Chennai: In a big shot in the arm to the State government led by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, Tamilnadu has topped the Good Governance Index launched by the Centre.

Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh followed among the ”Big States”. While Tamilnadu led on almost every parameter. Maharashtra and Karnataka came next.

Tamilnadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat are said to be the top six rankers among big States while Odisha, Bihar, Goa, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand are at the bottom of the tally, it is learnt.

The index is meant to gauge the performance of states on parameters such as health, education, infrastructure, economic growth, access to legal aid, environmental stability etc.

Among the union territories, Puducherry and Chandigarh are the best performing regions while Lakshwadeep is the worst. As far as the Northeastern and hill states are concerned, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Tripura are said to be leading.

Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, on the other hand, are at the bottom of the rankings, while the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir fares average on these parameters, securing a middle rank.

What is it

The rankings were launched by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, and the Centre for Good Governance.

The index is a uniform tool to assess the status of governance and impact of various interventions taken up by State governments and Union Territories.

How the assessment was made

The States are assessed on performance in 10 sectors – agriculture and allied sectors, commerce and industries, human resource development, public health, public infrastructure and utilities, economic governance, social welfare and development, judicial and public security, environment, and citizen-centric governance.