Why in news? Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the government’s Aspirational Block Programme (ABP), during the 2nd National Conference of Chief Secretaries

Highlights

• It will be on the line of Aspirational district programme that will enable holistic development in those areas that require added assistance.
• Programme will cover 500 districts across 31 states and Union Territories
• Over half of these blocks are in 6 states—Uttar Pradesh (68 blocks), Bihar (61), Madhya Pradesh (42), Jharkhand (34), Odisha (29) and West Bengal (29). However, states can add more blocks to the programme later
• Aimed at improving the performance of under developmental blocks on various parameters

About Aspirational District Programme

• Anchored by NITI Aayog
• Target : 112 Aspirational Districts (AD) across 27 states
• Aim : Vision of a New India by 2022 to improve India’s ranking under the Human Development Index (HDI), raising living standards of its citizens and ensuring inclusive growth of all.
• Focus: On the strength of each district, identifying low-hanging fruits for immediate improvement and measuring progress by ranking districts on a monthly basis.

Composite indicators

• Health and Nutrition, Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial Inclusion & Skill development and Basic Infrastructure which have an impact on HDI.
• Ranking is based on the incremental progress made across 49 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) under 5 broad socio-economic themes