Inclusive growth essential to realise India’s economic potential : Kant

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : CEO, NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant, delivered the 33^th lecture of the “Lecture Series” organized by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) here on July 26, 2018. He spoke on  “Transformation of Aspirational Districts – a New India by 2022”.

Delivering his lecture,  Amitabh Kant stressed on the significance of demographic dividend and inclusive growth in India. He said that growth can be sustainable only if it is inclusive. He said that there have been various factors contributing to the unsustainable growth in India such as significant variation in inter-state and inter-district parameters, which needs to be addressed. Speaking about the opportunity that demographic dividend in India is providing, he said that more than 70% of the India’s population is below 35 years giving it an advantage over other countries.

CEO Kant said that under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, NITI Aayog has adopted a focused approach for the transformation of Aspirational Districts.  He said that 49 indicators have been selected out of 500 parameters for 200 identified districts and these districts are ranked based on their performance on each of these selected indicators. Data on various parameters of progress is being constantly monitored and updated, he added.

He said there are specific initiatives which need to be implemented to improve ranking of a district, which have been spelt out too. The purpose is to motivate the districts to compete among themselves and perform in the direction of transformation on various parameters such as health & nutrition, education, agriculture & water resources, financial inclusion and basic infrastructure, among others. He also spoke on the success stories of various districts which have performed to bring their ranking up amongst these Aspirational Districts, according to a PIB release.

He also said that complex rules and regulations operating in India in the past was a constraint. The Government has done away with many of the obsolete rules to facilitate the ease of doing business, he added. To achieve the growth on a sustainable basis, he said, there should be a team spirit among States and Centre. The Central Government has nominated senior officers from the government as ‘Prabhari’ officers to assist the district officers and to take up the challenge of transforming these aspirational districts.  He also spoke about various structural changes brought about by the government, such as Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT), implementation of GST and the Insolvency Code, among others.

Speaking about the digitization initiative of the Government, he said that it will bring more transparency in the system  for example benefits of more than 500 Government schemes is being directly credited in the accounts of the beneficiaries using the Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT).

Central Vigilance Commissioner K V Chowdary, Vigilance Commissioners Dr T M Basin and  Sharad Kumar were also present on the occasion.