Puducherry, Lakshadweep & Goa toppers of Social Progress Index

Puducherry, Lakshadweep, and Goa have emerged as top three performers on the Social Progress Index (SPI) among all states and Union Territories in the country, while Jharkhand and Bihar stood at the bottom of the index, according to a report mandated by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM).

Aizawl in Mizoram, Solan in Himachal Pradesh and Shimla in Himachal Pradesh have emerged as the best-performing districts, as per the report, prepared by the Institute for Competitiveness and the Social Progress Imperative and released by EAC-PM chairman Bibek Debroy on Tuesday.

The report has not made a distinction between states and UTs while assessing their performance and has classified even UTs as states.

SPI assessed the performance of states and districts on three dimensions of social progress - basic human needs, foundations of well-being and opportunity. The ranking of states and districts is based on 12 components across three critical dimensions, with 89 indicators at the state level and 49 at the district level.

The index is a comprehensive tool intended to be a holistic measure of the social progress made by the country at the national and sub-national levels.

The EAC-PM said in a statement that understanding the social progress of citizens is key to sustaining economic growth in the long run and that the index complements the conventional measures of economic growth and development.