Public Affairs Index (PAI)-2020 has placed Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir at the bottom in the best governance index with a score of negative points.
The rankings were released by Bengaluru-based not-for-profit organization Public Affairs Centre (PAC) headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K Kasturirangan.
As per the PAC ranking, J&K is the least performer in governance having (-0.50) score, UT of J&K is only ahead of Dadar and Nagar Haveli having (-0.69) score.
Chandigarh emerged as the best-governed union territory in the category of UTs with 1.05 PAI points, followed by Puducherry (0.52) and Lakshadweep (0.003).
In its annual report PAC has stated that states, UTs were ranked on governance performance based on a composite index in the context of sustainable development.
The ranking has come on eve of the first anniversary of implementation of J&K Re-organization Act 2019 which paved way for the division of the erstwhile state of J&K into two UTs of J&K and Ladakh.
The main plank of the central as well as UT government has been to provide good and corruption free governance, give impetus to the developmental activities in J&K post abrogation of Article 370.
According to the PAC, the governance performance is analyzed in the context of sustainable development defined by three pillars of equity, growth and sustainability.
Kerala was adjudged the best governed state in the country while Uttar Pradesh ended at the bottom in the large states category, according to the Public Affairs Index-2020 released by the Public Affairs Centre
As per the report, the Public Affairs Index (PAI 2020) is a scientifically rigorous, data-based framework that measures the quality of governance at the sub national level and ranks the states and Union Territories (UTs) of India on a Composite Index (CI).
It says that states are classified into two categories- large and small- using population as the criteria. The three dimensions of sustainable development- Equity, Growth and Sustainability as the overarching goals of governance, constitute the bases in the approach to measuring the performance of the states. They are the three pillars on which the CI is constructed.