Champion States
The 2019 India Today State of the States (SOS) survey picks the winners from among 28 states on 12 key development parameters
Competitiveness is a universal and time-tested idea to promote growth. Competition among states, to outdo each other in economic development and social welfare, could well be the trigger our country desperately needs to rev up the slowing economy. The Narendra Modi government has often advocated a growth model that blends cooperation between the Centre and the states with inter-state competition. india today outlined this concept of mapping the performance of states way back in 2003, with the State of the States (SOS) study.
Sixteen years on, the SOS study not only remains the most comprehensive and credible benchmark for assessing a state’s socioeconomic development, but it has also evolved in its scope and methodology. The study is based on objective data sourced from government bodies and credible agencies. To avoid giving undue advantage to states with a legacy of performance or under-achievement, the evaluation is done under two broad groups—best performing and most improved. The best performing category examines the absolute numbers for the latest year for which data is available. The most improved category examines states’ progress over the past five years.
The SOS study has gradually altered perceptions about achievers and laggards. Tamil Nadu,
Kerala and Gujarat are three of the best performing states that have traditionally been among India’s high-growth achievers. In this year’s SOS rankings, they found place among the top five in many of the 12 categories. Yet, in terms of improvement in the past five years, they were among the bottom five in four to six categories.
Bihar, Assam and Uttar Pradesh, which have a poor record, have hit the growth lane in the past five years. While the three are among the bottom five of the best performing states across several categories, they are among the five most improved in six to nine categories. For the second year in a row, Tamil Nadu, better known for vote-catching doles, has emerged as the best performing big state, indicating that performance and populism can go together. Assam topped the list of most improved big states again. Perhaps the BJP government’s efforts to clean up the administration paid off.
Among the small states, Goa, aided by performance in economy, infrastructure, tourism and cleanliness, dethroned last year’s winner Puducherry, which maintained its superlative performance in other categories, but saw a sharp fall in tourism and education. Tripura, which moved from 25 years of Left rule to the first BJP government in 2018, retained last year’s position as the most improved small state.
The absence of Maharashtra, Karnataka and West Bengal, which together account for 28 per cent of India’s GDP, from the list of major winners is a worry. Among the best performing big states, Maharashtra slipped in the overall, economy, health, governance and tourism categories. While Karnataka marginally improved in some categories, political instability seems to have hit its overall performance. West Bengal, the most improved big state in environment, is an encouraging story. Bogged down by poor performance in the past, it ranked 12th among the 20 best performing big states despite better rankings than last year in 10 categories. Among the most improved states, though, it jumped from 13th position to eighth—the kind of rise the SOS study seeks to map. India’s march to a $5 trillion economy by 2025 could become a reality if such upward movements among states become the norm and not the exception. ■