Tamil Nadu, a ‘Star’ performer in SKOCH State of Governance 2017 with its initiatives in almost all the sectors, has a notso- impressive performance this year. The state was ranked 17th in SKOCH State of Governance 2018. Tamil Nadu was ranked at the sixth position in last year’s report.

When SKOCH studied its projects in its various sectors like Municipal Governance, Municipalities, Transport, Governance and Agriculture, the Group found that unlike last year when the state had awed the rest of the country with its initiatives in municipal governance, the state this year could not meet its own best. Tamil Nadu had extensively used information technology in the delivery of public services and had plugged leakages, making the system more efficient and transparent.

Tamil Nadu Government rolled out a project earlier for the real time availability of seed stock position service for the farmers and was lauded nationwide. Now the state has rolled out a mobile application as an extension of this project. This mobile Application known as “Uzhavan,”

which means farmers, provides much needed information in crop cultivation in different agro climatic conditions and the location-specific information for successful cultivation of crop. The App provides these services on a real time basis and caters to the needs of the farming community.

The services that this App provides are:

1. Information about agricultural subsidy schemes by the government.
2. Farmers can register and apply for subsidies.
3. Information on crop insurance. It is one of the first initiatives by the state government to the farmers.
4. Information about seed and fertilisers’ availability.
5. Information on market price of agricultural commodities on daily basis.
6. Weather update.

Some other projects that the Group studied in municipality and Sanitation include Biodegradable Bags – Alternative to Plastic Carry Bags, Sensor based Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station and smart e-carts for waste management by the Coimbatore Municipal Corporation.

The public transport fleet of more than 900 diesel buses (public and private) and the increasing vehicle population in the city contribute to the usually observed moderate air quality in Coimbatore. More than 70000 vehicles were registered in the year 2015-16. Based on figures that were estimated in the GHG emissions inventory, the transport sector in Coimbatore consumes 60% of total energy consumption. Therefore it is important for the city to continuously monitor air quality and consider corrective measures to ensure good air quality at all times. So these monitoring devices have been installed at 34 locations with proper awareness campaigns to the general public.

In another initiative, the Municipal Corporation has rolled out 50 e-carts for waste collection by the sanitary workers. The workers used to walk at least 3 km a day with the push cart for door-to-door collection of garbage. The task was definitely huge and now with these e-carts, their jobs become easier and they would be more efficient.

Tamil Nadu has a diversified manufacturing sector and features among the leaders in several industries like automobiles and auto components, engineering, pharmaceuticals, garments, textile products, leather products, chemicals, plastics, etc. It ranks first among the states in terms of number of factories and industrial workers.

According to the DIPP, cumulative FDI inflows in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry during April 2000 to June 2018 stood at $27.95 billion. During 2017-18, total merchandise exports from the state stood at $29.75 billion.

Tamil Nadu has a well-developed infrastructure with an excellent road and rail network, three major ports, 15 minor ports, and seven airports across the state providing excellent connectivity. As of August 2018, the state had a total installed power generation capacity of 30.25 GW.

Tamil Nadu is the largest producer of cotton yarn, accounting for 41 per cent of India’s production. IT & ITeS exports from Tamil Nadu have increased to S1,111.79 billion (US$ 17.25 billion) in 2017-18, at a growth rate of 8.55 per cent year-on-year. The state has the potential and the caliber to be the top ranking state provided it gives equal emphasis to all the sectors and continuously inter mingle information technology in the conventional sectors to solved the ageold problems.