Embracing India's District Diversity for effective policy making

Context: Chief Economic Adviser Nageswaran has argued for making the districts as smallest geographical unit for socio-economic development and analysis. He argues that districts capture the diversity of India and should be the focus of development administration.

About Districts: 

• According to Article 1 of the Constitution, India is a union of states and UTs. 
• States and UTs in turn have been broken into smaller constituent units known as districts.
• The prerogative of making districts lies with the state governments.
• Districts are manned by District Collectors who administer the unit. 
• Districts also have urban and rural local bodies known as Panchayats and Municipalities.
• Earlier, there were about 500 districts in India. However, there has been recent trend towards smaller districts to make their administration more feasible.
• Currently, average district in India has nearly 1.86 million people, larger than the population of countries like Singapore (0.56 million) and UAE (0.94 million), shows the gamut of governance required at the district level.
• Note: According to Census
  • Largest district in terms of Area: Kutch District
  • Largest district in terms of population: 24 Pargana, Kolkata

Socio-economic achievement and disparities among India’s district: 

• Socio-economic achievement and disparities
  • Recent studies using NFHS-5 data, showcase inter-generational developments in education, that the average level of the mother’s education equals or exceeds that of the father’s in as many as 195 districts (out of 707 districts studied). A generation previously, only 11 districts had more educated mothers than fathers.
  • Over 15 percent of districts have more than 90 per cent of women who own and operate savings accounts.
  • Over 91 per cent of districts have had more than 70 percent of births in the last five years in health facilities.
  • Urban districts, which constitute 30 percent of all districts in India, account for more than 55 percent of all wages paid and close to 45 per cent of all jobs. 
  • Average wage in the top 70 prosperous districts is three times higher than the average wage of the bottom 305 districts.

• Policy approaches and programs: 
  • Top-down policies continue to help address socio-economic issues at the district level in areas such as improved sanitation and hygiene (Swachh Bharat), provision of healthcare services (Ayushman Bharat), reducing malnutrition (POSHAN Abhiyaan) and rural job guarantee (MGNREGS). For instance, the Swachh Bharat Mission has led to 75 per cent of villages being defecation-free
  • The Aspirational Districts Programme, launched in 2018. It has been instrumental in addressing critical gaps and fostering collaboration among diverse stakeholders to target efforts in the pockets of deprivation in crucial areas of health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, etc.
    • In the last six years, the programme has transformed the lives of about 25 crore people in 112 districts, with visible improvements in key indicators, such as health, financial inclusion and education, as tracked by NITI Aayog. 
  • The percentage of pregnant women registered for ante-natal care within the first trimester rose from 68 per cent in 2018 to 89 per cent in 2023.
  • The percentage of underweight children below the age of six years declined from 20.6 per cent in 2018 to 9.2 per cent in 2023. 
• One District One Product (ODOP), launched in 2020, the programme has seen the development and promotion of 1,000-plus unique products, across 767 districts, encompassing sectors such as textiles, agriculture, food processing and handicrafts.

Way forward: 

• ARC 2 recommendations on District Administration: 
  • Developing a reliable central district database through which data collection from the grassroot level with the help of local revenue administration machinery can be done. The database must contain block and circle-wise information on population, PHCs, PDS outlets, Police stations, schemes implemented, fund sanctioned, beneficiaries under the scheme etc. 
  • There is need to strengthen the compliance machinery at the district level to enforce provisions of the RTI Act and to reduce the element of delay and subjectivity in the functioning of the lower level formations of the government. This should be done by creating a special RTI Cell in the office of the Collector, whose functions should be reviewed by the Collector at regular periodicity. 
  • For effective monitoring and evaluation of programme/projects which are directly under the charge of the Collector, there needs to be computerized/MIS attached to his office. On the basis of these, the Collector could undertake monthly or quarterly review of performance. This cell could also function as the nodal e- governance cell for other officers located in the district by using its capacity to coordinate, and develop relevant IT solutions. 
  • Comprehensive classification of rules, guidelines and procedures is necessary for efficient service delivery and better understanding among both the officers and the general public. 

• India’s diversity is embodied in its districts. To the policymaker, understanding the full scale of this diversity is key to crafting policies.
• Effective administration requires recognizing the diverse needs and priorities across India's districts, necessitating policies that are not one-size-fits-all but are instead tailored to each district's unique circumstances. A significant challenge remains in the availability of timely, high-quality data for informed decision-making at the district level.
• An ideal set of policies should be a bouquet of varied measures for different localities and regions, tailored to their culture, urbanisation, development and demography. These should be bolstered by uniform interventions in infrastructure, public goods, livelihoods, policy enablers and good governance.