Pondicherry, Lakshadweep, Goa are the best performers in social progress index; Jharkhand, Bihar worst | Popgen Tech

Bibek Debroy. File | Photo credit: Debasish Bhaduri

Puducherry, Lakshadweep and Goa emerged as the best performers among all States and Union territories in the Social Progress Index (SPI), while Jharkhand and Bihar were the worst, according to a report by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-) . PM).

The report titled “Social Progress Index: States and Districts in India” released by EAC-PM Chairman Bibek Debroy further said that Aizawl (Mizoram), Solan (Himachal Pradesh) and Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) emerged as top 3 performance. the districts.

The report was prepared by the Institute for Competitiveness and Imperative Social Progress and was commissioned by the EAC-PM.

According to the report, Puducherry has the highest SPI score of 65.99 in the country, due to its remarkable performance across elements such as personal freedom and choice, shelter, and water and sanitation.

Lakshadweep and Goa closely followed it with scores of 65.89 and 65.53, respectively, he added.

According to the report, Jharkhand and Bihar scored the lowest, 43.95 and 44.47, respectively.

The report ranks 36 States/Union Territories and 707 districts in India according to their performance across various indicators of social progress in terms of access to education, health care, water and sanitation, exercise of personal freedom and choice, ensuring shelter, personal security and good quality environment for people.

He pointed out that only 27 out of 112 districts under the Aspirational District Program (ADP) scored above the national average on the Social Progress Index.

Among these 27 districts, only 5 are ranked in the top 100 districts.

SPI assesses the performance of States and districts on three dimensions of social progress — basic human needs, foundation of well-being and opportunity.

According to the report, in terms of basic human needs, Goa, Puducherry, Lakshadweep and Chandigarh are the top four states with the best performance in water and sanitation and shelter as compared to other States and Union Territories.

In terms of shelter and personal safety, Chandigarh and Nagaland emerged as the front-runners, respectively.

On the basis of access to basic knowledge, the report said, Punjab has the highest component score of 62.92, while Delhi topped the list for access to information and communication with a score of 71.30.

In terms of health and well-being, Rajasthan has the highest component score of 73.74, while in the case of environmental quality, the top three states are Mizoram, Nagaland, and Meghalaya – all from the Northeast.

The report said that Tamil Nadu achieved the highest component score of 72.00 under the opportunity dimension. In this dimension, Andaman and Nicobar Islands has the highest score in the element for personal rights, while Sikkim topped the list for inclusiveness.

The total Social Progress Index score of 60.19 in 2022 is slightly below the global average of 65.24.