NEW DELHI: Interacting with district administrators on Saturday, PM Narendra Modi said when the aspirations of others ‘become your aspirations’ and when fulfilling dreams of others becomes ‘the measure of your success’, then that path of duty creates history.
In line with this, he said, “Aspirational districts are now eliminating barriers to the progress of the country and they have become accelerators for growth instead of impediments.” Modi highlighted that for development in aspirational districts, there is a need for a direct connection between the administration and the public at the emotional level.
Virtually interacting with some of the chief ministers and the District Magistrates, the PM said teamwork between the Centre, states and the district administration is yielding results in aspirational districts. Drawing the attention of officers towards the mindset of new India, the PM reiterated that today, during the Azadi ka Amrit Kaal, the country’s goal is to achieve 100 per cent saturation of services and facilities.
Noting that the country has been witnessing a silent revolution in the form of Digital India and that no district should be left behind in this, he said a ‘top to bottom’ and ‘bottom to top’ flow of governance is needed. For this to happen, technology and innovation are the two important pillars, he added.
The PM said every district must learn from the success of others and also evaluate their challenges. Aspirational districts have proven that removing impediments in the implementation process can result in ‘one and one becoming 11’.
Launched by the PM in January 2018, the aspirational districts programme aims to quickly and effectively transform 112 most under-developed districts across the country. Chief ministers of Gujarat, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh took part in the interaction.
CEO, NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant gave an overview of the progress of the aspirational district programme. He mentioned how the programme leveraged competitive and cooperative federalism. The interaction was aimed at taking direct feedback on progress and status of implementation of various schemes.