Good Governance Index released by Central govt.

Syllabus subtopic: Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.

Prelims and Mains focus: About the Good Governance Index and its significance; performance of different states

News: Tamil Nadu has topped the Good Governance Index released by the Centre on Wednesday, followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

About the occasion

• The government celebrates December 25 as Good Governance Day to mark the birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• The rankings were launched by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions) and the Centre for Good Governance.

State-wise performance

• Odisha, Bihar, Goa, and Uttar Pradesh did not fare well in the Big States category and Jharkhand was at the bottom of the list.
• The other two classifications are North-East and Hill States, and Union Territories
• In the North-East and Hill States category, Himachal Pradesh ranked first, followed by Uttarakhand, Tripura, Mizoram and Sikkim. Jammu and Kashmir is at the sixth place, followed by Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
• Among the Union Territories, Puducherry emerged as the best-governed, ahead of Chandigarh and Delhi. Lakshwadeep was found to be the worst-performing.

About the Good Governance Index

• The index is a uniform tool to assess the status of governance and the impact of various interventions by state governments and Union Territories.
• The Index was designed scientifically based on various parameters of governance.
• As per the methodology of the index, states are assessed on their performance in 10 sectors — agriculture and allied sectors, commerce and industries, human resource development, public health, public infrastructure and utilities, economic governance, social welfare and development, judicial and public security, environment and citizen-centric governance.

Sector-wise performance of states

• In the agriculture and allied sector, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Daman and Diu are the best performing states in their respective classifications, taking into account the growth rate of agriculture and allied sector, food grain production, horticulture produce, milk and meat production, and crop insurance.
• In the category of commerce and industries, Jharkhand was at the top among big states, Uttarakhand among hill states and Delhi among Union Territories.
• West Bengal emerged as the topper in the Environment category among the big states and Jammu and Kashmir has topped among the North-East and Hill States.
• Chhattisgarh has topped the Social Welfare and Development Sector ranking among big states and Meghalaya is on the top in its category.
• In Economic Governance, Karnataka has emerged at the top among big states and Uttarakhand has topped among North-East and Hill States.
• In terms of Public Infrastructure and Utilities, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh have topped their respective categories.
• Kerala is on top in terms of Public Health.