Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district has been adjudged as the best governed district in Himachal Pradesh, followed by Hamirpur and Lahaul and Spiti.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Tuesday released the District Good Governance Index (HPDGGI) Annual Report-2022 on various critical governance indicators including implementation of schemes and programmes for the wellbeing of the citizens.

As per ranking for 2022, district Kangra bagged the first prize of Rs 50 lakh while district Hamirpur was ranked second with prize money of Rs 35 lakh and district Lahaul-Spiti received the third prize of Rs 25 lakh.

The report on the District Good Governance Index has been prepared by the Department of Economics and Statistics, Himachal Pradesh on the basis of secondary data of 12 districts, collected to assess the comparative performance of all districts.

“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,” said Sukhu.

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 and equitable development, he added.

Himachal Pradesh is the first state in the country who has started to measure the quality of governance in vital sectors, maintained Sukhu.

The DGGI-2022 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.

At the second tier there are 19 focus subjects, each of which falls into the respective themes from which they originate.

They encompass power, water, roads, education, health, public distribution scheme, social justice, employment, issues related to children and women, violent crimes, law and order, atrocities, environmental violations, forest cover, issues related to transparency and accountability, contribution as agriculture and allied sector and finally, commerce and industry in the economy.

At the third tier, there are 90 specific variables on which the data available in the districts is analyzed and integrated.

The aggregation at the three levels finally results in the district level index which is used to rank the twelve districts, under examination in this report.