Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa emerge as 'best governed states' in PAC ranking

On Friday, October 30, Kerala emerged as the best-governed State in the country while Uttar Pradesh ended at the bottom of the list in the large states category in the Public Affairs Index-2020 (PAI 2020) released by the Public Affairs Centre. Among Union Territories and small States, Chandigarh and Goa emerged as the best governed UT and small State respectively.

The city-based not-for-profit organisation is headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K Kasturirangan. Providing details about the annual report Kasturirangan said that the states were ranked on governance performance based on a composite index in the context of sustainable development. The PAC further analyses the governance performance in the context of sustainable development defined by three pillars of equity, sustainability and growth.

"The evidence that PAI 2020 generates and the insights that it provides must compel us to reflect on the economic and social transition that is underway in India"  Kasturirangan said speaking on the occasion.

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Details of best and worst performers in PAC report

Four southern states stood in the first ranks in the large state category in terms of governance, the report said. The four states include Kerala with 1.388 PAI Index point, Tamil Nadu with 0.912 points, Andhra Pradesh with 0.531 points and Karnataka with 0.468 points. Meanwhile Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Bihar were at the bottom of the ranking and scored negative points in the category. The states got - 1.461, -1.201 and -1.158 points respectively.

Goa ranked first with 1.745 points in the small state category, followed by Meghalaya with 0.797 points and Himachal Pradesh with 0.725 points. The states that performed weakly in the small states category and earned negative points are Manipur with -0.363, Delhi with -0.289 and Uttarakhand with -0.277, according to the PAC report.

As Chandigarh emerged the best-governed union territory in the category of UTs with 1.05 PAI points, Puducherry followed with 0.52 along with Lakshadweep with 0.003. However, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Andaman, Jammu & Kashmir and Nicobar were the least performers with -0.69, -0.50 and -0.30 points respectively.

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Heads of the states react to recognition

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(With PTI inputs)