After terming Dahod and Narmada as aspirational districts, an initiative of the central government, two senior ministers along with IAS officers have been given the responsibility of both the districts. Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani and Union Agriculture Minister Parshottam Rupala have been given the responsibility of Dahod and Narmada, along with two IAS officers Rajkumar and RP Gupta. The aspirational districts programme of the central government aims to improve the socio-economic status of various districts, selected by the central government across states. After the National Achievement Survey's startling results, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had chosen 117 districts and declared eight indicators. Out of these 117 districts, Gujarat's Narmada and Dahod were selected. In the June report, Dahod emerged as the top district among 117, whereas Narmada was ranked 13. Confirming the same, state education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said: "The central government has appointed two senior officers — Rajkumar and RP Gupta — for these two districts, along with two ministers Parshottam Rupala and Smriti Irani, who are overlooking the work being done." "Minister of state for education, women and child development Vibhavariben Dave and I recently spent two days in both the districts, briefing not just the officials, but also the sarpanch as we need their involvement in our attempts to improve education. I want to remove the tag of 'backward' from these districts. The biggest challenge we are facing is poverty in these two districts." In education, basic infrastructure, children's health and pre-post natal care. Though Dahod featured as the most improved district, in agriculture sector, it was the least improved with a rank of 104. Experts said that the biggest issues facing both the district are literacy, employment, and drop-outs. Most tribal girls do not or are not allowed to study after primary classes. As per the recent findings of the NAS conducted by the NCERT, Gujarat ranked ninth. The NAS findings revealed that from Class 3 to 8, the response level of students fell from 65 per cent to 47 per cent in Mathematics, 71 per cent to 64 per cent in language and 68 per cent to 52 per cent in Science. SSC RESULT THROWS MORE LIGHT 2017 Narmada recorded the lowest pass percentage in the state, with only 46.90 per cent students passing Narmada recorded the lowest pass percentage in the state, with only 46.90 per cent students passing 2018 Dahod recorded the lowest pass percentage in the state, with only 37.35 per cent students passing INDICATORS OF ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS

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