Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa are the top three states in the Centre’s Good Governance Index (GGI) 2020-21 issued on Saturday. Delhi ranked first in the list of union territories (UTs). Union Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Cooperation, Amit Shah released the Good Governance Index 2021 on Good Governance Day (observed on 25 December) at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The index is prepared by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG).
In the GGI 2020-21 www.darpg.gov.in, Gujarat registered a growth of over 12% and Goa registered a growth of around 25%. Uttar Pradesh has shown a growth of 9% as compared to the 2019 performance. Gujarat has performed strongly in five of the 10 sectors, including economic governance, human resource development, public infrastructure and utilities, social welfare and development, judiciary and public safety. Maharashtra has performed strongly in agriculture and allied sector, human resource development, public infrastructure and utilities, social welfare and development. Goa has performed strongly in agriculture and allied sector, commerce and industry, public infrastructure and utilities, economic governance, social welfare and development and environment.
In UT category, Delhi tops the composite rank, registering a 14 percent increase. Delhi has performed strongly in agriculture and allied sectors, commerce and industry, public infrastructure and utilities and social welfare and development.
UP has topped in the commerce and industry sector, which was one of the 10 areas of good governance. The state has also shown improvement in social welfare and development and judiciary and public safety sectors as well as citizen-centric governance standards. In 2019, Uttar Pradesh was ranked 17th on this list.
Overall, 20 states have improved their overall GGI scores in the recent index. J&K also registered an improvement of 3.7% in the index and performed strongly in the commerce and industry sectors.
The Good Governance Index helps in assessing the state of governance in the states and union territories. The GGI 2021 framework consists of 10 sectors and 58 indicators. The 10 areas include agriculture and allied sectors, commerce and industry, human resource development, public health, public infrastructure, economic governance, social welfare and development, judicial and public security, environment and citizen-centred governance. For these 10 regions, 50 parameters were set, on the basis of which the ranking of states and union territories was decided.