Of 18 states ruled by BJP, only one is in top five best-governed ones: Study
Mumbai, July 27: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), or a political alliance it is a part of, governs 18 of 29 states in India, home to nearly 63% of the country's population. But only one BJP-ruled state, Himachal Pradesh, made it to the list of five best-governed states in India, according to a new study.
The public affairs index (PAI) 2018, developed by Public Affairs Centre (PAC), a Bengaluru-based think tank, evaluated state governance using 10 broad themes, 30 focus subjects, and 100 indicators, according to its website. These include law and order, economic freedom, environment, transparency and so on. This is the third edition of the index.
The top five states in the order of their ranking are Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka. Of these, Kerala is governed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front, Tamil Nadu by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Telangana by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Karnataka by a Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress combine.
The top 10 list includes all the southern states -- none of which are governed by the BJP. Four states in this list are governed by the BJP and two by its chief opponent, the Congress (singly or in a coalition). Andhra Pradesh, ruled by the Telugu Desam Party, was placed ninth.
These ranks are significant because BJP came to power on the promise of delivering development through its sabka saath, sabka vikas (development for all) campaign.
"The election manifesto, which revolves around the core issues of good governance and development, discusses in detail the party's focus at tackling the concerns of price rise, corruption, black money and policy paralysis," noted the prime minister's website, narendramodi.in, the day his party's election manifesto was released on April 7, 2014.
The PAI index has ranked 30 states, including Delhi. The aggregated rankings of the the top two states -- Kerala and Tamil Nadu -- have remained the same over three years.
"These [southern] states have been doing well historically," Narayana A, faculty on governance at Azim Premji University, told IndiaSpend. "It may not be the presence or absence of the BJP that matters so much. The nature of politics may be a factor like the mobilisation of other backward classes and scheduled castes states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu."
Himachal Pradesh topped the list of small states with population less than 20 million. Of the 12 small states that made it to the list, BJP heads, or is a part of, the government in eight. Goa and Tripura made it to the top five. The non-BJP exception is the Congress-led government in Mizoram, placed third after Goa and Sikkim.
Among the 18 large states (with population over 20 million), the top four were south Indian states, followed by BJP-governed Gujarat and Maharashtra. Bihar languished at the bottom in the list of large states and the overall aggregated ranking.
Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh were the other states at the bottom of the PAI index for large states. All the bottom four large states are BJP-governed.
BJP-governed states, led by Gujarat, have most economic freedom. "The theme of economic freedom explores the effort undertaken by the state governments to improve business environment in the state," the report said.
Maharashtra was ranked second in economic freedom. Telangana, placed third before Himachal Pradesh and Haryana, was the only state without a BJP government in this category. Bihar was ranked last among the large states on this aspect.
"BJP has come to symbolise the economic and political right. They want to present the party as one which promotes business which makes it easy for investments to come in," said Narayana.
The southern states may not do as well as Gujarat in ease of doing or promoting business but Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have done well in attracting foreign direct investment, Narayana pointed out. States like Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh just provide land or speedy clearances but that makes for only "selective good governance", he said.
Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra (in that order) have the best record in managing crime and maintaining law and order among the large states. Haryana and Jharkhand rank the last in this list. The top five safest states feature two BJP-ruled states, including Gujarat, and three governed by others including West Bengal.
This theme explored violence, atrocities, and policing including indicators such as rapes, murder, dowry deaths per 100,000 population among other factors.
"It is interesting to point out that despite Kerala having a very high number of FIRs, in the matter of their disposal and conviction rate have performed well," the report noted.
Nagaland and Goa were the best amongst small states while Delhi and Tripura were at the bottom in this list, for the last three years. Nagaland was the best performing as per the aggregated ranking of 30 states.
Delhi, governed by the Aam Aadmi Party, is placed last in the list on two counts -- environment, and transparency and accountability.
Karnataka emerged as the best in the category among large states while Arunachal Pradesh was placed on top amongst small states. Gujarat fell seven notches from last three years to 10 and Telangana which has improved its position from 17 last year to 7 this year," the report noted.
Karnataka and Haryana were the top two states on the transparency scale. Kerala fell eight places to 11th among the large states in this respect between 2017 and 2018. But Telangana's ranking improved seven spots to 4th during the same period.
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IPL first phase schedule announced amid travel concerns caused by war in West Asia
New Delhi (PTI): Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2026 opener in Bengaluru on March 28 as the BCCI announced the first phase of the tournament schedule amid concerns around players' travel arrangements due to the ongoing West Asia conflict.
All matches scheduled at the Chinnaswamy Stadium remain subject to clearance from the Karnataka government appointed expert committee, which is scheduled to meet on March 13 to assess venue preparedness in the wake of the deadly stampede at the stadium last season.
The BCCI announced the schedule of the first 20 games on Wednesday and will unveil the full schedule once the dates of elections in three states -- Tamil Nadu, Assam and West Bengal -- are announced.
Besides the state elections, the escalating conflict in West Asia will also be at the forefront of BCCI officials' minds. The war has wreaked havoc to international travel with operations of major airports like Doha and Dubai being heavily restricted.
As a result of that, some of the squad members of South Africa and West Indies are yet to reach home a week after the completion of their T20 World Cup campaign.
It remains to be seen if IPL bound players of those two nations report to their respective teams in time.
"There was a substantial delay in departure of West Indies and South Africa players. It would be a tough task to get them back to India on time. Plus the airfares have gone up substantially due to the war in West Asia," a team official told PTI.
Additionally, hotels across India are facing cooking gas shortage due to the raging conflict and on Tuesday, the central government invoked Essential Commodities Act to ensure uninterrupted supply of domestic cooking gas.
Chennai Super Kings CEO Kasi Viswanthan told PTI that he is expecting his players from the West Indies and South Africa -- Akeal Hossein and Dewald Brevis, to join the team well before their IPL opener.
"We are expecting no delays from their end," he said.
The second game of the opening weekend will see Mumbai Indians host Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium and the opening weekend will not feature any double-headers.
A total of 20 matches will be played across 10 venues: Bengaluru, Mumbai, Guwahati, New Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.
"During the season, Royal Challengers Bengaluru will play five home matches in Bengaluru and two in Raipur. Punjab Kings will play four home matches in New Chandigarh and three in Dharamshala, while Rajasthan Royals will play three home matches in Guwahati and four in Jaipur," said the BCCI in a statement.
"During this period (the first 16 days), the tournament will feature four double-headers, with the afternoon matches beginning at 03:30 PM IST and the evening matches commencing at 07:30 PM IST.
"Following the opening encounter on Saturday, Mumbai Indians will take on Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
"The matches scheduled in Bengaluru are subject to clearance from the Expert Committee constituted by the Government of Karnataka," the BCCI added.
