Identification of aspirational blocks under local area development plan holds promise for rural development, but only with the right leadership

It is no secret that the ‘balanced development’ of all regions is essential for the overall economic development of the country. There are some particularly backward areas. The reasons are either historical or remoteness or infertile land or being prone to natural calamities or having a majority of its population from the Scheduled Castes and Backward castes. These areas pull down the rate of economic growth and if left unattended can be the cause of numerous economic and social problems. It is in light of this that a welcome initiative was taken by the Government of India to identify 112 Districts in the country as aspirational districts where the social and economic indicators are particularly poor. The idea was to give a comprehensive thrust to the development of these districts and bring them to the level of other better-developed districts. This was to be achieved through the convergence of the Central and State Government schemes, collaboration of officers of all departments under the leadership of the district Collector and competition among the district through the system of monthly ranking being done by the NITI Aayog.

The more backward states have a larger number of aspirational districts. This programme was launched in 2018 and it focuses on the strength of each district and goes about developing it in a time-bound manner. There are a set of 49 key performance indicators under five broad socio-economic themes and the incremental progress in these indicators is considered for the ranking. These five themes are health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, skill development and infrastructure and financial inclusion. These districts have to catch up with the others and then aspire to be the best by learning by the experience of each other. This initiative is part of the strategy to achieve sustainable development goals in a time-bound manner. The state of Uttar Pradesh has eight aspirational districts. An evaluation of this programme in 2020 by UNDP found that it is a ‘clear and comprehensive framework’ that it provides to the districts, distinguishing it from other programmes. Initially, the programme did encounter several challenges but with the right kind of leadership, these issues can be sorted out. It is also found that for the long-term sustainability of this programme motivation of the implementing team and in-house capacity building are vital. So, it has been a successful local area development scheme. Taking this success story forward the Government of India and the NITI Aayog have now come out with an aspirational block development programme which will focus similarly on the comprehensive development of 500 aspirational blocks across the country. This is indeed an idea which will take the development process forward in a progressive manner.

Local area development always gives scope for understanding the problems which are specific to that area and accordingly a plan can be evolved to develop that area. The knowledge of people living in that area is of immense value in designing projects for their development as it not only creates awareness but enables the people of that area to identify with the development plan and also own it. Development can never be forced from the top because then it becomes like a dole and makes the people dependent upon the government for everything which is not the way it should be. Also, India is indeed a vast country and different areas have diverse problems which need to be resolved. In Uttar Pradesh, almost 25 years ago, the Ambedkar Village Scheme was introduced focusing on those villages which had a large concentration of scheduled caste population and were economically backward. The scheme paid rich dividends as the performance indicators in these villages improved considerably. Similarly, almost a decade ago, when I was Agriculture Production Commissioner, Government of UP, we introduced the Lohia Village Scheme where 2000 villages which were backward and had a large share of the OBC population were chosen to be developed in an integrated manner. I remember that about 37 parameters of development were identified and a benchmark survey was done. These indicators include development schemes like connecting the village with a ‘pucca’ road, bringing electricity to the village, providing adequate drinking water sources, building houses for the poor and also schemes like providing education, health care and skill development. There was an initial political issue about the selection of these villages but once it was decided that 10 per cent of the villages would be selected on the recommendation of the political representatives and the remaining 90 per cent would be on rational criteria, the scheme took off and the results were very satisfying. People from various villages began to approach the government for including their village in the scheme. No extra funds were given but the whole concept was that of convergence and the District Collector was made responsible for the implementation.

It can be a matter of discussion whether a district, block or village should be taken as a unit of development. The village-level schemes succeeded but I feel that aspirational blocks schemes by focusing on the blocks have taken the right approach. Blocks have been historically units of development and there is an established organizational structure working under the Block Development Officer (BDO) looking after all aspects of agriculture and rural development. It is my view that rural development can be speeded up if we can develop rural growth centers and these aspirational blocks can fulfil this purpose. At the block level schools, colleges and hospitals can be made fully operational and also based on local raw material availability and skill sets of the local people, rural industrial hubs can be created particularly in the agro-processing sector. This will not only add value to the agricultural produce of that area but also enable the youth to move from farm to non-farm occupations leading to an increase in their income and also to the development of the state and the nation. Something along this line was visualized in the scheme introduced by the late President Abdul Kalam which was called PURA (Providing Urban Amenities to Rural areas). India needs to develop in a manner that people living in rural areas find jobs near their place of stay and all basic amenities are available to them.

However, such administrative innovations cannot succeed without competent and participative leadership. This role has to be provided by the District Collector /DM. Even when I was Chief Secretary, I tried to make sure that the most energetic and creative young IAS officers were posted as District Magistrates of the backward districts. This not only provided them with an opportunity to learn about development at the grassroots level but also to provide momentum to the growth process in these districts. The same has been the norm for the aspirational districts. I feel that the aspirational blocks scheme would succeed only if the most innovative young IAS officers are posted in the districts where these blocks are located. Similarly, some of the best officers of State Civil Service need to be posted as BDOs in these aspirational blocks. The authority of the BDOs has lost ground over the years because of departmentalism and it needs to be restored. Convergence and collaboration are not possible without effective leadership and this is where you need the right man at the right place.

The local Block Panchayat functionaries would also need to be sensitized about this initiative and their full involvement ensured in the planning and execution of the various development schemes. Without using local leadership the best results would never be attained. It should become a people’s programme rather than just yet another government scheme.

The local area development plan is the right way forward but its success depends upon effective leadership provided at the district and block level and also the involvement of all the local level elected representatives.

The writer is an ex-Chief Secretary, Govt of Uttar Pradesh. Views expressed are personal

The decision to allow the branches of foreign universities in India is a step in the right direction but certain issues need to be resolved beforehand

The 21st century will belong to that country or society which moves ahead of others in terms of the acquisition and application of knowledge. Education is the foundation on which this knowledge society will be built. India has a great opportunity in terms of its youth population which can be harnessed as a demographic dividend if the right kind of education and skilling is provided to the youth from the primary to the higher level. We need not only expansion in the avenues of education but also in terms of the quality of education. The quality of education imparted in rural primary schools is of an abysmal quality which has been further pushed back by the pandemic, and this has become a matter of serious concern. It is the school system which acts as a feeder to the higher education system, and if the input to higher education is of a poor standard, then it shall certainly impact the output. There is no denying that higher education needs a lot of attention. We have commendable institutions like the IITs and the IIMs but there are a large number of below-average institutions as well. The gross enrolment ratio (GER) is only about 26 per cent, and the new education policy has set for itself an ambitious goal of raising this to 50 per cent by 2035. This would require a huge amount of expenditure in higher education, with new colleges being opened and a big increase in the number of children joining the higher education system. This has obvious implications regarding the logistics and management of such a vast education system.

At the moment, a lot of students are indeed attracted to foreign countries for higher education for various reasons. One of them is to be able to access a higher quality of education in foreign universities of repute. However, the issue of the cost of such education becomes a barrier for many aspiring students. It is in this light, and in a bid to internationalise Indian higher education in consonance with NEP 2020, that the UGC has come out with draft regulations on setting up of campuses of foreign higher educational institutions in India. These draft regulations have dealt with many issues raised earlier when the governments made an effort to open higher education in India to foreign universities. One cannot disagree with the intent behind this policy, and the students will benefit from such a step. These rules are in response to long-standing needs. The students of this country have aspirations; almost five lakh students are studying abroad. If universities of repute set up their campuses in India, then this would certainly open a window to higher-quality education for our students.

There are some issues in these regulations which need to be considered. In the NEP 2020, it was provided that only the top 100 QS-ranking universities would be allowed to establish their branch campuses in India. However, the UGC regulations have talked about the top 500 foreign universities, which appears to be a dilution of quality. It also says that, in addition, higher education institutions of merit would be considered but it is not clear how this merit will be decided upon by the UGC. Some recent articles on this subject indicate that top universities like Harvard or Stanford or similar ones of repute may not be interested in opening campuses in India. Abundant care would have to be exercised in this matter otherwise we would be saddled with campuses of mediocre universities.

One of the main issues raised by foreign institutions, that they should be allowed to repatriate the profits that they earn from campuses in India, has been conceded in these draft regulations subject to the rules and regulations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999. In India, we have so far been of the view that education is a public good and the profits earned should be ploughed back into the institutions. Allowing repatriation of profits is a major concession, which is a topic for debate but this step would encourage many foreign universities to come to India. It is a decision in the larger interest of education. Further, the regulations allow foreign institutions to decide their fee structure provided it is transparent and reasonable. This could lead to a situation where better institutions or courses with higher market value may prescribe a fee structure which is out of the reach of many students. No doubt there is a provision for need-based scholarships but this is a challenging issue as the country has to provide these better educational opportunities to all disadvantaged groups that include women, SCs, STs, OBCs, EWS, differently-abled and geographically disadvantaged groups.

These institutions have been given the freedom to decide on the qualifications, salary structure and other conditions of services for appointing faculty and staff. This could lead to an opaque system and there could be a big gap between the UGC-mandated conditions for higher education institutions in India and the foreign branch campuses. Moreover, these institutions are expected to arrange for their physical infrastructure, which involves substantial investment and may be another challenge. These institutions will be given the freedom to frame their curriculum which is how it should be. Of course, there is a restrictive clause that nothing would be a part of their programme of study which jeopardises the national interest of India or the standards of higher education in India. The last clause is open to interpretation and could raise issues regarding the curriculum in subjects like history or other disciplines of humanities. The draft regulations also waive off equivalence requirements for the degrees imparted by the foreign campuses. It will be up to the employers to take a view on these degrees at the time of giving employment.

There are definite issues in the draft regulation but it is a step in the right direction. It would allow the students in India to get good quality higher education. The important thing is to see that we get institutions of a certain quality. Also, the implementation would be a vital aspect to ensure that there is the right environment to attract the best institutions and allow them to succeed. It is also important to align the regulations with the professed objective of NEP 2020 to provide high-quality education to all sections of society.

The writer is an ex-Chief Secretary, Govt of Uttar Pradesh. Views expressed are personal