Which is the Best State in India? | DailyVani Analysis on Economy, Environment, Development

Hello friends!!

India has over 28 states and 8 union territories. In this article, I discuss which is the best state in India based on ten different factors analyzing the overall development. GDP Growth, Unemployment,  Human Development Index, Sex Ratio, Electrification Rate, Multi-dimensional Poverty Index, Environment, Ease of doing Busines,s Crime Rate, and Infrastructure.

In this article, I want to talk to you about Indian states, as to which state is the best among other states in India.
They will be compared on the basis of various criteria, like Economic factors, environmental factors, infrastructural factors, etc.

Comparing them using these factors, we will see, which state is the best and thus arrive at the overall conclusion as to which is the number one state in India, the best state in India.

Let us see then.

GDP Growth

Firstly, let us talk about economic factors like GDP. If we see the overall economy and GDP,
in all states, then Maharashtra is no,1. Maharashtra has the largest economy & the highest GDP among Indian states.

On the second spot is Tamilnadu. but friends, there is a slight problem in this, which is,
the larger states will obviously have a higher GDP, as more people live there. Thus this comparison is not fair to the smaller states.

So we will use a new factor of comparison known as GDP per capita.

GDP per Capita

Per capita means per person. In this, we will see an individual person's GDP, an average common person's GDP, and compare the same across all states.

Using this we see the highest is Delhi's GDP per capita. Recently Delhi overtook Mumbai as
the financial hub of the country.

But here we have to think about whether to consider Delhi as a state or as a city. This, I leave it up to your viewers to distinguish and consider as per your opinions.

If we have to talk about the fastest-growing states, which means they have a rapidly growing economy & the fastest rising GDP, then Andhra Pradesh takes the top spot
with the GDP growth rate of 16.5%.

On the second spot is Jammu & Kashmir with a growth rate of 14.7%. Both these states have the fastest growth in Per capita income too.

Unemployment 

Let's talk about the unemployment rate now.

Gujarat has the lowest unemployment rate among the Indian states at 1.2%  according to the data & figures for 2013-14 which was the old data. Now, as per the latest data of 2015--16, we can see that
Karnataka has beaten Gujarat to the top spot with the lowest unemployment rate of 0.9%.

Human Development Index (HDI)

Human Development Index (HDI), about which I have already spoken about before, is a very important indicator that tells about the people's quality of living.

This factor takes into account life expectancy, the standard of living & education.

So in terms of HDI, Kerala is no.1 followed closely by Delhi.

SEX Ratio

If we talk about the Sex ratio, here too Kerala stands at no.1 with a ratio of 1084 women is to 1000 men.

States having such ratios are very less where women are more in number than men.

Pondicherry comes a close second with a ratio of 1032 women is to 1000 men.

Electrification

The electrification rate is a factor that tells us how many houses in a region receive electricity.

Here too Kerala is on the top spot with a rate of 99.2% of houses receiving electricity.

On the second spot in Andhra Pradesh with a rate of 98.8% of houses receiving electricity.

Friends, here I am not considering the union territories as obviously the electrification of smaller regions is easier.

For example, some union territories like Daman & Diu have a 100% rate of electrification.
Delhi too has a rate of 99.8% of houses receiving electricity.
Thus it is better to segregate the states in this.

Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index

The next factor to consider is Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) which is the best tool to measure poverty.

It uses 10 different indicators to measure poverty. Indicators like nutrition levels, child mortality rates, years of schooling received, availability of safe drinking water, electrification rates, etc are divided into 3 broad categories namely Health, Education, and living standards.

So the Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index to has been topped by Kerala,
followed by Delhi & Goa respectively.

Environment

Now if we talk about the most environment-friendly state in India, we can measure that through one criteria namely how much-forested area is found in that particular state?

Here all the North-eastern states rank very high in this aspect. The no.1 spot is taken by Mizoram which has 90% of land under forests.

All the North-eastern states have a large area of land under forests and low rates of pollution levels.

Talking about the most Environment-friendly state, Sikkim takes that title. It is also India's first
fully organic state which means the farming done in this state does not use any chemical fertilizers or
any chemical pesticides. The whole state practices organic farming.

Overall Environment Index

But if we take into account all the factors related to the environment like the number of environmental violations occurring in a state, the level of pollution, the rate of usage of renewable sources of energy, etc. so combining the result of all these factors, the no. 1 state comes out to be

Arunachal Pradesh, followed by Mizoram.

Ease doing of Business

Now considering the factor of- Ease of Doing Business the top spot is taken by Gujarat
followed by Andhra Pradesh on the 2nd spot.

Crime Rate

To measure how much crime has been committed in a state, we use the tool of the Crime rate.
It tells us that among 1 lakh people, how many incidents of crime have been committed.

If you see this data generally, then you will observe that Kerala has the highest Crime rate in India.
455 incidents of crime per 1 lakh number of people.

But you may be surprised to know that this is a very misleading statistic. Kerala's 455 incidents of crime are REPORTED crimes per 1 lakh number of people. This doesn't mean that the incidences of crime are very high.

It means that more amount of crimes are "reported" to the police.
You may wonder how is this possible.

So let me show you the worldwide data for crime rates.

Guess which countries worldwide have the highest crime rates. You won't be able to answer it correctly.

Listen to the names of the top 5 countries with the highest crime rates worldwide. They are Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom & Australia These countries occupy the top spots in highest crime rates worldwide i.e 6000/5000/4000 incidences of crime reported per 1 lakh number of people.

Now if you listen to the names of countries having the lowest crime rates, then be prepared to be surprised again. They are Somalia, Iraq Libya, Nigeria & Haiti. These are countries with the lowest crime rates worldwide. with only 1 or 2 incidences of crime being reported per
1 lakh number of population.

So it is now understood why the crime rate is a very misleading statistic.

The higher number of crime rate actually means that the police force in that region is very active
to report a crime which is a good thing.

The literacy rate is very high in Kerala thus the police force there encourages the general public
to file FIRs of crimes committed. Smallest of crimes also get reported here due to this.

Thus Kerala is no. 1 in crime rate across India. If any crime is committed against you in Kerala,
it is more likely that you will receive proper redressal in this state.

Infrastructure

Now talking about the Infrastructural factor then, we consider indicators like the quality of roads being built in the state, the completion levels of infrastructural projects which are sanctioned, the number of pucca houses/buildings and roads built in the state, etc can be observed collectively to measure the level of infrastructural development in which the best state is Andhra Pradesh followed by Maharashtra.

Which is the Best State in India?

Now it is time to find out, that which state overall considering all these factors, can be given the number one spot. You all can guess the answer obviously that Kerala is the best state.

It doesn't mean that it is no. 1 means that it is the best in each and every aspect.

The no.1 title means that Kerala is the best in most of the criteria discussed.

It also doesn't mean that Kerala is on a good/high rank in everything. There are some aspects in which Kerala has a very low ranking like the Unemployment rate, ease of doing business, etc. wherein Kerala fares very low. The unemployment rate of Kerala is at 12.5% which is very less than total India's average unemployment rate of 5%.

So it is very clearly seen that all these states who were no.1 in different aspects can be an example to the other states of India in those very aspects.

The other states can take inspiration and learn from those top-ranking states. For example, the other states can learn from Kerala about improving human development factors like healthcare, education, etc.

From the North-eastern states, others can learn about how to be more environmentally friendly.

From Andhra Pradesh, others can learn about developing infrastructural factors.

So hoping here that you all have liked this article. If you have, then do share this share to the maximum and please tell me in the comments section about your opinions on the best state of India.


We will meet in our next article.
Thank you for reading!