List of Most Backward Districts in India: Mewat, Haryana is Lowest-Ranked, While Vizianagaram in AP is the Best Performer

March 29, Mumbai: The NITI Aayog Wednesday released a preliminary or baseline ranking for the 101 most backward districts of India that have signed up for the Narendra Modi government’s Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ programme. The ranking is based on 49 indicators across five sectors. As per reports, Haryana’s Mewat is the lowest-ranked among these backwards districts, while Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagaram is the best-performing district in the list.

Infact, Jharkhand has 19 districts in the list, while Bihar has 13, Chhattisgarh has 10, UP and MP have eight each, while Goa has none. In the education category, Bhoopalpalli in Telangana was the top performer, while MP’s Singrauli was the worst performer. Talking about the health sector, Virudhunagar in Tamil Nadu is the best performer, while Darrang in Assam is the worst performer. Reportedly, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said, "People will know which districts are performing well and which are lagging behind. Unless these backward districts improve, India cannot progress at high growth rates."

This is part of the 'name and shame' strategy by the Government and the government think tank will come out with the rankings of these districts every month from May, 2018, based on their 'incremental progress'. On the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit one of the best performing districts on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti celebrations.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 29, 2018 11:12 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).