From fighting malnutrition to promoting black rice to integration of students’ skills and experiences into a credit-based system: these are among 75 initiatives of the Centre and the states/ UTs in the social sector to be commended by the Niti Aayog as “best practices”. According to the Niti Aayog, the government’s apex public policy think-tank tasked with catalysing economic development and fostering cooperative federalism, these 75 initiatives have benefitted a large segment of the society and are replicable. Of these “best practices”, 14 are those that have been launched by Central ministries, two are joint initiatives by the Centre and the state governments, while the rest are from 26 states and UTs. Twelve of the states are ruled by BJP or its allies, while 11 are ruled by the opposition (see chart). These 75 initiatives have been documented in a book — Best practices in social sector: A compendium 2023 — released by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman K Bery and Shoko Noda, Resident Representative of UNDP India, on May 1. “As India celebrates 75 years of Independence, an effort has been made to compile 75 Best Practices in the form of this compendium. These best practices have been carefully chosen from amongst these collated from the Central Ministries/Departments and the States/UTs,” Bery has written in the book. “While identifying the best practices, due care has been taken to ensure that the stories identified are replicable, have benefited a large segment of the society and are spread over diverse themes,” he wrote. A look at some of the initiatives: Central govt (14) Direct benefit Transfer; Academic Bank of Credits (integration of students’ skills, experiences into a Credit Based system); National Academic Depository; Ganga Prahari initiative; National Artificial Intelligence Portal; Innovations for Defence excellence; Nasha Mukt Bharat; Prayatna project for Transgenders; Financial inclusion for street vendors under PM SVANidhi; Project on Ethanol; One Nation One Ration Card; UMANG; DigiLocker;Crash course for Covid Warriors. Delhi (4) Home based education to children with multiple/ severe disabilities; Electric Vehicle policy for clean air; Bio Decomposer Solution and Spray Programme to combat stubble burning; Sustainable power eco-system. Karnataka (6) Kalika Chetarike – Activity based learning; Solving dry waste handling; Santhe Kaushalkar - Self Help Group and Artisan Profiling Platform; Farmer Registration and Unified beneficiary, Information System; Kutumba: Social Protection cum Entitlement Management System; Platform for SDG, CSR alignment Uttar Pradesh (4) Black Rice Initiative in Chandauli; Reducing Maternal, Newborn Deaths (ReMiND), through mobile application; SARTHI & SAKHI — Mental Health Helpline; Disaster Risk Reduction.
