Kangra tops in Himachal Pradesh District Good Governance Index

Shimla: The Kangra district has bagged the top position in the Himachal Pradesh District Good Governance Index (HPDGGI) annual report-2022, released by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu here on Tuesday.

The HPDGGI framework covered eight themes, 19 focus subjects and 90 critical governance indicators, including implementation of welfare schemes and programmes, a statement said.

Kangra bagged the first prize of Rs 50 lakh, while Hamirpur ranked second with a prize money of Rs 35 lakh and Lahaul-Spiti received the third prize of Rs 25 lakh. The prizes were received by the respective deputy commissioners.

The report on the HPDGGI has been prepared by the Department of Economics and Statistics on the basis of the data of 12 districts, collected to assess the comparative performances of all districts. Himachal Pradesh is the first state in the country which has started to measure the quality of governance in vital sectors.

The index includes eight themes namely essential infrastructure, support to human development, social protection, women and children, crime, law and order, environment, transparency and accountability and economic performance.

The chief minister said since districts function as the basic unit of field administration and governance, their performances must be measured for inclusive development.

"Good government with good governance was imperative for the welfare of people of the state and there is a need to change the development model to meet the forthcoming challenges," he asserted.

Himachal has performed better than many other states on different development indicators relating to education, health, electricity supply, water supply and several other areas, and has emerged as a model state for inclusive development, he said.

Chief Secretary Prabodh Saxena said that the DGGI helps in identifying strong and weak areas for immediate improvement and measuring progress by ranking districts.