Are aspirational districts socio-economically vulnerable? A case of district Nandurbar, Maharashtra

NITI aayog’s Transformation of Aspirational Districts Programme prioritises 112 impoverished districts across India to reduce regional disparities, this study assesses the vulnerability in Maharashtra’s aspirational district (Nandurbar) using a novel Socio-economic Vulnerability Index (SEVI) to evolve customised developmental interventions. Using the Census of India 2011 dataset, a composite index of socio-economic vulnerability was constructed for all 930 villages in Nandurbar. Social sensitivity (0.58) and economic sensitivity (0.59) were high while the social adaptive capacity (0.36) and economic adaptive capacity (0.39) were lower. Nearly 446 villages (48%) were found to be highly vulnerable, which is masked by the aggregate district score of 0.41, which indicates low vulnerability and indicating the need for granular analysis. Key drivers that increased sensitivity were a higher proportion of ST/SC population, and longer distance to town and hospital, while those that reduced adaptive capacity were poor housing conditions and amenities, and poor transportation and communication, which need targeted interventions. The study validates the utility of SEVI as a handy tool for micro-level development planning.