Under the Palaniswami-led AIADMK, Tamil Nadu has quietly climbed to the top

The AIADMK became more stable and Edappadi K Palaniswami, chief minister of Tamil Nadu, stronger last year despite threats to his government. He managed not only to retain power but also led Tamil Nadu to top slot in good governance rankings. 

The Good Governance Index (GGI), released by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances and the Centre for Good Governance, has now put the state on top among 18 big states. The ranking was based on the scores achieved in nine sectors — agriculture and allied sectors, environment, public health, public infra and utilities, commerce and industries, human resource development, judicial and public security, social welfare and development, and economic governance.

Tamil Nadu got the highest score in public infrastructure and utilities, including access to potable water, open defecation free (ODF) coverage, connectivity to rural habitations, access to clean cooking fuel, power supply and availability round the clock, and per capita growth. The state also topped in judiciary and public security, including the conviction rate, availability of police persons and the proportion of women police persons, and disposal of court cases and cases by consumer courts.

The state’s ranking in agriculture and allied activities and in commerce and industrial ranking has raised a few eyebrows.

DMK leader M K Stalin questioned the genuineness of the ranking and his party alleged that since the AIADMK supported the Centre in Parliament on the Citizenship Amendment Bill, the state was rewarded with high scores.

The chief minister responded by saying that the allegations were just for criticising the government. The ranking had been based on the data collected from all the states and everyone in the state should be proud of its achievement. 

Thanking his ministers, Chief Secretary K Shanmugam, and the heads of various departments, Palaniswami reminded them of constant efforts to stay the course and improve in certain sectors where the state is lagging others.

Shanmugam told Business Standard the state had been keeping a balance between welfare for the poor and investment in agriculture, infrastructure, health care, education, and others. 

The chief minister and the chief secretary review the work of all the departments every three-four months. 

“Though the state’s financial situation is not comfortable, which will become positive once the economy turns around, it did not cut its spend on public expenditure, infrastructure, education, and social welfare,” he said.

Shanmugam said more than the numbers and ranking, the effects on the ground should be looked at. He agreed that quality was an issue in education and it needed to be addressed, while the other focus would be on developing skills and reducing the number of dropouts from colleges.

As far as agriculture is concerned, which is the livelihood of 50 per cent of the state’s population, the state witnessed severe drought. Hence the emphasis on rejuvenating waterbodies in the state under the chief minister’s “kudimara-mathu” scheme. The state is de-silting and cleaning 1,829 big lakes and tanks with an outlay of Rs 500 crore. Check dams are being built at an outlay of Rs 1,000 crore.

On the welfare side, Tamil Nadu is the only state that is giving pulses and oil through the Universal Public Distribution Scheme and it has various schemes including marriage assistance, schemes during pregnancy, and education for women. Recently nine more medical colleges were sanctioned and state officials worked round the clock to identify lands for these new colleges in a week.

Industry, Shanmugam said, would return to normalcy once foreign direct investment picked up. 

S Chandramohan, chairman of the Tamil Nadu State Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry, said the state was already a significant contributor to the country’s GDP.