NITI Aayog to rank states on social sector performance

To assess progress in health, education, nutrition, water management

The government is planning to rank states on the basis of their performance outcome in social sectors — health, education, nutrition, water management and sustainable development goals. The ranking would be done either internally or through an outside agency, officials said.

In health, the ranking parameters include reduction in instances of babies born with low weight; increase in expansion of primary health centres over a specified timeframe; rise or fall in institutional deliveries; whether Integrated Child Development Services covers 60 per cent or more of the estimated number of children under six years, etc. That apart, states would be rated in terms of nutrition coverage; incidence of HIV; third-party quality assessment of health facilities; percentage increase in number of health workers, etc. The proportion of budget allocation for health, drugs and commodities would also be considered in the ranking.

In education, the parameters include enrolment levels; transition rate; technology; early-grade preparedness; school attendance levels; teacher attendance levels; third-party funding sources, etc. Schools would be assessed on the basis of learning outcomes, average score in each class, etc.  States’ water management initiatives would be rated on the basis of per-capita water storage capacity per annum; storage of rain water; number of water bodies restored in past three years; number of water bodies created in past five years in comparison to targets set under rural employment scheme and integrated water management plan; and percentage of water allocated for irrigation, drinking water and industrial use compared to the total budget outlay, etc.

That apart, states would be ranked in terms of their supply-side management of major and medium irrigation projects, and groundwater supplies.  In groundwater, factors such as percentage of over-exploited and critical blocks to the total blocks, areas of major groundwater recharging, etc will be taken into account.

“The objective behind this exercise is to see that states make desired improvement in social sector ranking as well,” said an official. The matter was discussed at a meeting of chief secretaries of states with top NITI Aayog officials on Wednesday.

In a related development, NITI Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya expressed the hope that a good monsoon could help add “a percentage point” to India’s GDP growth in the current financial year.

“I am very optimistic, particularly encouraged by the monsoon. Monsoon will deliver this time. We can expect some pretty robust agriculture growth,” Panagariya told reporters on the sidelines of the conference of chief secretaries and planning secretaries.

“If the agriculture growth does pan out on those lines, that adds up a percentage point to the growth. That really makes crossing eight per cent quite probable. We should cross eight per cent in 2016-17,” he added.

Earlier, NITI Aayog member Bibek Debroy had said abolition of the Railway Budget and change of financial year to calendar year would be a reality by 2018.