New backwardness index to determine funds allocation to states

Raghuram Rajan panel suggests composite development index for judging backwardness. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh recommended highest allocations; will it help UPA win new alliance partners?
New backwardness index to determine funds allocation to states
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A six-member expert committee appointed by the Union finance ministry to determine backwardness of states has recommended that 60 per cent of the Central funds assistance should go to the seven poorest states of the country. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the two poorest and most populous states, should alone get more than one-fourth of the Central allocation, the report has said while suggesting the new mechanism for allocation called the composite development index for states.

The expert panel—Committee for Evolving a Composite Development Index of States—is headed by Raghuram G Rajan, former chief economic adviser to the finance ministry who was recently appointed governor of the Reserve Bank of India. The committee submitted its report  to the government in the first week of September. The government released the report on Thursday. 

The committee has suggested a new index to judge (under) development of states. The index has 10 criteria carrying equal weightage: (i) monthly per capita consumption expenditure, (ii) education, (iii) health, (iv)household amenities, (v) poverty rate, (vi) female literacy, (vii) per cent of SC-ST population, (viii) urbanization rate, (viii) financial inclusion, and (x) connectivity. States that score above 0.6 in the index will be categorised as “least developed”, below 0.6 and above 0.4 score means a state is “less developed” and a score below 0.4 means a state is “relatively developed”. The new criteria include human development indices which was not there earlier

   See also
Gainer states
How the new formula works
 
  1. Each state gets 0.3 per cent of Central allocation
  2. Ranking uncer the composite development index—least developed, less developed and relatively developed—will decide level of allocation
  3. Share in total population gets 80 per cent weightage for allocations
  4. 25 per cent of total Central allocation to be allocated on good performance and need of special assistance
  5. Government can further allocate more to “least developed” states
Comparison between present funds allocation share and under new formula (in %)
States Present committee share Total central assistance to State plan&
Centrally sponsored
Normal Central Assistance
(NCA) as per Gadgil-Mukherjee formula
Finance commission
(grants+
share in Central Taxes)
Andhra Pradesh 6.85 7.34 2.72 6.61
Arunachal Pradesh 0.97 1.56 4.38 0.50
Assam 3.05 4.93 10.31 3.31
Bihar 12.04 7.42 4.95 10.06
Chhattisgarh 3.70 3.14 1.21 2.43
Goa 0.30 0.15 0.22 0.23
Gujarat 3.69 3.05 1.72 3.12
Haryana 1.33 1.36 0.88 1.11
Himachal Pradesh 0.67 2.04 5.81 1.54
Jammu&Kashmir 1.83 4.92 9.03 2.51
Jharkhand 3.88 2.96 1.47 2.77
Karnataka 3.73 4.13 2.03 4.39
Kerala 0.38 1.95 1.44 2.45
Madhya Pradesh 9.56 6.91 3.15 6.72
Maharastra 3.94 6.64 3.01 5.28
Manipur 0.50 1.39 3.34 0.80
Meghalaya 0.65 1.11 2.74 0.51
Mizoram 0.40 1.09 3.26 0.50
Nagaland 0.45 1.39 3.45 0.84
Odisha 6.53 4.62 2.48 4.83
Punjab 1.07 1.26 1.05 1.45
Rajasthan 8.42 4.79 2.76 5.84
Sikkim 0.35 0.67 2.18 0.35
Tamil Nadu 2.51 4.46 2.66 5.01
Tripura 0.52 1.78 5.05 0.81
Uttar Pradesh 16.41 10.09 8.87 18.16
Uttarakhand 0.79 1.90 5.90 1.15
West Bengal 5.50 6.93 3.92 6.72
Under-development/need index and allocation share (in %)
States Under-development
/need index
Fixed Share Share based on need Share based on performance Total share
Andhra Pradesh 0.52 0.3 4.03 2.52 6.85
Arunachal Pradesh 0.73 0.3 0.65 0.02 0.97
Assam 0.71 0.3 2.60 0.14 3.05
Bihar 0.76 0.3 8.94 2.80 12.04
Chhattisgarh 0.75 0.3 2.91 0.49 3.70
Goa 0.05 0.3 0.00 0.00 0.30
Gujarat 0.49 0.3 2.56 0.83 3.69
Haryana 0.40 0.3 0.62 0.41 1.33
Himachal Pradesh 0.40 0.3 0.26 0.11 0.67
Jammu&Kashmir 0.50 0.3 1.13 0.40 1.83
Jharkhand 0.75 0.3 3.04 0.54 3.88
Karnataka 0.45 0.3 2.19 1.24 3.73
Kerala 0.09 0.3 0.04 0.03 0.38
Madhya Pradesh 0.76 0.3 7.86 1.40 9.56
Maharastra 0.35 0.3 2.35 1.28 3.94
Manipur 0.57 0.3 .20 0.00 0.50
Meghalaya 0.69 0.3 0.33 0.02 0.65
Mizoram 0.49 0.3 0.10 0.00 0.40
Nagaland 0.55 0.3 0.14 0.01 0.45
Odisha 0.80 0.3 4.85 1.38 6.53
Punjab 0.35 0.3 0.52 0.25 1.07
Rajasthan 0.63 0.3 5.29 2.83 8.42
Sikkim 0.43 0.3 0.03 0.02 0.35
Tamil Nadu 0.34 0.3 1.32 0.88 2.51
Tripura 0.47 0.3 0.14 0.08 0.52
Uttar Pradesh 0.64 0.3 12.24 3.87 16.41
Uttarakhand 0.38 0.3 0.30 0.19 0.79
West Bengal 0.55 0.3 4.09 1.10 5.50
    8.4 68.74 22.86 100.00

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