Parliament Question: Performance of Aspirational Districts in Assam

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PLANNING LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4208 TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.03.2026 PERFORMANCE OF ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS IN ASSAM 4208. SHRI GAURAV GOGOI: Will the Minister of PLANNING be pleased to state: (a) the details of performance of Aspirational Districts in Assam under key sectors including Health & Nutrition, Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial Inclusion & Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure during the last five years, district-wise; (b) the details of criteria and methodology adopted for ranking and measuring incremental progress of these districts; (c) the details of funds allocated and released to the Aspirational Districts in Assam, year-wise including the nature of flexibility provided to the State Government and district administrations in utilisation of such funds; (d) the names of the best-performing and worst-performing Aspirational Districts in Assam during the last five years, the parameters on which they were so identified and the reasons for persistent underperformance; and (e) the corrective measures taken by the Government to address gaps in the lagging districts; and Page 1 of 7(f) whether any independent evaluation has been conducted to assess the effectiveness of such interventions and if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS & PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION; MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE (RAO INDERJIT SINGH) (a) The Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) has developed the Champions of Change (CoC) Dashboard to periodically monitor the performance of all 112 districts, including 7 aspirational districts in Assam using composite scores based on 49 key performance indicators (KPIs) under 5 broad socio-economic themes – health & nutrition, education, agriculture and water resource, financial inclusion & skill development and basic infrastructure. The performance of all 112 districts under ADP, since inception, is available on the CoC dashboard (http://championsofchange.gov.in/site/coc-home/) which is publicly accessible. (b) Under ADP, each district is monitored on 49 KPIs, entailing 81 data points, across 5 sectors mentioned in (a) above. These sectors have different weightages – Health & Nutrition and Education have been prioritized with 30% weightage each. Agriculture & Water Resources has a 20% weightage while the remaining two sectors, Financial Inclusion & Skill Development and Basic Infrastructure, have a weightage of 10% each. Every quarter, districts register their progress on the CoC dashboard and are ranked on quarter-wise incremental improvement shown by the district (“Delta Ranking”) across these sectors. The quarter wise ranks achieved by all the Aspirational Page 2 of 7Districts, since inception, is also available on the Champions of Change portal (http://championsofchange.gov.in/site/coc-home/). (c) The details of funds sanctioned and released to the aspirational districts in Assam during the last five years is at Annexure I. In order to foster competitive spirit and for addressing the critical gaps, additional allocation via challenge route is also envisaged. Every quarter, districts are assessed on the basis of quarterly progress and the best performing districts in overall terms and in each of the five sectors are identified and their good performance is recognized and encouraged. The first and second rankers in overall terms are awarded ₹10 crores and ₹5 crores respectively. The first ranker from each of the five sectors is awarded ₹3 crores each. Based on the performance grant as mentioned above, it is the districts which undertake specific projects to address critical needs felt by them. (d) & (e) Every quarter, districts are assessed on the basis of quarterly progress and ranking is being done. The ranks of the Aspirational Districts in Assam during the last five years is at Annexure II. As mentioned in (c) above, every quarter, districts register their progress in 49 KPIs of the sectors mentioned in (a) above and are ranked on the basis of performance. The ranking of districts is based on real progress made under these KPIs in a quarter. This enables the districts to focus on strategies to improve their performance in sectors which they rank lower. (f) There have been two independent assessments of the functioning and impact of the Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) (i) UNDP made a comprehensive appraisal of this programme (ii) Institute for Competitiveness Assessment (a team of expert led by Prof. Michael Porter of Harvard Business school) made a detailed assessment of the programme Page 3 of 7The UNDP report titled “Aspirational Districts Programme: An Appraisal,” submitted in December 2020, confirmed that significant progress has been made in various aspects such as sector-wise growth, better governance through convergence, and accelerated development through competitive federalism. This progress has been driven by factors including strong leadership, real-time monitoring, data-driven decision-making, and capacity building. Additionally, the Institute for Competitiveness highlighted that nearly all districts in the ADP have shown improvement on key development parameters compared to the baseline, with the programme successfully advancing social impact and justice by targeting the benefits towards the most disadvantaged areas. The delta ranking system has played a crucial role in fostering a competitive and dynamic culture, which has motivated several low- performing districts to enhance their standings over the past three years. ***** Page 4 of 7ANNEXURE - I ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (c) of LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4208 FOR 18.03.2026 BY SHRI GAURAV GOGOI REGARDING PERFORMANCE OF ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS IN ASSAM Details of funds sanctioned and funds released to the Aspirational Districts in Assam during the last five years Financial District Funds Sanctioned Funds Released Year (₹ in crores) (₹ in crores) FY 2021-22 Baksa 7.01 7.01 Barpeta 10.01 10.01 Darrang 1.01 1.01 Dhubri 3.01 3.01 Goalpara 0.01 0.01 Hailakandi 15.16 14.96 Udalguri 14.99 14.99 FY 2022-23 Baksa 7.25 7.25 Barpeta 3.00 3.00 Darrang 5.00 5.00 Dhubri 2.20 2.20 Goalpara 4.96 4.96 Hailakandi 3.00 3.00 Udalguri 4.63 4.63 FY 2023-24 Hailakandi 2.00 2.00 FY 2024-25 Baksa 3.64 1.84 Barpeta 2.04 1.05 Darrang 3.05 1.55 Dhubri 0.05 0.05 Goalpara 5.05 2.55 Hailakandi 0.05 0.05 Udalguri 0.05 0.05 FY 2025-26 Dhubri 1.00 0.50 Grand Total 98.18 90.70 Page 5 of 7ANNEXURE – II ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (d) & (e) of LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4208 FOR 18.03.2026 BY SHRI GAURAV GOGOI REGARDING PERFORMANCE OF ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS IN ASSAM Ranks of Aspirational Districts in Assam during the last five years Year District Name Rank (Ranking month) 2021 (September) Hailakandi 15 Goalpara 39 Darrang 51 Dhubri 62 Barpeta 64 Udalguri 107 Baksa 108 2022 (September) Udalguri 7 Baksa 24 Dhubri 43 Hailakandi 64 Darrang 76 Barpeta 86 Goalpara 98 2023 (September) Goalpara 45 Darrang 60 Barpeta 65 Udalguri 85 Dhubri 102 Baksa 103 Hailakandi 111 2024 (September) Barpeta 22 Dhubri 56 Udalguri 61 Darrang 63 Hailakandi 71 Page 6 of 7Baksa 76 Goalpara 109 2025 (September) Barpeta 41 Udalguri 50 Baksa 54 Goalpara 69 Dhubri 84 Hailakandi 97 Darrang 102 **** Page 7 of 7