Good governance index
GS Paper II
Topic: Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizen Charters
Prelims:
Mains: Various good governance initiatives
What’s the News?
The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions launched the ‘Good Governance Index’ that assesses the status of governance and the impact of various interventions taken by states and UTs over a period of time.
Good Governance Index (GGI)
- The GGI is a uniform tool across States to assess the Status of Governance and impact of various interventions taken up by the State Government and UTs.
The objectives of GGI:
It is to provide quantifiable data to compare the state of governance in all states and UTs, enable states and UTs to formulate and implement suitable strategies for improving governance and shift to result oriented approaches and administration.
Sectors accounted under GGI
- Agriculture and Allied Sectors,
- Commerce & Industries,
- Human Resource Development,
- Public Health,
- Public Infrastructure & Utilities,
- Economic Governance,
- Social Welfare & Development,
- Judicial & Public Security,
- Environment and
- Citizen-Centric Governance
These ten Governance Sectors are measured on total 50 indicators:
- Within these sectors, the 50 indicators include food grains production, meat and milk production, ease of doing business, access to potable water, sex ratio at birth and the availability of police personnel.
- Various principles have been kept in mind while selecting the indicators, i.e. it should be easy to understand & calculate, citizen-centric & result driven, leading to improved results and applicable to all states and UTs, among others.
- Various consultation meetings were held with the stakeholders, including consultations with sector experts, ministries, states & UTs.
The states and UTs are divided into three groups:
- Big States
- North-East & Hill States
The states and UTs are ranked on all indicators separately, at the same time composite ranking is also calculated for these states and UTs under their respective groups based upon these indicators.
Sector-wise rankings:
- Under the agriculture and allied sector, Madhya Pradesh has got first position followed by Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in the big states category.
- In the commerce and industries sector, Jharkhand has got the first position in big states category, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
- Goa has got the first rank among big states for human resource development sector.
- In the public health sector ranking, Kerala is at the top position followed by Tamil Nadu and Goa among the big states.
- Under the economic governance sector, Karnataka has got the first position followed by Maharashtra, Telangana, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu among the big states.
- Chhattisgarh has got the first position in social welfare and development sector ranking.
- Under the environment sector, West Bengal has got the first position followed by Kerala and Tamil Nadu among the big states
Conclusion:
At present there is no uniform index to objectively assess the state of good governance in the states. The good governance index attempts to create a tool which can be used to assess the states of governance and impact of various interventions taken by the state governments and the UTs