Most armies of the world follow a version of the British Defence Doctrine that lays down Ten Principles of War, the first of which is “Selection and Maintenance of Aim”. If the national aim is to achieve quick economic recovery, then we need to remember that the second of the Ten Principles is “Maintenance of Morale”, without which no war, including the one against Covid, can be won.
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By the time the pandemic fades into memory, millions of Indians would have been infected and hundreds of thousands killed. But not a single citizen will remain unaffected. Each of us would have, with some degree of separation, lost a loved one, endured financial and social losses, and for a majority, suffered a decline in quality of life. Graduating students will encounter subdued hiring.
Financing ventures will become harder. Social instability indicators such as domestic violence, road rage and crime have started shooting up. This pent-up stress, anxiety and fear will channelise themselves into low tolerance and increased anger, especially against the haves. While India has handled the battle against Covid-19 well, we face a much bigger challenge in terms of bringing back positivity into the ravaged social psyche.
Morale, positive outlook and a sense of hope fuel economics, which reflects in the Gross Domestic Product. It is impossible for any organisation or nation to achieve its full potential when the mood is despondent. Entrepreneurship and innovation are a state of mind and, without the foundation of high morale, it is impossible to leverage concrete resource outlays. India needs to address the morale and mental state of our citizens on a war-footing for a faster recovery.
This is easy to understand at an individual level. A sad person cannot, just biologically, engage in any productive activity. We are driven by chemicals in the brain that propel us to achieve our goals. The capitalist who seeks to enlarge her empire, the soldier who dies for the glory of the battalion, the athlete who strives against excruciating pain for national pride or the employee who achieves the “ownership mindset” — all need the right chemicals firing in their brain.
A downcast person, far from being productive, even stops caring about his physical well-being. The behaviour of a sad and a depressed person is similar because the same chemicals cause these emotional states. Extrapolating the individual to a family, a company and the nation explains why the state of mind of the nation and its economic recovery are existentially interlinked.
This is a daunting challenge, primarily because mental health has remained largely ignored, though it is the largest national medical burden. The understanding of the subject is so rudimentary that most corporates believe band aids such as yoga, a few counselling sessions or company-sponsored offsites are enough to solve the problem. That’s about as useful as giving an aspirin to an acute heart patient.
This situation, however, presents a unique opportunity for corporate India. Indian corporates have always contributed towards health care in the form of the mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. Apart from hundreds of hospitals run by corporates, many of them have occupied a mindspace in the niches of health. But the mental health space lies open and unoccupied.
There are three categories of stakeholders when it comes to mental health. First, the government — for which it is imperative that the citizen’s morale is uplifted. Second, corporates — whose success depends on the engagement levels of their employees. And finally, the pharma companies, because it is only an optimistic and concerned individual who will care about her own and her family’s health. All pharma companies (not just those who manufacture psychiatric drugs) are, therefore, invested in building a positive mental state among their potential customers.
More Indians, especially the young, will be affected by mental health than any other disease. This is an opportunity for all three stakeholders — for the government to amend CSR rules to channel more resources to mental health; for conglomerates to invest and occupy this mindspace; and for the Indian pharma industry to take a global lead in the domain of preventive interventions.
Most armies of the world follow a version of the British Defence Doctrine that lays down Ten Principles of War, the first of which is “Selection and Maintenance of Aim”. If the national aim is to achieve quick economic recovery, then we need to remember that the second of the Ten Principles is “Maintenance of Morale”, without which no war, including the one against Covid-19, can be won.
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- In the Large States category (overall), Chhattisgarh ranks 1st, followed by Odisha and Telangana, whereas, towards the bottom are Maharashtra at 16th, Assam at 17th and Gujarat at 18th. Gujarat is one State that has seen startling performance ranking 5th in the PAI 2021 Index outperforming traditionally good performing States like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, but ranks last in terms of Delta
- In the Small States category (overall), Nagaland tops, followed by Mizoram and Tripura. Towards the tail end of the overall Delta ranking is Uttarakhand (9th), Arunachal Pradesh (10th) and Meghalaya (11th). Nagaland despite being a poor performer in the PAI 2021 Index has come out to be the top performer in Delta, similarly, Mizoram’s performance in Delta is also reflected in it’s ranking in the PAI 2021 Index
- In terms of Equity, in the Large States category, Chhattisgarh has the best Delta rate on Equity indicators, this is also reflected in the performance of Chhattisgarh in the Equity Pillar where it ranks 4th. Following Chhattisgarh is Odisha ranking 2nd in Delta-Equity ranking, but ranks 17th in the Equity Pillar of PAI 2021. Telangana ranks 3rd in Delta-Equity ranking even though it is not a top performer in this Pillar in the overall PAI 2021 Index. Jharkhand (16th), Uttar Pradesh (17th) and Assam (18th) rank at the bottom with Uttar Pradesh’s performance in line with the PAI 2021 Index
- Odisha and Nagaland have shown the best year-on-year improvement under 12 Key Development indicators.
- In the 60:40 division States, the top three performers are Kerala, Goa and Tamil Nadu and, the bottom three performers are Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar.
- In the 90:10 division States, the top three performers were Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Mizoram; and, the bottom three performers are Manipur, Assam and Meghalaya.
- Among the 60:40 division States, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are the top three performers and Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Delhi appear as the bottom three performers.
- Among the 90:10 division States, the top three performers are Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland; and, the bottom three performers are Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh
- Among the 60:40 division States, Goa, West Bengal and Delhi appear as the top three performers and Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Bihar appear as the bottom three performers.
- Among the 90:10 division States, Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh and Tripura were the top three performers and Jammu & Kashmir, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh were the bottom three performers
- West Bengal, Bihar and Tamil Nadu were the top three States amongst the 60:40 division States; while Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan appeared as the bottom three performers
- In the case of 90:10 division States, Mizoram, Assam and Tripura were the top three performers and Nagaland, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand featured as the bottom three
- Among the 60:40 division States, the top three performers are Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa and the bottom three performers are Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Goa
- In the 90:10 division States, the top three performers are Mizoram, Sikkim and Nagaland and the bottom three performers are Manipur and Assam
In a diverse country like India, where each State is socially, culturally, economically, and politically distinct, measuring Governance becomes increasingly tricky. The Public Affairs Index (PAI 2021) is a scientifically rigorous, data-based framework that measures the quality of governance at the Sub-national level and ranks the States and Union Territories (UTs) of India on a Composite Index (CI).
States are classified into two categories – Large and Small – using population as the criteria.
In PAI 2021, PAC defined three significant pillars that embody Governance – Growth, Equity, and Sustainability. Each of the three Pillars is circumscribed by five governance praxis Themes.
The themes include – Voice and Accountability, Government Effectiveness, Rule of Law, Regulatory Quality and Control of Corruption.
At the bottom of the pyramid, 43 component indicators are mapped to 14 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are relevant to the States and UTs.
This forms the foundation of the conceptual framework of PAI 2021. The choice of the 43 indicators that go into the calculation of the CI were dictated by the objective of uncovering the complexity and multidimensional character of development governance
The Equity Principle
The Equity Pillar of the PAI 2021 Index analyses the inclusiveness impact at the Sub-national level in the country; inclusiveness in terms of the welfare of a society that depends primarily on establishing that all people feel that they have a say in the governance and are not excluded from the mainstream policy framework.
This requires all individuals and communities, but particularly the most vulnerable, to have an opportunity to improve or maintain their wellbeing. This chapter of PAI 2021 reflects the performance of States and UTs during the pandemic and questions the governance infrastructure in the country, analysing the effectiveness of schemes and the general livelihood of the people in terms of Equity.
Growth and its Discontents
Growth in its multidimensional form encompasses the essence of access to and the availability and optimal utilisation of resources. By resources, PAI 2021 refer to human resources, infrastructure and the budgetary allocations. Capacity building of an economy cannot take place if all the key players of growth do not drive development. The multiplier effects of better health care, improved educational outcomes, increased capital accumulation and lower unemployment levels contribute magnificently in the growth and development of the States.
The Pursuit Of Sustainability
The Sustainability Pillar analyses the access to and usage of resources that has an impact on environment, economy and humankind. The Pillar subsumes two themes and uses seven indicators to measure the effectiveness of government efforts with regards to Sustainability.
The Curious Case Of The Delta
The Delta Analysis presents the results on the State performance on year-on-year improvement. The rankings are measured as the Delta value over the last five to 10 years of data available for 12 Key Development Indicators (KDI). In PAI 2021, 12 indicators across the three Pillars of Equity (five indicators), Growth (five indicators) and Sustainability (two indicators). These KDIs are the outcome indicators crucial to assess Human Development. The Performance in the Delta Analysis is then compared to the Overall PAI 2021 Index.
Key Findings:-
In the Scheme of Things
The Scheme Analysis adds an additional dimension to ranking of the States on their governance. It attempts to complement the Governance Model by trying to understand the developmental activities undertaken by State Governments in the form of schemes. It also tries to understand whether better performance of States in schemes reflect in better governance.
The Centrally Sponsored schemes that were analysed are National Health Mission (NHM), Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services scheme (ICDS), Mahatma Gandh National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SmSA) and MidDay Meal Scheme (MDMS).
National Health Mission (NHM)
INTEGRATED CHILD DEVELOPMENT SERVICES (ICDS)
MID- DAY MEAL SCHEME (MDMS)
SAMAGRA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN (SMSA)
MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE SCHEME (MGNREGS)