A Holistic Assessment of States' Performance

This study evaluates states on seven pillars, including economic, fiscal, social, and financial development

- RAJANI SINHA

In India's competitive federalism structure, both the Centre and state governments play very critical roles in driving policy initiatives and reforms. Hence, as we aspire towards becoming Viksit Bharat by 2047, the states' role in this journey will be of paramount importance.

Different states have followed different development trajectories, and it is important to periodically assess their journey. With this objective, we have done a detailed study of various states' performance and ranked them accordingly. As no single metric can capture the performance of a state adequately, we have looked at seven pillars, namely economic, fiscal, social, financial development, infrastructure, governance, and environment. The idea is to not just capture data on growth and physical infrastructure, but to look at a holistic assessment covering softer aspects like social development, financial inclusion, environment, and governance. These pillars together capture equitable and sustainable growth potential.

Before going into the outcome of the ranking exercise, let's dwell a little more on our methodology. Under the seven pillars specified, we have captured 50 indicators. We have used a method of normalization of the indicators and arrived at a composite score based on a weighted average. The weights have been assigned based on our assessment of the impact of the pillars/indicators on the overall performance of the state. Data availability was also a consideration in assigning weights to the pillars.