Economic and Political Weekly report on Disparity between States
According to a report in economic and
political weekly, regional disparity has been growing over the years in India.
The study evaluates the governance performance of 19 major States.
What the report says?
Five of the six best-performing States in
2001 — Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Punjab — continue to be
the top performers in 2011. Four of the six worst-performing States in 2001 —
Odisha, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar — remained at the bottom in 2011.
This led the researchers to conclude that “development clusters” — combinations
of quality service delivery and high per capita income — are emerging among the
more developed States in the south and west of the country, leaving behind the
less-developed States, especially in the eastern region.- The study shows that development
legacy seems to have a strong impact on the quality of governance (when
measured as service delivery).
- Some of the less developed States
like Bihar and Madhya Pradesh moved up significantly in the modified
ranking. Bihar jumped eight positions from the 18th in standard ranking to
the 10th in development-adjusted ranking. Madhya Pradesh jumped from the
13th to second position. Chhattisgarh, placed at the eighth position, was
the top performer in the modified ranking.
How was it measured?
While there are various approaches to
evaluating performance of the State governments, the researchers use “output” —
the quality of service delivery — as a measure of governance quality.
- Five sets of criteria were used to
rank the States: infrastructure, social services, fiscal performance,
justice, law and order, and quality of the legislature.
- Only official government data were
used.
- The study covers 19 States which account for 96% of the population, for which requisite data was available from 2001-02 to 2011-12.
