49 indicators to monitor progress in 100 aspirational blocks of UP

Additional chief secretaries/principal secretaries will review the progress of implementation of these indicators linked to their respective departments in the aspirational blocks on a fortnightly basis, says CS

LUCKNOW The Uttar Pradesh government has worked out 49 indicators to effectively monitor development in 100 aspirational blocks identified recently on the pattern of the union government’s aspirational district programme being implemented in eight aspirational districts of UP.

The state government issued directives to ensure that the data with regard to indicators was available on the portal by the 15th of every month (Pic for representation)

A portal/dashboard is being developed to set up data on the progress of implementation of these indicators in 100 aspirational blocks in 34 districts.

“Additional chief secretaries/principal secretaries will review the progress of implementation of these indicators linked to their respective departments in the aspirational blocks (along with districts) on a fortnightly basis and take follow-up action to bring about improvement, if their performance was found below expectations,” stated chief secretary RK Tiwari, in an order sent to senior officers on Wednesday.

Initially, the state government had shortlisted about 80 indicators on the basis of recommendations made by different departments. The number of indicators was then brought down to 49. The state government had consulted the NITI Ayog as well while identifying the aspirational blocks and the indicators.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the aspirational district programme on January 5, 2018. UP’s eight districts had been included in the programme. These included Balrampur, Shravasti, Bahraich, Siddharthnagar, Chandauli, Sonbhadra, Fatehpur and Chitrakoot.

The programme proposed to quickly and effectively transform selected districts by convergence (of central and state schemes), collaboration of central, state level officer in-charges and district collectors, competition among districts and focus on the strength of each district.

The state government issued directives to ensure that the data with regard to indicators was available on the portal by the 15th of every month. A senior officer said the union government too identified 49 indicators to monitor progress of various programmes/schemes in aspirational districts in five thematic areas that include medical and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion & skill development and basic infrastructure.

The 49 indicators identified for the aspirational blocks include percentage of pregnant women receiving antenatal care, institutional deliveries vis-à-vis total deliveries, percentage of low birth weight babies, percentage of underweight children in under six-year age group, sex ratio at birth and percentage of primary health centres compliant with public health standards of India.

Other indicators relating to education sector included transition rate from primary to upper primary, transition rate from upper primary to secondary, mathematics performance in Class 3 and language performance in Class 3, mathematics performance in Class 8 and language performance in Class 8, female literacy rate in 15-plus age group, percentage of schools with functional drinking water facility, percentage of schools with functional electricity facility, schools complying with RTE specified pupil-teacher ratio, disbursement of Mudra loan, percentage of gram panchayats with Internet connection.