For India Today a media group the state of the states award is a brand building exercise. The latest issue of the magazine gives the annual ranking of states where Meghalaya scored the highest in Environment, among small states. It is also the most improved state in Education. This annual ranking of states is an exercise conducted by India Today with AC Nielsen, a survey agency. India Today claims that the states are ranked based on objective data gathered from recognized and highly credible government and academic sources. These are nice sounding words but one might ask, which are the academic sources from which the Meghalaya data has been culled. Or for that matter the data for other small states like Arunachal Pradesh. This state as we are aware is the one of most badly connected, highly corrupt state with hardly any infrastructure worth its salt to showcase. Yet it was ranked top for infrastructure among small states. So it depends whose study India Today has relied on. Interestingly, Meghalaya is at the bottom of the heap in over-all ranking with Goa topping the list and Tripura faring just a little better than Meghalaya.
Meghalaya fared last in Agriculture and Inclusive Development and performed only slightly better in health and economy. Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma is naturally proud of the achievement of the state under his leadership and at the award acceptance ceremony usually held in 5-star ambience in the national capital highlighted how the perception of Meghalaya as a troubled state has changed. Meghalaya’s environment score was on the SO2 (sulphur dioxide) concentration being at 2ug/mg3. For non-scientists and the common person in Meghalaya these figures mean nothing. A better question is : Are we really breathing pure air in Shillong city? Ironically the figures can only be contradicted by a competent independent agency. For education, the only criterion used for determining Meghalaya’s ranking is the increased spending by 325% in the education of those in the 6-15 population group. But increased spending is hardly the indicator for quality performance. While competitive federalism which is Modi’s byline is good but the competition needs to be more realistic. The India Today ranking cannot be taken seriously at all.