District Level Data (DLD) and Dashboard for Agriculture and Allied-sectors in India

The District Level Database (DLD) for Indian agriculture and allied sectors provide a comprehensive one-stop-shop for India's rural sector. The DLD time-series data will be used to identify relevant regions/districts in India for targeted programs and development initiatives. It acts as a link between country-level macro data and household-level microdata. The dataset, which consists of district-level data from 1966-2017, covers 592 districts from 20 states. The DLD database has two types of datasets, namely unapportioned and apportioned datasets. The unapportioned dataset corresponds to the current district's data. In contrast, the apportioned dataset was created by giving back the newly formed districts' data to the parent districts based on the geographical area percentage. The DLD database now has three apportioned datasets with 1996, 1991, and 2001 district boundaries. We collated data from various published sources to develop a DLD database. The sources include the department of economics and statistics, the department of agriculture, the department of public works, the department of animal husbandry, the department of horticulture, the ministry of women and child welfare, and the ministry of rural development, etc. both at the center and state level. These data are secondary raw data. However, the database was compiled and organized by ICRISAT from both electronic and hardcopy sources available only in Indian government physical archival records. ICRISAT regularly updates the database, compiles the data into a consistent format: e.g., each row represents a district, the application of uniform district codes and the use of a consistent variable name across files, digitizing the database for open access, creation of user-friendly data products like district snapshots, data visualization, and spatial maps, etc. We haven't used any survey instruments since this was a collection of secondary administrative data. The datasets include metadata, interactive dashboard with other associated documentation available at: http://data.icrisat.org/dld/index.html