Delhi tops Union Territories in NITI Aayog’s innovation index

In a tweet, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said Delhi govt’s investments into high quality education, health and infrastructure are showing results.

Among Union territories, Delhi has topped the chart in the Niti Aayog’s innovation index, the first-ever innovation ranking of states, released on Thursday by the government think tank’s vice chairman Rajiv Kumar and chief executive officer Amitabh Kant.

File phoot of a Mohalla Clinic organised by Delhi government at Peeragarhi in New Delhi.(HT File)

The ranking was done in three categories -- ‘Major States’, ‘North East and Hill States’ and ‘Union Territories (UTs)/City and Small States’. “The index shows that the innovation ecosystem of the country is strong in south and western parts of India. In fact, three of the top five major states are from southern India. Delhi and Haryana seem to be an exception to this rule and seem to be doing well on the Index. Thus, there seems to be a west-south and north-east divide across the country,” the report stated.

Telangana, Haryana, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh were among the toppers in the states category.

Delhi also featured in the list of most efficient states/UTs in “translating inputs into output”.

Congratulating the citizens of Delhi, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, “Congratulations to all Delhiites for coming first in Niti Aayog’s Innovation Index. Delhi govt’s investments into high quality education, health and infrastructure are showing results.”

Deputy CM Manish Sisodia also hailed Delhi’s ranking. “Delhi tops Innovation Index in all categories across India. Education, Mohalla Clinics, Odd Even, Farishte, Door Step Delivery ...all Innovative steps by Youngest Political party. Congratulations Delhi & @ArvindKejriwal,” Sisodia said in a tweet.

The report, which has captured trends and done deep-drive analyses of various factors that drive innovation at the country, state and pillar levels, envisages to help policymakers and corporates identify some of the issues at a sustainable level in India.

The index has been grouped under two major heads, enablers -- factors that will drive innovation in states and UTs, and performance -- that will measure the actual outcomes in the innovation competitiveness of states.

“Going by the score, Delhi tops Innovation Index in all categories across India,” said the Aam Aadmi Party’s national spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said, referring to Delhi’s score of 42.96 in the chart compared to the other toppers – Karnataka (35.46) in the major states category and Sikkim (15.49) in the North-East and hill states category.