Why in News?

• The Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions launched the ‘Good Governance Index’ on the occasion of ‘Good Governance Day’.
• Good Governance Day is observed on the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee (25^thDecember). It was observed for the first time in 2014.

Good Governance Index (GGI):

• The Good Governance Index is a uniform tool across States to assess the status of governance and the impact of various interventions taken up by the State Government and UTs.
• The objectives of GGI are:
  • To provide quantifiable data to compare the state of governance in all states and UTs.
  • To enable states and UTs to formulate and implement suitable strategies for improving governance.
  • To shift to result-oriented approaches and Administration.

How is the GGI Calculated?

• 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.
• The GGI takes into consideration ten sectors, namely,
  • Agriculture and Allied Sectors
  • Commerce & Industries
  • Human Resource Development
  • Public Health

• Public Infrastructure & Utilities
• Economic Governance
• Social Welfare & Development
• Judicial & Public Security
• Environment
• Citizen-Centric Governance
• These ten Governance Sectors are measured on total 50 indicators.
• Difference indicators are given different weightage under one Governance Sector to calculate the value.
• e Under Agriculture & Allied Sector, there are 6 indicators with different weightage, Namely: Growth rate of agriculture and allied sector (0.4), growth rate of food grains production (0.1), growth rate of horticulture produce (0.1), growth rate of milk production (0.1), growth rate of meat production (0.1) and crop insurance (0.2).
• The states and UTs are divided into three groups:
• Big States , North-East & Hill States, UTs
• 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.

First GGI Report:

• Among the Big States:
  • Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat are the top six rankers.The bottom Six States are Odisha, Bihar, Goa, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.
• Among the North-East & Hill States:
  • Top 3 states are Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Tripura.
  • The Bottom 3 states are Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
  • Pondicherry leads among the UTs followed closely by Chandigarh with Delhi bagging the third spot. Lakshadweep is at the bottom among the UTs.
• The Report also gives sector-wise ranking.
• In the Environment Sector:
  • The top three states are West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
  • The bottom 3 states are Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Goa.
  • West Bengal, however, is at the bottom two in the judicial and public security ranking. Tamil Nadu tops the chart here.
  • Karnataka is at the top under the economic governance category while Kerala is at the top in the public health sector.