PANAJI
PAC is a think tank committed to good governance. The PAI aims at objectively ranking the Indian states in the field of governance on a wide variety of themes, focus subjects and indicators.
The report revealed that states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Goa were at the top of the governance spectrum as seen from a wide range of important themes such as Essential Infrastructure, Support to Human Development, Social Protection, Women and Children, Crime, Law and Order, Delivery of Justice, Environment, Transparency and Accountability, Fiscal Management and Economic Freedom.
The 2016 edition of PAI included 25 focus subjects under ten themes and 68 indicators. This year’s edition expanded this scope to include 26 subjects and 82 indicators, which also includes a new theme of ‘Inequality’.
Among the large states, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat secured the top three spots respectively while Himachal Pradesh, Goa and Mizoram are the best performers among the smaller states respectively.
Goa ranked first among all states for Essential Infrastructure and stood first among small states in Fiscal Management and Economic Freedom. However, it scored poorly in Environment, Women And Children and Social Protection, scoring the 10th position in each of these categories among small states.
Delhi slipped from third position in 2016 to 9th position
in 2017, while Jammu and Kashmir (10th), Arunachal Pradesh (11th) and Meghalaya (12th) are at the bottom of the
table.
Overall, the south Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu secured first and second rankings for the second year in a row while poll-bound Gujarat gained two positions rising from five in 2016 to three in 2017. Goa also improved its overall ranking among all states, rising from 11 in 2016 to 8 in this year’s edition.
Karnataka slipped from third position in 2016 to fourth in 2017 while Maharashtra stood fifth (4th in 2016) in governance indicators.
There was no change in the last four positions among large states. Like in the previous year, Bihar (18th), Jharkhand (17th), Odisha (16th) and Assam (15th) are at the bottom of the list.
The 2017 edition of Public Affairs Index was launched by former Judge of the Supreme Court Santosh Hegde along with Chairman of PAC, former Chief Justice M N Venkatachaliah.
