NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India has launched a web portal named ‘AAINA Dashboard for Cities’, which aims to create a robust database of the key performance metrics of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). This portal could be accessed by all stakeholders and subsequently be open for public view once it gets populated.
The primary objectives of the AAINA Dashboard are to help cities to:
(i) Observe how cities are faring vis-à-vis other cities,
(ii) Inspire them by pointing to possibilities and areas of improvement,
(iii) Provide opportunities to learn and engage with front runners.
While not ranking the ULBs, the AAINA dashboard would serve as a tool for comparing similarly placed cities and promoting peer learning among cities.
All the civic bodies can participate in this initiative and voluntarily submit their key data regularly, through a simple, easy-to-fill, data entry form on the portal. The dashboard will present the data submitted by the local bodies based on indicators across five broad pillars -political and administrative structure, finance, planning, citizen-centric governance, and delivery of basic services.
A senior official stated, “Currently, information about all the ULBs in the country isn’t available on one platform. The idea is to provide a platform for ULBs to learn from each other and also have critical data, which can be used in the future for planning new schemes and taking policy decisions.”