Himachal Pradesh is ranked as first state amongst the small states (with the population of less than two crore) in a survey based upon Public Affair Index (PAI), 2017 for best governance. This survey was conducted by the Public Affairs Centre (PAC), a non-profit think-tank, established since 1994 with a mandate to evaluate the quality of governance in India.
Purnima Chauhan, Secretary Administrative Reforms received the award on behalf of State of Himachal Pradesh. Former Chief Justice of Supreme Court of India M. N. Venkatachaliah, Chairperson of the PAC and former Lokayukta of Karnatka Justice N. Santosh Hegde presented the award in a function held at Bengaluru on Saturday last.
Acting Chief Secretary, Tarun Shridhar and Purnima Chauhan handed over the award to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh here today. The Chief Minister appreciated the efforts initiated in various sectors, particularly in Welfare, Health and Education. He also attributed the award to the high level officers and employees of the state government who have been instrumental in achieving the desired objectives in the field of Governance.
The Chief Minster said that the award truly reflects the level of citizen centricity and responsive governance that prevails in our peaceful state.
PAI is a data driven platform. It evaluated 30 Indian States to rank them on governance based 26 focus subjects, 82 indicators and 10 themes which cover every aspect of socio-economic development of these culturally, socially and politically diverse regions.
In 2017 PAI included a new study on inequality which focuses on the extent of the gap existing between various strata of the society from health, education, inclusive development, socio-economic infrastructure and gender perspectives. Himachal Pradesh emerged as the only state where the inequality indicator was negligible.
Tarun Shridhar said that Himachal Pradesh scored the highest points amongst the 12 small states due to sustained investment in public goods provisioning with active citizen support, effective administrative measures and political will. It is a matter of pride that the State was emerged as a model of holistic development despite barriers of topography, climatic conditions and scattered population.
He said team of Public Affair Centre would be visiting the State in near future to study the inter-linkages of these socio-economic, political and accountability indicators.
