An Examination of Socio-economic Well- being in Aspirational and Non-aspirational Districts of Assam: A Comparative Analysis of Their Performance

Abstract

The Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) led by the Government of India (GoI) aims to achieve developmental goals in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The ADP has endeavoured to shift the focus back to development. Post-Independence, India has recorded an upward trend in overall growth and development, but it still has a huge scope for improvement. This initiative of the GoI has generated evidence-based data for guiding policymakers regarding the existing gaps in various developmental parameters. The core approach of ADP has resulted in a data-driven governance system. The performance measurement of districts is vital for tracking and monitoring the progress as well as to compare with the benchmark District. However, measuring the performance of aspirational districts has always been a challenging task for administrators as development is multidimensional in scope and coverage. In this context, this article attempts to compare the performance of the seven aspirational districts with seven non-aspirational districts of Assam. The comparison is done on the basis of economic indicators and human well-being. The aspirational and non-aspirational districts are significantly different in terms of education, health–nutrition and basic infrastructure. The findings of this study advance the way for measuring the progress of a district/state/country in terms of overall development, going beyond the measures of GDP only.