Gujarat tops India’s 20-point programme for uplifting backwards

Gujarat government has emerged as the top performer of centre’s Twenty Point Prorgamme, followed by Karnataka, Jharkhand, while Maharashtra, Bihar and Northeast are among others figure at the bottom of the ranking according to a review conducted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. The Twenty Point Programme encompasses a host of poverty alleviation and rural development schemes.

Gujarat was ranked first with 51 points for performance during April-July 2010 followed by Karnataka, Jharkhand, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. While Kerala and Madhya Pradesh both ranked seventh, the BJP ruled Himachal Pradesh was ranked 10.

The fact that no Congress ruled state is in the top five surely would comes as a source of embarrassment for the party.

Besides Northeastern states, the worst performers include Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, and Chhattisgarh.

Inaugurating the review meeting of the Twenty Point Programme-2006 here, Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation Sriprakash Jaiswal today said, “Out of 19 parameters monitored on the monthly basis, except a few, the performance of most of them have been very good.”

The minister complimented Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Uttarakhand for working hard to achieve the targets.

He said some states including West Bengal, Assam. Bihar, Sikkim, Mizozoram, and Chattisgarh should focus attention to the proper implementation of the programmes and schemes covered under TPP so that the performance of these schemes is improved and desired benefits are passed to the deserving citizens.