NITI Aayog convenes Virtual Panel Discussion over ‘Aspirational Districts Forum’

BARAMULLA : In a bid to provide a platform where public functionaries can deliberate and discuss different means and modalities for up-scaling the indicators of socio-economic development, Country’s top most think tank NITI Aayog today organized a virtual panel discussion under the banner of “Aspirational Districts Forum” in which Deputy Commissioner Baramulla Bhupinder Kumar participated.

Bhupinder Kumar was the sole representative from the UT of J&K and the only Deputy Commissioner among all the DCs of the country. He was specially invited in the event as the Baramulla district has recorded overwhelming and remarkable performance thrice in subsequent NITI Aayog’s delta rankings.

At the outset, CEO Amitabh Kant presented the keynote address wherein he underlined several policy objectives envisaged under the Aspirational Districts programme. He welcomed all the participants besides extending warm applause and appreciations to DC Baramulla for excelling and recording marvelous performance among all the aspirational districts of the country.

Bhupinder Kumar, in his address gave a detailed sketch of the developmental journey of Baramulla district and shared his valuable experience while achieving milestones in public service delivery which enabled the district to stand at the apex in competitive federalism.

While presenting his valuable suggestions and feedback for achieving development oriented outcomes, the DC also put forth some issues and challenges confronting the pace of development. He added that there is a dire need to upgrade basic infrastructure in government health institutions as the people largely prefer the private sector for primary as well as secondary healthcare services. He further said that this has increased the out of pocket expenditure which has serious implications on the marginal and weaker sections of the society.

The Deputy Commissioner also presented an overview of developmental profile more especially in health and other vital sectors and said that better outcomes were achieved through collaborative approach among various stakeholders. He said that Rs 16 Crore was provided to the district as an incentive grant which was by and large utilized on upgrading basic infrastructure having their impact on the livelihoods of common people.

Among others who participated in the Panel discussion include Srikrishna Sridhar Murthy, Co-founder & CEO of Sattva Consulting; Sourav Roy, Chief CSR, Tata Steel & Head, Tata Steel Foundations; Manmohan Singh, Head Aspirational Districts Collaborative; Prabhakar Lingareddy, EVP and Head, Social Investments ITC LTD; Reema Mohan, CEO, National Stock Exchange and Tushara Shankar, Head CSR, Lupin Ltd.