In a unique measure to inculcate a spirit of cooperative federalism among states, government think-tank Niti Aayog is in the process of setting up a Web portal which will serve as a database for key sectors like health, education, and water.
States will be asked to put up their annual data of these sectors on this platform, and depending on the positive improvement reflected in the figures, they will be ranked accordingly.
Initiated at the behest of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the portal, which is in the final stages of being set up, will invite data related to the three sectors from all the states, and if the data of a particular state shows a marked improvement over the previous year, that particular state will undergo a change in its ranking.
The need to set up the portal (which is being termed as a dynamic web portal for the social sector) was felt as these sectors are considered to be the most critical for the social development of the nation. Education, health and water are the key socio-economic indicators of the nation’s growth.
Sources privy to the development told this newspaper that the main idea behind the initiative is to inculcate a healthy spirit of cooperative federalism among the states and encourage them to outdo each other in terms of work done in the key sectors of health, education, and water.
Data in the education sector will include figures related to the number of state-run schools under a particular state’s jurisdiction, number of teachers, basic facilities provided in them (like toilets, mid-day meals, playgrounds, etc.), and the increase or decrease in the number of students in these schools.
If a state shows a positive growth in the number of schools, teachers and improvement in basic amenities, then its ranking may improve vis-a-vis other states. Similarly figures related to the water sector will include irrigation related projects and their status of completion.
In the health sector, number of state-run hospitals, their capacity (number of beds), facilities and availability of doctors and paramedics will denote the performance of states and it will reflect in their ranking.
