International Development Enterprises , India (IDEI) and Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies (RGICS) co-sponsored the first-ever holistic study on India's most backward districts titled "District-Level Deprivation in the New Millennium ". Commemorating this significant occasion, the chief guest of Honour , Dr. Manmohan Singh, Leader of the Opposition (Rajya Sabha) and former Finance Minister released the book.

The study identifies the most backward districts using a wide resource base of data, benchmarking it on attainment of Millennium Development Goals (set by the UNDP ) across the six measures of socio economic progress : poverty, hunger , literacy, immunization, infant mortality and elementary enrolment.