Context

Social Progress Index (SPI) for States and Districts made by the Institute for Competitiveness and Social Progress Imperative was submitted to Economic Advisory Council- Prime Minister and released.

About

About the Index:

• SPI is a comprehensive tool that can serve as a holistic measure of a country's social progress at the national and sub-national levels.
• The index assesses states and districts based on 12 components across three critical dimensions of social progress - Basic Human Needs, Foundations of Wellbeing, and Opportunity.

• • Basic Human Needs assess the performance of states and districts in terms of Nutrition and Basic Medical Care, Water and Sanitation, Personal Safety and Shelter.
  • Foundations of Wellbeing evaluates the progress made by the country across the components of Access to Basic Knowledge, Access to Information and Communication, Health and Wellness, and Environmental Quality.
  • Opportunity focuses on Personal Rights, Personal Freedom and Choice, Inclusiveness, and Access to Advanced Education.
• Based on the SPI scores, states and districts have been ranked under six tiers of social progress.
• The tiers are;
  • Tier 1: Very High Social Progress;
  • Tier 2: High Social Progress;
  • Tier 3: Upper Middle Social Progress;
  • Tier 4: Lower Middle Social Progress;
  • Tier 5: Low Social Progress; and
  • Tier 6: Very Low Social Progress.

Key highlights of the index:

• Personal Freedom and Choice, Shelter, and Water and Sanitation:
  • Puducherry has the highest SPI score of 65.99 in the country, attributable to its remarkable performance.
  • Lakshadweep and Goa closely follow it with scores of 65.89 and 65.53, respectively.
  • Jharkhand and Bihar scored the lowest, 43.95 and 44.47, respectively.
• For the dimension of Basic Human Needs:
  • Goa, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, and Chandigarh are the top four states with the best performance in Water and Sanitation and Shelter as compared to the other states and union territories.
  • In addition, Goa has the highest component score for Water and Sanitation, followed by Kerala, scoring the highest across the Nutrition and Basic Medical Care component.
• For Shelter and Personal Safety:
  • Chandigarh and Nagaland have emerged as the front-runners, respectively.
• Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, and Goa have emerged as the best-performing states for the Foundations of Wellbeing.
• For the Access to Basic Knowledge component:
  • Punjab has the highest component score of 62.92, while Delhi has topped the list for Access to Information and Communication with a score of 71.30.
• For Health and Wellness, Rajasthan has the highest component score of 73.74.
• For Environmental Quality, the top three states belong to the northeast region, namely, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Meghalaya.
  • Lastly, Tamil Nadu has achieved the highest component score of 72.00 for the Opportunity dimension.
  • Within this dimension, Andaman and Nicobar Islands have the highest component score for Personal Rights, while Sikkim has topped the list for Inclusiveness.
  • It is commendable to witness Puducherry attaining the highest scores across two components in this dimension, i.e., Personal Freedom and Choice and Access to Advanced Education.