India’s Prime Minister launched the Aspirational Districts Program (ADP) in January 2018. The program covers 112 districts across the country that have historically lagged on socio-economic parameters. This is the first time that a program of this size and scale has been launched by the government with the objective of accelerating progress through improved data-driven governance, robust monitoring, making development a mass movement, working as Team India (Centre and States), and collaborating with stakeholders outside the government. Instead of a large infusion of funds, the program’s emphasis is on better governance for improving outcomes. Forty-nine Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been identified under the ADP across 5 sectors. The results are for all to see. A comparison between the Aspirational Districts (ADs) and their counterparts by an independent UNDP Study undertaken in 2021 found that ADs have outperformed non-ADs. In January 2023, the Aspirational Blocks Program was launched to replicate the success of the ADP template across 500 relatively underdeveloped blocks in the country.

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