Sikkim's Soreng district ranks first in NITI Aayog’s Aspirational Districts Programme

Sikkim's Soreng district has secured 1st position amongst 112 districts across the country under the Aspiration District Programme for the month of May, an official statement from the office of District Collector, Soreng said on July 14.

The Aspiration District Program (ADP) was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2018, which aims to quickly and effectively transform the 112 most under-developed districts. 

The broad contours of the programme are Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level Nodal Officers & District Collectors), and Competition among districts through monthly delta ranking. The ranking is based on the incremental progress made across 49 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) under 5 broad socio-economic themes - Health & Nutrition, Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial Inclusion, and Skill Development & Infrastructure. 

“Under the ADP, NITI Aayog monitors the progress of the district on the above-mentioned 5 KPIs and provides performance-based additional allocation of funds to district securing ranks through the challenge methods. Thus, based on the delta-ranking of Aspirational Districts and the performance of all districts which is available on the Champions of Change dashboard, I am extremely pleased to inform you that Soreng has secured 1st position in Health & Nutrition, 10th in Education, 7th in Agriculture & Water Resources, 10th Financial Inclusion & 12th Skill Development and Infrastructure and summing the overall average, Soreng has secured the 1st position for the month of May while competing with other 112 districts in the country.”, the statement quoted Soreng Deputy Commissioner (DC) Bhim Thatal as saying. 

He further said that since the bifurcation of the Soreng district from the erstwhile West district, it became an Aspirational District in November 2022. 

Thatal said that for the past 9 months, Soreng has been performing exceptionally well on most of the KPIs. Hence, as a result, reward money was sanctioned on 2 occasions under ADP, adding, “Unlike other Central Government flagship programmes, the reward money is given only after achieving the set targets as mentioned in the 5 KPIs.”  

He also informed that the Sikkim Chief Minister PS Tamang has expressed his congratulations to the district of Soreng for achieving this height. 

It may be mentioned here that on an earlier occasion, the NITI Aayog had sent a D.O Letter to the Chief Secretary, with a copy to the DC Soreng formally congratulating the DC and the team for achieving the feat.

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