (Jharkhand), Hailakandi (Assam) and Chatra (Jharkhand) are three least improved aspirational districts, according to the second delta ranking released by the Aayog.
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