Soreng tops monthly rankings for aspirational districts

GANGTOK,: Soreng has topped the ranking of the districts that improved in several parameters such as health, education and financial inclusion in the month of May under the Aspirational District Programme of NITI Aayog.

This is a remarkable feat for Soreng district which became an aspirational district in November 2022 only after its bifurcation from the erstwhile West district.

The Aspirational District Programme was launched in January 2018 to quickly and effectively transform 112 most under-developed districts. The broad contours of the programme are convergence (of Central and State schemes), collaboration (of Central, State level nodal officers and 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 five broad socio-economic themes - health & nutrition, education, agriculture & water resources, financial inclusion, and skill development & infrastructure, informs an IPR release.

 “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 that Soreng has secured 1st position in health & nutrition, 10th in education, 7th in agriculture & water resources, 10th in financial inclusion & 12th in 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” said Soreng DC Bhim Thatal.

The district has been performing “exceptionally well” on most of the key performance indicators for the past nine months, Thatal added.

As a result, a reward money was sanctioned on two occasions under ADP, he added. “Unlike other Central government flagship programmes, the reward money is given only after achieving the set targets as mentioned in the 5 KPIs.”

“I further take this privilege to inform that Chief Minister PS Tamang has expressed his congratulations to the district of Soreng for achieving this height. I also, on behalf of the district administration, congratulate all the district heads of the departments heading the targeted sectors, and others who have been instrumental in achieving this accolade. At the same time, I appeal to them all to put more endeavour to maintain the delta ranking throughout the year,” said Thatal.