AIR Spotlight is an insightful program featured daily on the All India Radio News on air. In this program, many eminent panellists discuss issues of importance which can be quite helpful in IAS exam preparation.
This article is about the discussion on: Budget Provisions for reaching the last mile and leaving no citizen behind.
Participants:
- Saurabh Rishi, Senior Specialist, NITI Aayog
- Omvesh Upadhyay, AIR correspondent
Context: Budget Webinar on ‘Reaching the last mile’ and Aspirational Block Programme.
Introduction:
- It should be noted that Union Budget 2023-24 is seen as the development budget of Amrit Kaal and aims to bring inclusivity.
- The Aspirational Block Programme (ABP) was launched during the Second Conference of Chief Secretaries which was held in January 2023. It is based on the lines of the Aspirational District Programme (launched in 2018).
- ABP is aimed at improving the performance of blocks lagging behind others in various development parameters.
- The scheme would identify the most backward blocks and through data monitoring and competition-based activities develop them.
- The Union Budget 2023-24 has also made additional allocations for incentivizing the best performance and meeting the critical gaps in service delivery.
- The webinar basically revolves around improving last-mile connectivity.
For more information on Aspirational District Programme, read here: Aspirational Districts Programme
Aspirational District Programme:
- ABP has been launched following the success of the Aspirational District Programme. It takes decision-making closer to the common citizen.
- Similar to the Aspirational District Programme, ABP is also based on the 3Cs (Convergence, Collaboration, and Competition).
- Convergence: The district and block officials, state administration, and all the departments will work together to make the scheme a success.
- Collaboration: It will nudge the district administration to adopt a different approach from the traditional vertical model and move beyond the law, order, and revenue aspects.
- Competition: Focusing on the output and outcome-oriented approach would help in improving the performance of the scheme.
- It should be noted that the three Cs should work together to achieve the desired outcomes.
- The indicators for ABP are Health and Nutrition, Water resources, Financial inclusion, Skill Development, Basic infrastructure, etc. The indicators are chosen in a way to measure what inputs and indicators lead to certain outputs and outcomes.
- Health and nutrition indicators would cover child nutrition, child immunization, pregnant and lactating mothers’ care, health infrastructure, etc.
- Education would include learning outcomes, pupil-teacher ratio, and school infrastructure.
- Basic infrastructure would cover electricity, housing facilities, road, infrastructure connectivity, etc.
- One of the important facets of the programme is to share innovative and best practices.
- NITI Aayog’s role is to identify the framework, guidelines, methodologies, and ranking whereas the Block Development Officer is the most important player in implementing the initiative at the ground level.
Significance of Aspirational Block Programme:
- Aspirational Block Programme and Aspirational District Programme aim to fast-track the development at the grassroots level. They are templates for good governance.
- The rationale behind the launch of ABP is that despite tremendous improvements, there are variations within the districts that require more micro-level planning.
- Moreover, a one-size-fits-all approach cannot be applied to all blocks of the district where the problems might be different.
- It should also be noted that the programme mandates continuous monitoring and follows the idea of “what gets measured, gets improved”.
- Furthermore, constant monitoring acts as a continuous motivation for district/block-level officials to improve performance.
- It will help in incentivizing service delivery and strengthen the smallest pocket of the country.
- It will provide a model of replication at the state level. For instance, ABP is launched for 500 blocks in the country but many states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, and Jammu and Kashmir have expanded it at the state level.
- It will also mainstream the blocks that are backward because of geographical challenges.
- The aim is to improve the social development parameters. It will further lead to economic development.
Read previous AIR Spotlight articles in the link.
AIR Spotlight: Budget Provisions for reaching the Last Mile:- Download PDF Here
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