Gujarat down from 11th to 16th slot in `policy effectiveness' in 10 years: Report

Thanks to lack of effective implementation at the state level Naredra Modi-led Gujarat has slipped on the policy effectiveness index, reveals the India Public Policy Report, 2014.

Based on a comparative appraisal of policy effectiveness of 26 states, the report, prepared by Rajeev Malhotra, a senior IAS officer and economic advisor to former FM Pranab Mukherjee, reveals a marked decline in the performance of Gujarat, which dropped from 11th position in 2001 to 16th in 2011.

Interestingly, Delhi is raked among the top five states in the 2011 policy effectiveness index along with Sikkim, Mizoram, Goa and Punjab.

The report ranks Odisha, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and West Bengal as the laggards at the bottom of the scale.

The report tracks policy effectiveness in states through four indices - rule of law, livelihood opportunity, social opportunity and physical infrastructure development. The report finds Gujarat lagging behind other states on most parameters except infrastructure development. (See: Non-BJP states take top three slots in manufacturing: CSO report ).

The first report on the effectiveness of public policy, India Public Policy Report, 2014, is an important contribution to the public policy discourse in the country, said Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen while releasing the report.

Sen, who is also a member of the 14th finance commission, however, said there is a "danger of the state rankings on the policy effectiveness index being hijacked by the political debate" on the eve of the general elections.

The study claims to be based on indices that "reflect human well-being from being able to enjoy livelihood opportunities; a socially meaningful life to security of life and rule of law and amenities for a sustained improvement in living standards".

Conducted over a 30-year period between 1981 and 2011, the study finds that at the all-India level there is a gradual, marginal, improvement in the policy effectiveness index over the three decades.

At the national level, the study finds a near stagnation in expansion of livelihood opportunities and a deterioration in law and order and dispensation of justice.