Reality Check: UP ranks worst in NITI Aayog's Health Index

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• Dec 27, 2021 | moderator

Digital Desk: The fourth report of NITI Aayog's Health Index indicated a reality check for Uttar Pradesh. When the government shows progress and developments being initiated in the Hindi-belts states of India Union, reports say a different story.

The latest NITI Aayog's Health Index report listed Kerala as the top-ranking state in terms of overall health performance among larger states. The other larger states that joined the list for top-states are Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Maharastra, Andhra Pradesh. 

On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh ranked the lowest with an index score of 30.57. Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan follow UP to be the lowest-ranked states in the listing. This ranking showed how Uttar Pradesh still prevails to be under threat for people's safeguard and privileges. 

It seems like UP is only involved in making a highly modernized township, where its people are not protected over crimes and health issues. Even the Educational Development Index indicated that UP ranks last in education and literacy. On the contrary, Kerala again ranks highest in educational terms. What does this indicate?

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It might be true that Uttar Pradesh is boosting its wings under the leadership of saffron party leaders. However, the indexes and reports only highlighted the government's failure to raise the state's standard that requires special attention. 

The latest report on health care stated, "Uttar Pradesh ranked at the top in terms of incremental performance by registering the highest cumulative change from the base year (2018-19) to the reference year (2019-20)."

This statement might sound optimistic, but the rank plunges to the bottom in almost every development aspect. For example, if you look into the crime report in terms of UP, you will observe the state's consistency in the crime rate. This crime rate is the only rate in which UP ranks among the top five states in India in consecutive terms. 

The NCRB's latest data under "Crime in India-2020" indicated that Uttar Pradesh registered the highest 2,217 cases. Ironically, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the crime rate had dropped in Uttar Pradesh during the BJP rule.

Against this backdrop, UP seems to be busy making headlines every day. The ruling government demonstrated how Uttar Pradesh bagged recognition in different categories of Smart Cities Awards. How can it be possible for a state to win such recognition after facing multiple drawbacks in various sectors?