Punjab holds 2nd position in overall development

* Number One in Northern states
* Despite facing discrimination ahead of states enjoying special economic packages

Chandigarh, The Shiromani Akali Dal-Bhartiya Janta Party alliance government that came into power on the agenda of development alone has achieved another distinction with Punjab being awarded second position in overall development in this year’s India Today Group State of the States study. Punjab has also been declared number one among the northern states.

Disclosing this here today, Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal’s media advisor Jangveer Singh said the study, which was based on objective data rather than questionnaire based survey, placed Punjab on second rank for fiscal year 2013-14, on the basis of eight categories including macro economy, governance, health, education, investment, agriculture, consumer market and infrastructure.

Despite facing discrimination, Punjab is ahead of not only its neighboring hill states enjoying special economic packages but all the states of northern India. State gained second position by registering 5.53 percent growth rate for the fiscal year 2013-14 and marked an improvement of 0.98 percent as compared to its growth rate of 4.55 percent for the year 2012-2013.

Mr Jangveer Singh said in its study of year 2012, India Today had placed Punjab on number 13 slot because growth rate witnessed a slowdown during the election year. The spokesperson said Punjab had once again regained its confidence under the visionary leadership of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal now.

The areas in which Punjab shows drastic improvements are agriculture, governance, health and infrastructure. In agriculture state has been placed on the 7thposition with an improvement of 10 places as compared to the year 2012-13 and in Health sector Punjab raised to 3rd rank from its 13th position for year 2011-12. The initiatives taken by the Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal for administrative reforms and infrastructure development have put the state on the 7thlevel in governance and 5th in infrastructure development. The state was ranked 17th and 20th in the governance and infrastructure respectively for the year 2012-13.

The best thing study evaluate about state is upswing of consumer market that itself predicts the increase in income and its distribution which further raises the purchasing power of Punjabis. There was 19 percent growth, highest in the country, in the number of registered vehicles in the state from 2011 to 2012. Punjab with 22 percent increase in deposits in scheduled commercial banks from 2011-12 to 2012-13 is far ahead than other big states whose average growth in this period was around 15 percent. EOM