Chhattisgarh in 2020 is classified as a catching-up state in our SKOCH State of Governance review. The state falls a few places in the overall rank, coming in at #21 compared to #18 in 2019. The Governance niche has shown the most growth in the state this year. We also evaluated some interesting projects in the District Administration category.

Top Gainers

Governance In Chhattisgarh In 2020 Improves

Governance in Chhattisgarh in 2020 has been the top performing category. The state does not show as much progress in any of the other categories. But it does move up from the #8 spot in Governance in 2019 to the #4 spot in 2020.

The State Haj Committee Chhattisgarh began the the Haj Management – Reforms and Innovations scheme to help rural communities wishing to perform the Hajj. The committee recognises that the rural population does not have the same access and opportunities as their urban brethren. With this in mind, they launched the project to assist a comparatively naïve population fulfill their spiritual journey. As a result, the process of planning and performing the pilgrimage has been simplified. The committee boasts zero-mortality and zero accident rates over the last three years.

The project helps with capacity-building and uses technology to educate and empower their beneficiaries. Interpersonal communication and Group Discussions are especially helping the older Hajjis – people who tend to be of 60 years of age or more and with minimal exposure to the outside world. This demographic faces a lot of challenges with international travel such as illiteracy, rural backgrounds, low incomes, no previous travel experience and missing/non-existent official documents. The project thus aims to empower them through information and learning to prepare them for the pilgrimage.

Medium Performers

District Administration Picks Up In Chhattisgarh In 2020

Dantewada Prioritises Nutrition

District Administration Dantewada launched the Mukhyamantri Suposhan Abhiyan in order to tackle the problems of anemia and malnutrition. The project was initially a pilot program and is now working across aspirational districts in Chhattisgarh. The scheme especially prioritises the nutritional needs of pregnant women and children between the ages of 3 and 6 years. Anganwadi Centres serve as the base of these operations. The Suposhan Kendra project helps lactating women with children up to the age of one year, children between 1 and 3 years as well as girls between 10 and 19 who are school dropouts. There are 257 Suposhan Kendras employing over 2570 women from SHGs and 1100 Mitanins. The project is helping nearly 27000 beneficiaries in the district by providing them additional food.

Apart from material aid in the form of food, the project is also working to create awareness about the importance of proper nutrition. It seeks to help locals change eating habits to include food groups that are more nutritious and better suited to their needs. It also works to educate the tribal population about the specific nutritional needs of their children and Anganwadi Centres have in fact adjusted their own meal serving times to ensure that young children get meals at smaller intervals and are not dependent on their families/ adults’ schedules.

Surajpur Empowers Locals

District Administration Surajpur introduced the Rojgar Route Surajpur to optimise the potential of NH 43 which links Surajpur with Ambikapur. Authorities designed this project for the purpose of helping 17 villages along the route. As a result, the local populations can benefit from sustainable livelihood options as they fortify rural economies through increased access to other places. The project echoes PM Modi’s call for an ‘Aatmanirbhar’ India that is ‘vocal for local’.

District Administration Surajpur also launched Samadhan Surajpur for public grievance redressal. Prior to the platform, residents submitted written or oral complaints. This made it hard to track issues, monitor efforts and actually resolve problems. The Samadhan system allots two panchayats to each district level officer and tasks them visiting the same fortnightly and resolving all grievances. This streamlines the grievance redressal process and also boosts accountability, whilst actively helping citizens.

Chhattisgarh has not performed in some categories and SKOCH marks the state Indifferent for the same. The robust Police & Safety performance in 2020 all over India as well as improved Municipal function fail to feature for Chhattisgarh in 2020.