Big States Winners
Tamil Nadu
Best performing
OVERALL AND INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT
ONE STEP AHEAD
Tamil Nadu is India’s second-largest economy despite being its sixth most populous state and among the country’s 12 largest states. It has the third highest GDP per capita and is the most urbanised state as well as among the most industrialised with a strong manufacturing base and a large services sector.
An unflagging commitment to industrial development has helped the state draw a wide range of investors. An effective bureaucracy has enabled the state to implement policy seamlessly, despite political convulsions. Establishing agencies such as the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) and the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) helped deliver the state’s economic vision. To improve ease of doing business, the state government’s nodal investment agency, Guidance, is developing a portal for land acquisition and construction permits.
Most of the ongoing initiatives as well as the setting of ambitious targets in 13 sectors are inspired by the Vision Tamil Nadu 2023 document drafted in the time of the late chief minister J. Jayalalithaa. CM E.K. Palaniswami is carrying forward this legacy.
No. of houses completed under PMAY-G went up from 11,236 in 2018-19 to 30,162 in 2019-20
For the third consecutive year, Tamil Nadu registered a higher economic growth rate than the national average. At 8.03 per cent, it was double the all-India average of 4.2 per cent in 2019-20. The state’s per capita income in the same year was Rs 1,53,853, taking it from 12th place in the previous year to sixth position now. Since 1994, poverty has declined steadily both in urban and rural areas.
Ranked among the top five states in eight of 12 parameters
Banking on welfare measures, the state has kept social justice and uplifting disadvantaged groups as central concerns. The high growth rates and economic transformation along with significant progress on social outcomes, particularly in public education, social security and healthcare, have led to inclusive growth and equipped the state with an educated and technically skilled workforce.
The state has also fared well on human development indices. Infant mortality has declined substantially; malnutrition, too, is also among the lowest and below the national average for all income groups.
—Amarnath K. Menon
Assam
Most improved
OVERALL AND GOVERNANCE
EASTERN SUNRISE
Ranked among the top five states in seven of 12 parameters
No. of online transactions per 1,000 people has increased from 174 in 2015-16 to 2008 in 2019-20
In the past four years, Assam has witnessed nothing short of a political miracle. When the first-ever BJP government took charge in 2016, many expected conflict between Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Himanta Biswa Sarma, his rival from student politics days and now his most powerful colleague, with development being the casualty. As it happened, the duo displayed an incredible working relationship, taking the state on the path to prosperity. The outcome is visible in the India Today State of the States study as Assam has, for the past three years, emerged as the most improved big state overall. It has featured in the top five states in seven out of the 12 categories, up from six last year. The state’s Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) grew at an impressive CAGR of 12.04 per cent from 2015-16
