SRINAGAR: Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, released the 3rd edition of the District Good Governance Index (DGGI 3.0) here along with the performance of Districts in achieving a set of 385 Deliverables given to them during 22-23.
At the outset, the Chief Secretary praised the whole team of the Planning Development & Monitoring Department headed by Administrative Secretary, Raghav Langar for carrying out this massive exercise and compiling rankings right from Panchayats up to District level.
Dr Mehta called this exercise path-breaking for adopting an evidence-based planning tool enabling targeted interventions. He said that it would assist the administration in evolving a more focused approach towards each sector. He observed that these rankings have helped pinpoint the lacunae in each area of development thereby making the impact of interventions measurable which would lead to better outcomes.
The Chief Secretary termed it a tool for ensuring good governance in the UT. He urged all the Deputy Commissioners to thoroughly go through these rankings and formulate plans accordingly to fill the developmental voids pointed out in this ranking system.
The DGGI parameters to measure the performances of Districts consists of 58 indicators under 10 sectors. These include Agriculture & Allied sector having 11 indicators, Commerce & Industry (5), Human Resource Development (9), Public Health Sectors (9), Public Infrastructure & Utilities (6), Social Welfare & Development (6), Financial Inclusion (3), Legal & Public Safety (4), Environment (2), Citizen-Centric Governance (3).
This year the table is topped by Jammu District with an overall score of 6.3771 out of 10 followed by Samba at 2nd place with a score of 6.1799, Srinagar (6.0045) at 3rd, Rajouri (5.8696) at 4th, Bandipora (5.7651) at 5th, Anantnag (5.7110) at 6th, Budgam (5.4924) 7th, Pulwama (5.2814) 8th, Doda (5.2622) 9th, Ganderbal (5.2588) 10th, Baramulla (5.0285) 11th followed by Shopian (4.9446), Udhampur (4.9332), Kupwara (4.8881), Kathua (4.8179), Kishtwar (4.7800), Kulgam (4.6391), Ramban (4.6354), Poonch (4.4623), and Reasi (4.4608) at the bottom among the 20 Districts of J&K.
Similarly, it gives insights about previous rankings and scores earned by each District during DGGI 2.0 as well. Anantnag District has made a quantum leap increasing its rank from the previous 17th to the 6th this year while Kulgam has slipped 11 spots to reach 17th this year, Shopian has lost 8 spots to manage the 12th rank this year from the 4th last time. Pulwama which was at first rank previously has attained 8th rank this time. Rajouri and Bandipora are the other Districts that have done better by increasing their ranks this year from 10th to 4th and 13th to 5th respectively.
The data also shows sector-wise performance of each district ranking them on each parameter belonging to a specific sector. Among different sectors Pulwama has made it to the top in Agriculture and Financial Inclusion sectors, Srinagar in Industries & Allied sector, Samba in Human Resource Development and Social Welfare sectors, Rajouri in Public Health and Citizen-Centric Governance sectors, Jammu in Public Infrastructure & Utilities, Anantnag in Judiciary & Public Safety and Bandipora had ranked first in safeguarding the Environment.
These rankings were released by the Chief Secretary in the presence of all the Administrative Secretaries, District Development Commissioners, HoDs of Planning, Finance, and other concerned departments.
Pertinent to mention here that J&K was the first to successfully set up this governance model here two years back and is now being considered for replication by other States/UTs in the country.
