Public Affairs Index – Governance in the States of India- 2020
Public Affairs Centre released Public Affairs Index- 2020, on 30th October 2020. PAC is a not for profit Think Tank established in 1994 with a mandate to improve the quality of governance in India. Bengaluru based PAC is headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation chairman, Dr. Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan.
The Public Affairs Index 2020 is a scientifically rigorous, data-based framework that measures the quality of governance at the subnational level. It ranks Indian States & Union Territories on a Composite Index. As per population criteria, States are classified into two categories: Large and Small
Framework of PAI 2020:
PAI 2020 is an amalgamation of 3 Pillars, 5 Themes, 13 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 50 indicators.
PAC chairman K Kasturirangan, said the states were ranked on governance performance based on a composite index in the context of sustainable development. The three dimensions of sustainable development are Equity, Growth and Sustainability. They are the three pillars on which the Composite Index (CI) is constructed.
- Equity pillar: It examines the political economy of exclusion from the perspective of the States and UTs.
- Growth pillar: It dwells on India’s growth challenge and the concerns that need attention for sustainable development.
- Sustainability pillar: It analyses the access to and usage of resources that has an impact on environment, economy and humankind.
Each of the three pillars is circumscribed by five governance praxis themes that influence the pace and direction of development outcomes in substantive and context specific ways, in small or great measure.
Five themes are:
- Voice and Accountability
- Government Effectiveness
- Rule of Law
- Regulatory Quality
- Control of Corruption
In Composite Index of Public Affairs Index- 2020, 50 component indicators are mapped to 13 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are relevant to the states and UTs.
In the large state category:
Four southern states, Kerala with a PAI score of 1.389 is at first rank, followed by Tamil Nadu (0.912), Andhra Pradesh (0.531) and Karnataka (0.468) stood in the second, third and fourth ranks in terms of governance.
Uttar Pradesh ranks 18th with negative PAI score of -1.462 at the last of the ranking, while Odisha (-1.202) and Bihar (-1.159) ranks seventeenth & sixteenth respectively in the large state category.
In the small state category:
Goa ranked first with a PAI score of 1.745, followed by Meghalaya (0.797) and Himachal Pradesh (0.725) stood in the second, third ranks respectively.
As the worst performer, Manipur ranks 11th with negative PAI Score of -0.364, while Delhi (-0.29) and Uttarakhand (-0.278) ranks tenth & ninth respectively.
In the UTs category:
Chandigarh ranks first with a PAI score of 1.058, while Puducherry (0.521) and Lakshadweep (0.004) ranks second & third respectively.
Dadar and Nagar Haveli ranks seventh with a negative PAI score of -0.691, while Jammu and Kashmir (-0.507) Andaman and Nicobar (-0.308) ranks sixth & fifth respectively.
Overall Rankings: In the large state category
| Rank | Large State | Index |
| 1 | Kerala | 1.389 |
| 2 | Tamil Nadu | 0.912 |
| 3 | Andhra Pradesh | 0.531 |
| 4 | Karnataka | 0.468 |
| 5 | Chhattisgarh | 0.429 |
| 6 | Telangana | 0.388 |
| 7 | Maharastra | 0.143 |
| 8 | Punjab | 0.092 |
| 9 | Gujarat | 0.054 |
| 10 | Madhya Pradesh | -0.345 |
| 11 | Rajasthan | -0.38 |
| 12 | West Bengal | -0.49 |
| 13 | Assam | -0.671 |
| 14 | Haryana | -0.702 |
| 15 | Jharkhand | -0.958 |
| 16 | Bihar | -1.159 |
| 17 | Odisha | -1.202 |
| 18 | Uttar Pradesh | -1.462 |
Overall Rankings: In the small state category
| Rank | Small States | Index |
| 1 | Goa | 1.746 |
| 2 | Meghalaya | 0.797 |
| 3 | Himachal Pradesh | 0.725 |
| 4 | Sikkim | 0.603 |
| 5 | Tripura | 0.146 |
| 6 | Arunachal Pradesh | 0.048 |
| 7 | Mizoram | -0.056 |
| 8 | Nagaland | -0.117 |
| 9 | Uttarakhand | -0.278 |
| 10 | Delhi | -0.29 |
| 11 | Manipur | -0.364 |
Overall Rankings: In the UTs category
| Rank | Union Territory | Index |
| 1 | Chandigarh | 1.058 |
| 2 | Puducherry | 0.521 |
| 3 | Lakshadweep | 0.004 |
| 4 | Daman & Diu | -0.077 |
| 5 | A & N Islands | -0.308 |
| 6 | Jammu & Kashmir | -0.507 |
| 7 | Dadra & Nagar Haveli | -0.691 |