After Jammu and Kashmir was the first to come out with a District Good Governance Index this year, the states of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh have also joined hands with the Centre to come out with such a guide.
The Centre brings out a Good Governance Index to assess the quality of governance in states and union territories on a biannual basis. Earlier this year, J&K was the first to raise the bar and go for an index that ranked its various districts on the governance front. It was unveiled by union home minister Amit Shah in January.
State of districts
UP, Gujarat, and Arunachal Pradesh are now collaborating with the Centre to develop District Good Governance Indices in 2022, which will track the annual improvements in governance through a digital portal. The central government has termed the step “feasible and desirable”.
The move works as an aid for benchmarking governance and is seen as an urgent reform given comparative and competitive data will be put in the public domain. The exercise also helps a state assess which districts are better performing and enable critical policy interventions for improving governance models in districts that have not done well under the parameters.
The J&K index
The union territory of J&K was the first to come out with a District Good Governance Index this year to assess the state of governance in all its 20 districts. Region-specific governance indicators were developed to assess the ground realities and meet the aspirations of the people. The J&K administration says it enabled the strengthening of the Directorate of Economics & Statistics through timely publication of datasets.
The Jammu district had emerged on top of the J&K District Good Governance Index while the Srinagar district came at the fifth position. The districts were assessed in 10 sectors. The Jammu district topped the composite ranking, followed by the Doda, and Samba districts of the Jammu division. The Pulwama district of the Srinagar division was at the fourth spot followed by the Srinagar district. The Rajouri district finished at the last spot while Poonch and Shopian featured towards the end of the rankings.
The Jammu district ranked best in the Commerce and Industry sector while Srinagar ranked best in the Public Infrastructure and Utilities sector. Kishtwar topped in the Agriculture and Allied sector, Pulwama in Human Resource Development, Reasi in Public Health, Ramban Social Welfare and Development, and Ganderbal in Financial Inclusion, the index showed.
Read all the Latest News and Breaking News here