Discussion Paper

SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX: STATES OF INDIA

MAKING SOCIAL PROGRESS MORE INTEGRAL TO THE INDIAN DEVELOPMENT AGENDA This paper analyses the social progress of twenty-eight Indian states and one Union Territory (Delhi) for the period 2005–2016 by applying the Social Progress Index framework. The results will enable the policymakers and businesses to evaluate and benchmark performance on different social indicators, identify priority areas for improvement and establish the best practices that can be scaled and emulated.

The objective of this paper is to share the perspective regarding Social Progress Index with the national and state-level policymakers as well as business executives across India.

SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX: STATES OF INDIA

ABOUT THE PROJECT The project is being conducted by the Institute for Competitiveness, India. The purpose of this initiative is to complement the economic assessment of India by adopting the Social Progress Index, a tool that measures social welfare independent of economic performance.

This is being implemented in three phases: ● Phase 1: Analyzing the social progress performance of 28 states and 1 Union Territory in India. ● Phase 2: Analyzing the social progress performance of 50 cities in India. ● Phase 3: Analyzing the social progress performance of 562 districts in India.

• Phase 3a - Scope involves districts of Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Daman and Diu, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Delhi, Rajasthan, and Punjab.

• Phase 3b - Scope involves districts of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Lakshadweep Islands, Puducherry and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

• Phase 3c - Scope includes districts of Odisha, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Sikkim, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh.

This paper relates to the first phase of the project and presents the results of the BETA SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX: STATES OF INDIA. The Institute plans to launch the final index by the end of 2017 and the purpose of presenting this paper is to invite the readers to share their feedback and comments on the proposed Social Progress Index, States of India by July 10th, 2017.

The complete methodological paper can be downloaded from the Social Progress India website: http://socialprogress.in/

Discussion Paper by:

Institute for Competitiveness, U24/8, DLF Phase 3, Gurgaon - 122002, Haryana, India Email: info@socialprogress.in Contact No.: +91 124 4376676

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SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX: STATES OF INDIA

KEY FINDINGS FROM THE SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX, STATES OF INDIA • • •

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All Indian states have made significant improvements on social progress over the last eleven years. However, there are wide regional variations.

The analysis reveals that every state has room for improvement as even the high performing states score low on certain aspects of social progress.

Economic measures cannot be the sole drivers of decision making. Even though economic performance is closely related to social progress, economic performance alone does not provide a complete picture of the society.

The index identifies country-specific and state-specific issues that can help the change makers at the national as well as state level in framing policies.

Social Progress Index framework is closely coherent with Sustainable Development Goals and the Corporate Social Responsibility activities. It can thus provide a monitoring mechanism to track the SDG implementation and assist businesses in making CSR investments.

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SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX: STATES OF INDIA

THE IMPORTANCE OF MEASURING SOCIAL PROGRESS FOR INDIAN STATES The Indian economy has undergone a major overhaul in the past few decades. A country that was admonished for its Hindu rate of growth1 until the 1990s has now become the fastest growing major economy. Per capita income in the period 1991–2016 has increased around 15 times (in terms of current prices), foreign direct investment inflows grew at three times the world average in the last decade, the fiscal deficit is decreasing, and inflation is modest.

Laudable economic growth has helped the country to advance its social parameters as well. The poverty headcount is reduced from 47.8 % (1990) to 21.9 % (2011–12) due to higher social investments in poverty reduction programs; considerable progress has been made in universalization of primary education with the current youth literacy rate at 902 %; the focus on maternal and child care has led to substantial improvements in mortality rates across the country.

Despite these accomplishments, performance in social welfare still lags the economic success that the country has achieved. Several of India’s peers have been making remarkable social progress even without such economic prosperity. This mismatch between social and economic progress highlights the need for India to rethink and act directly on key social and environmental aspects.

A holistic approach towards measuring social developments will help the country to make social progress more integral to the policymaking process. The Social Progress Index offers one such actionable framework that can help leaders and change makers to evaluate their performance on social parameters. (The complete framework is explained in Chapter 2.)

The Global Social Progress Index Scorecard for India, as shown in Figure 1, sheds light on India’s absolute and relative performance. The absolute analysis presents the indicator performance and component scores at a 0-100 scale. Relative analysis examines country performance relative to a group of comparator countries with similar resources (measured in terms of GDP per capita) and derives strengths and weaknesses accordingly (red - weakness, yellow - neutral, green - strength).

The Hindu rate of growth refers to the low annual growth rate of the planned economy of India before the liberalisations of 1991.

2 World Bank Data, 2015 1

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SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX: STATES OF INDIA

Figure 1: Social Progress Index Scorecard of India, 2016

Source: Social Progress Imperative, Global Social Progress Index 2016

On an absolute basis, India performs fairly well on certain parameters, for example, the affordability of housing, political rights, and gender parity in basic education; there is room for improvement when the country is analysed on tolerance and inclusion, pollution, and health.

On a relative basis, India’s scores are well within the range of expected scores for all the three dimensions i.e. Basic Human Needs, Foundations of Wellbeing and Opportunity. It outperforms its peers on tackling corruption and providing the citizens with political rights. On the other hand, the country can learn from its peers in devising strategies for a healthy ecosystem and providing access to information.

However, these country-level insights are not sufficient to devise a useful plan of action within India as conditions vary significantly across the country.

India is well-known for its diversity. As a country with large population, it presents endless varieties of physical features, cultural patterns, religions, and languages. Considering its diversity and heterogeneity, Page 4

SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX: STATES OF INDIA

it becomes difficult for policy makers to formulate policies as the needs and problems of people differ according to geography, economic status, religion, and social position. There is, therefore, an increasing need for data-driven regional insights that can foster inclusive growth.

Region-specific insights are valuable as they help policy makers to understand these diverse needs and inform relevant policies needed to identify priorities and drive progress. For instance, the literacy rate in India stood at 74.04 % in 2011. While such performance is very low and suggests the need to focus more on expanding access to knowledge, there are wide regional disparities. For example, the literacy rate of Kerala was 93.91 % while Bihar was at 63.8 %.

While a wealth of information is publicly available at the regional level across a wide range of measures including climate change, safety and security, education, and health, a holistic measure to track a region’s performance across all these dimensions is missing.

The Social Progress Index can address this need by applying a robust and credible framework and methodology, to provide detailed data-driven insights on different dimensions of social progress.

The analysis of social progress at the regional level has the following key benefits: ● It provides a credible and robust measure of social progress for Indian states, and can be applied to cities and districts, to benchmark performance, identify priority areas for improvement, and best practices that can be scaled and emulated. ● It enables policy makers to formulate strategies for inclusive growth and prioritize public investments based on the real needs of the citizens. ● It provides value-added inputs to business leaders on the different geographies and sectoral needs, giving them a sense of direction on planning and spending their CSR budgets.

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Box 1: The Beyond GDP Debate The world was in the midst of an upheaval from the Great Depression when the idea of National Income Accounting was proposed by Simon Kuznets. National income accounting (the best-known system of which is gross domestic product - GDP), an estimate of the final goods and services produced in a country. an estimate of the final goods and services produced in a country, was developed to provide a window to the economic performance of a region, at a time when the world faced economic realities very different from those of today. The aim was to move away from a rudimentary set of data to a uniform set of national accounts, a purpose that GDP served well. Its use as a global measure of progress was further strengthened at the Bretton Woods Conference (1944) and since then, GDP has become the de facto language of countries’ progress worldwide.

For the last several decades, the predominant focus of all countries has been on maximizing growth rates and economic performance with the underlying belief that such gains will trickle down to societies’ and people’s welfare. There is no denying that economic growth has helped nations to grow and has lifted millions out of poverty. However, it is now widely accepted that focus on the economic scorecard does not bring prosperity to all realms of societies’ wellbeing.

The trade-off between the twin objectives of development process, i.e., economic growth and social progress, has long been a ubiquitous debate. However, it is increasingly being challenged by the notion that although important, economic growth is not sufficient for achieving the welfare of societies. It may, or may not, lead to social progress.

In the countries that have seen consistent GDP growth, the fundamental question surfaces whether the sole focus on economic performance is the correct approach to drive and assess prosperity. There is also perhaps a mismatch between how governments define and measure progress and citizens’ perception. For everyday lives of people success is about living long and healthy lives, while feeling safe, and having freedom to make life choices without restrictions.

This is yet another piece of evidence that a model of development based solely on economic performance is incomplete.

Nations across the world need to focus on fulfilling the needs of their citizens, i.e., providing them with adequate food, addressing security concerns, developing a public healthcare system, building a society that is free from biases. For such an approach to inclusive development, the world needs a measurement model that moves beyond the idea of GDP; a framework that can equip leaders and change makers to make social progress more integral to national performance.

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THE SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX The Social Progress Index focuses on what matters to societies and people by giving them the tools to better understand and seize opportunities and building blocks to enhance and sustain the quality of their lives, and create the conditions to reach their full potential.

It was developed in collaboration with a team of scholars led by Professor Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School. National and city leaders across Latin America and the European Commission’s Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy are using the index for agenda setting, policymaking, and prioritizing how to mobilize resources and measure impact.

FRAMEWORK OF THE INDEX

Guided by a group of academic and policy experts, the Social Progress Index follows a conceptual framework that defines social progress as well as its key elements. In this context, social progress is defined as the “capacity of a society to meet the basic human needs of its citizens, establish the building blocks that allow citizens and communities to enhance and sustain the quality of their lives, and create the conditions for all individuals to reach their full potential.”

The framework outlines three broad categories of social progress, referred to as dimensions, emerging from the above definition of social progress: ● Basic Human Needs; ● Foundations of Wellbeing; and ● Opportunity.

Each of these dimensions is further broken down into four underlying components (see Figure 2).

The most important step in designing the index is to select the appropriate indicator set that represents the components under each dimension. Apart from the criteria that the data should be publicly available, principles of the index guide the choice of a relevant set of indicators. The set of unique design principles that allow an exclusive analysis of social progress and help the Index stand out from other indices are: ● ● ● ●

3

including social and environmental indicators only; measuring outcomes, not inputs3; relevant to all societies; an actionable tool to drive change.

The index does not consider input indicators, such as spending on a particular policy area, such as education, or healthcare.

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Figure 2: Social Progress Index Framework

The Index represents the first comprehensive framework for measuring social progress that is independent of economic performance. As a complement to traditional measures of economic performance, such as income, the Social Progress Index provides a better understanding of the relationship between economic gain and social progress. In contrast, other indices such as the Human Development Index combine economic and social indicators. Our objective is to utilize a clear yet rigorous methodology that isolates the non-economic dimensions of social performance.

The Index offers a systematic, empirical foundation for governments, businesses, civil society and communities to prioritise social and environmental issues, and benchmark performance against other countries, regions, cities and communities to inform and drive public policies, investments, and business and community decisions.

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SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX: CAPTURING THE SPIRIT OF THE SDGS The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an ambitious commitment by the world’s leaders to improve the wellbeing of the world’s citizens and ensure environmental sustainability by 2030. One hundred and sixty-nine targets grouped in 17 goals set out a universal and an unprecedented agenda which embraces economic, environmental and social aspects of the wellbeing of societies.

However, it also poses a difficult challenge of defining and measuring success. With 17 goals, 169 targets and 230 indicators the SDGs might perhaps be difficult to grasp, understand, and of course, difficult to measure. Therefore, a framework which can allow anyone to capture the totality of the SDGs—improved wellbeing and advanced environmental sustainability—while not dwelling on the individual details of every indicator is the need. A framework that can be understood and used by everyone—policymakers, businesses, civil society and the general public.

The Social Progress Index offers such a well suited rapid-assessment approach to help capture the spirit of the SDGs. Unlike the SDGs, which are by definition a list of goals rather a conceptual model, the Social Progress Index has been designed and tested over a number years to provide an aggregate assessment of performance. Having a general framework that can be aggregated in a single number that can be tracked over time is useful as it can enhance public understanding and engagement. There is a strong coherence between the SDGs and the Social Progress Index (Figure 3). It can, therefore, support SDG implementation playing a complementary role to the official monitoring systems that are being put in place. It may be instrumental for the nation as a whole as well as individual states and territories in achieving their SDGs targets.

Figure 3: SDGs and Social Progress Index

Health and Wellness Access to Information Access to Basic Knowledge

Nutrition Environ- and Basic mental Medical Water and Quality Care Sanitation

Shelter Personal Safety

Access to Personal Advanced Personal Rights Education Tolerance Freedom and and Choice Inclusion

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SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX: STATES OF INDIA

SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX: FACILITATING CSR INVESTMENTS The idea of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is not new to the Indian companies. Previously, CSR in India was seen as a philanthropic activity. It was an action that was performed by many businesses, but the impact was not measured. However, as the idea gained momentum globally, many companies started reporting their activities.

Still the need was felt to bring a set of large businesses under the umbrella of CSR. The Companies Act in 2013 formally introduced Corporate Social Responsibility guidelines which made it mandatory for certain companies to spend at least 2 percent of their average net profits.

Figure 4: CSR and Social Progress Index

However, the statistics indicate that more than 50 % of the firms fail to do so. The primary reason that stands out for non-compliance with the law is the unawareness regarding which areas to invest in. The Social Progress Index address that challenge by bringing out insights about the needs of the people in different regions. It can thus be helpful for the companies to identify key focus areas where investments can be made (see Figure 4 for CSR and Social Progress Index mapping).

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SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX, STATES OF INDIA: RESULTS Based on extensive research and consultation with relevant stakeholders, we propose a framework for measuring Social Progress Index for the States of India, as presented in Figure 5. It includes 54 indicators which based on publically available sources of public authorities.

Figure 5: Social Progress Index, States of India Indicator Framework

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SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX: STATES OF INDIA

COUNTRY-LEVEL ANALYSIS The consolidation of the state-level results4 helps in assessing India’s national performance across all aspects of social progress. This provides an opportunity to identify components that are more advanced than others, which can help inform nationwide policies, strategies, and actions.

Overall, on a scale 0-100 (0 worst case scenario, 100 best case scenario) the country scores 54.90 on the Social Progress Index. Breaking down this average across dimensions and components, we find that there is wide variation in the country’s performance across different facets of social progress (Figure 6).

At the dimension level, the country scores highest at 63.06 on Basic Human Needs, followed by 52.34 on Foundations of Wellbeing, and lowest at 49.31 on Opportunity.

Figure 6: Social Progress Index, States of India: Country-Level Analysis

Basic Human Needs capture the aspects of social progress that are vital for human survival. Closer analysis of the four components that form the dimension—Nutrition & Basic Medical Care, Shelter, Water & Sanitation, and Personal Safety—reveals that three of them score above the national average, while Nutrition & Basic Medical Care seems to be lagging. At the component level, the country performs best on Water & Sanitation (84.37). This reflects important progress in an area that has been a focus of the Global Goals as well as the Indian Government. Nutrition & Basic Medical Care (44.64) seems to be the greatest challenge that the nation needs to address. The high levels of mortality and low levels of children’s nutrition are issues that need immediate attention.

A measure of the country’s average level of social progress is developed by weighting each state’s score by population and summing across all states. The results different to the Global Social Progress 4

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Foundations of Wellbeing encompasses the services that help citizens in improving their quality of life.

Among the four components that form the dimension—Access to Basic Knowledge, Access to Information & Communication, Health & Wellness, and Environmental Quality—the scores are lowest in Access to Information & Communication (35.41). This is due to low access to television and the internet in the country. The states perform best on Health & Wellness (68.89), but the analysis also reveals that obesity is a growing issue in India. Out of 29 regions under study, 11 have average obesity rates of more than 20%. The nation needs to address this concern soon.

Opportunity encompasses Personal Rights, Personal Freedom and Choice, Inclusion, and Access to Advanced Education. The lowest performing area is Access to Advanced Education (37.25). The advanced education ecosystem in India has a lot of challenges that are clearly reflected by the low average scores. The gross enrolment ratio in higher education is not only less than that of developed economies (less USA) but also than developing economies like China. The best performance in the dimension is achieved by the states in securing the freedom of citizens (67.12).

STATE-LEVEL ANALYSIS ABSOLUTE ANALYSIS The absolute analysis presents the state scores at the overall, dimension and the component level scaled from 0 to 100, with 100 being the score for the best-case scenario, and 0 the worst case. This helps in comparing and ranking of states.

India’s states’ scores (see Table 1) range from a high of 60 to a low of 40. The results show that while there are considerable differences between states, there are no significant over- or underperforming outliers. Even though the scores are tightly clustered between 44.89 and 68.09, there is immense scope of improvement.

Table 1: Social Progress Index, States of India, 2016 results State

Score

Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Delhi Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir Jharkhand Karnataka

56.13 55.24 48.53 44.89 56.69 60.17 63.39 56.65 57.37 65.39 55.41 47.80 59.72

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SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX: STATES OF INDIA Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Odisha Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal

68.09 55.03 57.88 55.50 53.51 62.89 56.76 51.64 62.18 52.31 62.72 65.34 53.22 50.96 64.23 54.37

India’s states’ scores can be divided into three performance groups, as shown on Map 1. ● High Performance States: scores greater than 60 ● Middle Performance States: scores between 50 and 60 ● Low Performance States: scores less than 50 Most states (more than half) score in the middle performance category, while nine states achieve high performance, and three states perform in the lowest performance range.

Map 1: Social Progress Index, States of India

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A better picture of the level of progress is ascertained by analysing the dimension- and component-level scores of the Social Progress Index, States of India presented in Table 2.

Table 2: Social Progress Index, States of India, Dimension- & Component-Level Scores DIMENSION

Basic Human States Needs Andhra Pradesh 67.9618325 Arunachal Pradesh 57.410665 Assam 52.224005 Bihar 52.728305 Chhattisgarh 63.1921275 Delhi 62.918105 Goa 76.6051925 Gujarat 73.294165 Haryana 64.2219275 Himachal Pradesh 68.071095 Jammu and Kashmir 61.1889 Jharkhand 56.0955675 Karnataka 65.6432225 Kerala 73.7788225 Madhya Pradesh 59.138845 Maharashtra 70.7404 Manipur 65.876445 Meghalaya 52.6189675 Mizoram 71.02099 Nagaland 66.56538 Odisha 55.4407575 Punjab 68.605585 Rajasthan 59.11453 Sikkim 69.8630075 Tamil Nadu 76.25714 Tripura 60.2873925 Uttar Pradesh 57.930505 Uttarakhand 67.5702125 West Bengal 62.4568

Nutrition & Basic Medical Care 48.59736 56.75748 47.91103 34.64409 44.72628 51.48847 62.80025 43.64156 43.09155 53.94114 58.87211 32.09341 48.60065 74.72464 29.79074 54.01147 76.20707 48.1591 71.44125 73.07728 45.23007 57.522 36.42887 60.55199 62.24794 56.99293 31.51614 44.83857 53.29047

SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX, STATES OF INDIA: DIMENSION AND COMPONENT SCORES COMPONENT DIMENSION COMPONENT DIMENSION Access to Informati Water & Access to on & Environm Sanitatio Personal Foundations Knowled Communi Health & ental n Shelter Safety of wellbeing ge cation Wellness Quality Opportunity 74.0944 76.82709 72.32848 50.3485313 61.59442 40.46536 55.7262 43.60815 50.0734 71.59849 55.46412 45.82257 61.5779875 70.26563 29.23167 73.11054 73.70411 46.72096 84.35249 34.40035 42.23215 54.696765 71.51325 17.84436 73.5209 55.90855 38.6549425 81.27919 34.62123 60.36871 47.244365 55.35455 16.1483 72.1703 45.30431 34.7083025 90.08514 58.74404 59.21305 51.959375 78.97866 30.57385 58.87414 39.41085 54.931865 90.21744 77.85752 32.10899 60.2513823 85.21506 76.82406 69.68323 9.283179 57.3408225 95.07322 81.45081 67.09649 55.4150888 91.18703 45.36218 58.0147 27.09645 58.1506 92.59438 77.09358 79.84714 49.4318775 61.64482 44.16376 67.44236 24.47657 47.210355 90.79107 69.96865 53.03644 53.2498025 63.8117 43.60931 75.11195 30.46625 54.63848 64.17943 83.16927 70.99454 62.7215125 79.79337 52.5952 70.54385 47.95363 65.374825 65.02818 57.79733 63.05798 56.16571 53.17607 34.69018 80.91784 55.87875 48.8640825 86.13969 48.71175 57.43742 46.9843913 62.40006 28.79424 75.66565 21.07762 40.33156 75.49776 71.06361 67.41087 55.9803213 75.25443 45.37072 63.21533 40.08081 57.54136 79.58531 75.82936 64.97598 65.4191775 87.3221 54.70249 62.96911 56.68301 65.0768 85.09184 61.59135 60.08145 53.9837975 66.83878 33.24579 70.9071 44.94352 51.9808625 90.00729 72.6702 66.27264 54.3244175 74.3047 46.61029 66.09577 30.28691 48.5810225 64.25451 60.8292 62.215 57.889025 76.14439 31.02842 69.92867 54.45462 42.7332825 48.17204 57.3995 56.74523 61.8204825 77.20261 26.79726 77.31764 65.96442 46.09954 79.19934 71.4163 62.02707 61.3200938 78.29114 33.87453 69.02246 64.09225 56.343425 65.32644 55.32871 72.52909 55.60885 75.44963 28.01301 71.63363 47.33913 48.1170225 80.88775 41.38429 54.26092 50.9789463 71.76331 21.08379 68.99971 42.06898 48.4986175 86.65417 62.69906 67.54711 59.1424075 67.69781 56.84436 72.51109 39.51637 58.80029 76.40203 60.94159 62.68563 42.8418825 44.44722 31.88585 79.21125 15.82321 54.96412 67.16835 72.18298 79.54871 59.1655338 72.34893 38.3014 61.61645 64.39536 59.136225 91.28109 79.21461 72.28492 58.842115 75.10809 54.66309 61.16896 44.42832 60.92234 69.05264 55.89442 59.20958 55.5574138 78.49772 30.68659 75.14913 37.89622 43.8190375 93.3008 37.38005 69.52503 47.4112725 54.39805 25.62293 71.8954 37.72871 47.5306225 78.07775 76.20921 71.15532 66.41837 78.59201 47.94035 81.99058 57.15054 58.699315 76.96689 51.30235 68.26749 58.0386388 74.54243 28.04283 69.95758 59.61172 42.6166375

COMPONENT

Personal Rights 66.55306 50.90765 28.63632 32.55895 63.9407 47.37616 41.15385 52.61173 54.30895 56.23657 55.78978 37.90145 58.80406 60.70114 56.00402 41.42377 32.98528 37.53439 71.46137 61.1074 42.83357 66.81938 59.90756 72.94874 73.18471 43.01923 37.39493 66.04436 35.81512

Personal Freedom & Choice 53.07619 64.88482 70.71174 61.3979 78.94313 79.09945 68.35232 63.65639 79.04056 84.42144 72.46214 65.11141 53.22332 87.47211 70.32619 59.63739 63.35987 65.72868 71.52077 66.70491 75.56819 74.6296 71.83593 66.79859 61.66653 69.81598 71.57616 72.55401 70.47006

Inclusion 42.52853 44.18909 31.748 32.95998 48.0329 60.92397 68.19209 32.64253 37.98692 56.0326 32.35791 40.84197 59.08414 58.76105 41.56519 46.36344 32.48891 44.50663 49.35231 30.69154 42.07465 41.58145 43.98721 54.43111 55.0685 39.93658 46.32146 43.08721 43.42148

Access to Advance d Educatio n 38.13582 26.90228 23.52371 11.91638 28.81073 41.96371 54.90414 39.93077 47.21749 64.80869 34.8465 17.47141 59.05392 53.3729 40.02805 46.89949 42.09907 36.62846 33.03925 33.96424 33.51806 52.17073 44.12578 42.36646 53.76962 22.50436 34.82994 53.11168 20.75989

Note: Colouring of the table is based on the level of performance (scores) on Social Progress Index, its dimensions and components. Green signifies high performance; yellow represents average, and red low performance.

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RELATIVE ANALYSIS The results that are presented in the absolute analysis do not distinguish states on the basis of economic development. In some cases, it is more helpful to compare a state’s performance with its economic peers.

For instance, a state may score low on certain aspects of the social progress, but its performance could exceed the scores for states with similar per capita income levels.

For this reason, a methodology is developed to present a state’s strengths and weaknesses on a relative rather than absolute basis. Each state’s performance is compared to its economic peers.

Scorecards are used to depict the relative results. The state-level scorecards portray a state’s detailed absolute and relative analysis. The scorecards are colour-coded to highlight relative strengths and weaknesses. Red indicates performance below the peer group median; yellow indicates performance consistent with the peer group; and green highlights areas of relative strength.

The state level scorecards for Social Progress Index, States of India are available at http://socialprogress.in/

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SOCIAL PROGRESS & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: DEMYSTIFYING THE RELATIONSHIP One of the primary objectives of the Social Progress Index, States of India is to provide an understanding of the relationship between social and economic progress. The Social Progress Index allows, for the first time, an analysis of the relationship between social progress and measures of economic success. By measuring social progress independent of economic indicators, it provides empirical evidence of the relationship of the two and helps in understanding whether economic performance is being transformed into social progress or not.

Figure 7: Social Progress and Economic Development

Figure 7 shows that economic performance is not the whole story and should not be the ultimate goal.

While there is a relationship between economic development and social progress, the relationship is not a direct one. For any level of economic development, there are states performing better or worse on social progress.

This provides us with three key findings: First, there is a positive and strong relationship between NSDP (Net State Domestic Product5) per capita and the Social Progress Index. For instance, Bihar with a per capita NSDP of 15,506 scores 44.89 on the Social Progress Index, States of India. On the other hand, Goa with NSDP per capita of 137,401 has a 5

The estimate of net state domestic product is arrived at by deducting the consumption of fixed capital from the gross state domestic product for each sector.

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Social Progress Index score of 63.39. At an aggregate level, a one percent increase in NSDP per capita is associated with a 0.08-point increase in Social Progress Index score6.

Second, the relationship between social progress and NSDP (economic development) is not linear. At lower levels of income, a small change in NSDP leads to great advancements in social progress scores.

However, as income levels rise, the rate of change slows.

Third, despite the correlation between NSDP per capita and the Social Progress Index, a considerable amount of variability in social progress is observed among states with comparable levels of NSDP per capita. Hence, economic performance alone does not fully explain social progress. This fact, which was empirically established by the Global Social Progress Index holds true for the Indian states as well. ● Chhattisgarh attains a higher social progress score (56.69) than Rajasthan with a NSDP per capita (28,373) lower than the latter. Rajasthan with a per capita NSDP of 31,836 scores 52.31 on social progress. ● Manipur and Maharashtra have a difference of two points on social progress when the former belongs to the category of low-income states while Maharashtra has one of the highest per capita incomes in the country. ● Despite not achieving highest NSDP levels, Kerala achieves the highest score on social progress, while Goa and Delhi, the richest states (measured by NSDP), perform worse.

The evidence supports the conclusion that economic measures cannot be the sole driving force of inclusive growth: it is important to focus on the social aspects as well. The Social Progress Index India provides the tools to assess, track, and monitor social progress in order to better understand the performance, to be able to identify and emulate best practices that can inform national as well as state-level policies.

SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX AND INCOME: DIMENSION-LEVEL RELATIONSHIP The relationship between social progress and economic development can be further examined at the dimension level to understand better how different aspects of social progress vary with economic development (see Figure 8).

Again, a logarithmic model is established for Basic Human Needs, Foundations of Wellbeing, and Opportunity. The model predicts that NSDP per capita explains 52 %, 19 % and 40 % of the variation in Basic Human Needs, Foundations of Wellbeing and Opportunity scores respectively.

In real terms, this means that a small improvement in NSDP per capita yields higher gains in achieving basic human needs for all.

Foundations of Wellbeing has the least correlation with NSDP per capita. The likely reason being that two of the four components in this Dimension - Health and Wellness and Environmental quality, have either no or even negative relationship with NSDP per capita.

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The model has an R-squared value of 0.54 i.e. only 54% of the changes in social progress can be explained by the NSDP per capita.

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Opportunity also shows a significant relationship with the per capita NSDP. This is perhaps surprising, since many aspects of Opportunity, such as rights and freedoms, do not necessarily require substantial economic resources but rather sound norms and policies. It could have been the case that economic advancements have led to strong institutions which led to substantial increases in Opportunity scores.

Figure 8: Dimension-Level Relationship

Basic Human Needs Foundations of Wellbeing Opportunity

SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX AND INCOME: COMPONENT-LEVEL RELATIONSHIP The component level scores can be used to further data-driven insights on the relationship between economic performance and different aspects of social progress. Such analysis can be instrumental in informing public policies as well as private investments and civil society interventions.

QUICK WINS Overall, we can identify components that improve significantly with each additional unit of economic development. For example, Shelter and Access to Information & Communications show drastic improvements at relatively lower levels of economic performance. This group of components should be central to the agenda for development in the country as economic development will lead to improvements in these aspects of social development.

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Figure 9: Quick Wins

HARD PROBLEMS Access to Basic Knowledge, Personal Rights, Inclusion, and Access to Advanced Education depict the most complicated relationship with economic development. There are components that show developments with GDP per capita, but their relationship is highly variable. Although the improvements in GDP levels can help to increase access to education, these advancements are not as easily transformed into tangible increases in the welfare of citizens. There might be an array of reasons, including that such improvements take a long time to materialize, and rather than being a direct function of the wellbeing of the economy, they are also a result of coherent and sound long-term policies.

Figure 10: Hard Problems

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TOUGHEST CHALLENGES However, we can also see that many areas of the wellbeing of societies pose much greater challenges.

Many components show very little, or even negative relationship with economic development. These are the hardest problems to solve, and economic performance cannot be the only answer. These include Water & Sanitation, Personal Safety, Health & Wellness, Environmental Quality, and Personal Freedom & Choice.

Figure 11: Toughest Challenges

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LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS One of the main objectives of this study is to provide a model to measure regional social progress overtime. Longitudinal analysis is important as it helps in analysing whether the developments of states on social and economic indicators are heading in the right direction. Such information is essential for adjusting policies, as well as public and private investments. Especially in light of the SDGs, tracking progress on societies’ wellbeing will be fundamental in the next decade. If India is going to achieve the goals set out in this ambitious agenda, it needs a tool designed to measure progress for people.

This analysis will help in examining how the country has progressed over the years on different facets of social progress leading to the following benefits: ● The analysis can be used to view a state’s performance overtime on the overall, dimension and component level. ● This can help policy makers in understanding the impact of different policies and investments. ● The analysis is further enhanced by examining the changes in the average performances of the states across peer groups.

For the period of 2005–2016 that we were able to measure, the results show that all states have progressed. However, as shown in Figure 12, some states progressed more than others. On the one hand, there are states like Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Bihar that have advanced more than 25 %, and on the other hand, Punjab, Delhi, and Assam have progressed less than 10 % on social progress scores.

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Figure 12: Evolution of Social Progress Index, States of India 2005 – 2016

Figure 13 depicts the social progress and dimension scores for the timeframe 2005–2016. The social advancements are clearly highlighted by the rising scores which are mainly driven by performance on Basic Human Needs.

It is also noteworthy to highlight the progress made in the last years in the Basic Human Needs and Opportunity dimensions.

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Figure 13: Longitudinal Analysis – Social Progress Index, States of India

TRENDS:SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX, STATES OF INDIA AND ITS DIMENSIONS 2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

80 60 40 20 0 Social Progress Index

Basic Human Needs

Foundations of Wellbeing

Opportunity

Further insights about how the country has progressed since 2005 are highlighted in Figure 14.

Figure 14: Longitudinal Analysis – Dimensions and Components

TRENDS: BASIC HUMAN NEEDS 2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Basic Human Needs

Nutrition & Basic Water & Sanitation Medical Care

Shelter

Personal Safety

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TRENDS: FOUNDATIONS OF WELLBEING 2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Foundations of Wellbeing

Access to Basic Knowledge

Access to Information & Communication

Health & Wellness

Environmental Quality

TRENDS: OPPORTUNITY 2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Opportunity

Personal Rights

Personal Freedom & Choice

Inclusion

Access to Advanced Education

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CONCLUSION The Social Progress Index helps in identifying and prioritizing issues by measuring both a state’s absolute performance as well as its performance relative to states at a similar level of per capita income.

These absolute and relative results enable states to not only assess their areas of strengths and weaknesses but also to identify other states that may serve as role models, and prioritize actions accordingly.

The performance of high (low) social progress states is not necessarily high (low) on all facets of social progress. The top-ranking states Goa, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala show that high levels of social progress are possible, however, even these states have their lows. Thus, it becomes important for states to identify the most pressing issues and prioritize development agendas accordingly.

The Index provides valuable findings for two levels: state-specific and country-wide. On the one hand, there are certain components on which all the states demonstrate low performance; on the other hand, there are certain components on which variation is registered across states and where state governments have to chalk out plans of action to drive improvements. o State-specific Issues: Water & Sanitation, Shelter, Access to Information & Communication, Health & Wellness, Personal Rights, and Personal Freedom & Choice. o Country-wide Issues: Nutrition & Basic Medical Care, Personal Safety, Access to Basic Knowledge, Environmental Quality, Inclusion, and Access to Advanced Education.

Economic performance alone does not fully explain social progress. Despite the correlation between NSDP per capita and the Social Progress Index, States of India, a considerable amount of variability in social progress is observed among states with comparable levels of GDP per capita.

The analysis of social progress over the years reveals that the average scores for the Indian states on the Social Progress Index are tightly clustered between 48 and 57 for the period 2005–2016, reflecting that the country has immense room for improvement.

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