Hyderabad: Telangana has ranked as the best state in the Growth sector of the Public Affairs Index (PAI) 2021 released by the Public Affairs Centre.
With a score of 1.38 points, the state scored the highest among 18 other states in the country, followed by Kerala with 1.34 points and Jharkhand with 0.93 points.
The ‘Growth’ parameter is used to earmark a state’s growth based on the availability and diligent usage of resources such as infrastructure, which would subsequently indicate how a State performs in healthcare, education, employment, and other sectors.
In terms of the overall performance, Telangana has been ranked third with 0.891 points on the index, with Kerala and Tamil Nadu occupying the next two positions with 1.618 and 0.897 points, respectively, among the large States. Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Haryana, Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh fared poorly with Uttar Pradesh scoring the lowest.
The Public Affairs Index looks at governance performance in the context of sustainable development defined by three pillars – Equity, Growth and Sustainability, five themes, 14 sustainable development goals and 43 indicators. The index has also taken into consideration each State’s response to the pandemic.