Ranchi has emerged as the best performing district in terms of health and nutrition reforms and bagged the third position in overall performance under the Aspirational District Programme (ADS) of Niti Aayog, which aims at improving the ease of living in 112 underdeveloped districts across India.

Another Jharkhand district, Simdega bagged the fourth position in overall performance and eight in Health and Nutrition under the ADS programme, the annual stated in its annual 2020-21 report released recently. Simdega also bagged the fourth position in Financial Inclusion & Skill development.

Palamu stood fourth among the 112 aspirational districts in terms of Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture & Resources“>Water Resources. However, no Jharkhand district managed to make it to the list of top 10 best performing districts in terms of Education under the programme.

According to the website, Health & Nutrition, Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial Inclusion & Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure are this programmes core areas of focus. After several rounds of consultations with various stakeholders, 49 key performance indicators have been chosen to measure progress of the districts.

At least 19 of 24 districts in Jharkhand are among the 112 districts selected for the programme. As per a report submitted by the Niti Aayog to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), most of the 112 districts selected for the ADP were underdeveloped and some affected by LWE.

The Niti Aayog, as per its annual report, sanctioned comprehensive projects to reduce anaemia and Malnutrition in five Jharkhand districts and equip schools with smart classrooms in 19 districts of the tribal state.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), if the prevalence of anaemia in a Population is 40 per cent or higher it is categorized as a severe public health problem. National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) highlights that around 70 per cent of children in the age bracket of 6-59 months, 62.6 per cent of pregnant Women and 65.2 per cent of women in the reproductive age are anaemic in Jharkhand.

Launched in January 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the ADP has been lauded by several foreign organisations, including the UNDP, which recently stated that the ADP should serve as best practice for other countries where regional disparities in development status persist for many reasons.