the goan I network
VASCO
Goa won the best small State award in five different categories while springing a surprise topping the governance category at the India Today State of the States Survey 2018 conducted by research agency MDRA.
The performance of the States were examined under 13 categories -- economy, infrastructure, agriculture, education, health, law and order, governance, inclusive development, entrepreneurship, environment, cleanliness, tourism and all round or overall improvement.
Goa won 5 awards for the Best Small State in the fields of tourism, most improved tourism, governance, environment and economy.
Goa also made a mark as a best performing state in education where it was placed third; environment second; infrastructure second; health third; inclusive development sixth. While Goa was placed at the sixth position in agriculture, it took a beating in the law and order category and was placed at a low tenth. In the entrepreneurship category Goa got the third position.
In the cleanliness section, Goa was ranked fifth as Sikkim, Delhi, Mizoram and Puducherry were placed much higher.
Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho who received the awards from Vice President of India, Venkaiah Naidu said Goa was ranked the best in terms of governance and this only proved that the system in the State was functioning smoothly.
Godinho said that he was thankful to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar for deputing him to collect the awards at Delhi on his behalf.
Lashing out at the Opposition for attacking the government on governance and the envrionment front, Godinho said the awards that Goa has received will now silence the critics. The government has made tremendous progress in all sectors and was working for development in all the constituencies, he said.
“After the mining ban, the State is surviving on tourism... we have received two awards as the best small state in the tourism sector too,” Godinho said.
“On the environment front also, we have received an award and this is a slap on people who say that the government had destroyed the environment in the State”, said Godinho.
