Manipur Ranks 1st Among Northeast States in India Innovation Index 2020

Manipur secured the first position among the Northeast states and emerged as the best performer among all states with a score of 41.18, on the strength of its high expenditure on science, technology, and environment and high public expenditure on research and development, according to the second edition report of NITI Aayog. Manipur stood at the third position among the NE & Himalayan states.

NITI Aayog released the second edition of the India Innovation Index-2020 on Wednesday. The index showcases the government's continued pledge towards changing the country into an innovation-driven economy.

During the release of the India Innovation Index-2020 in New Delhi, Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Rajiv Kumar said, the index demonstrates that India is on the correct path and the states are striving to advance their innovative environment.

He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi always stresses on innovation and technological boundaries as these can solve the issues and fulfil the aspiration of the citizens.

He also stressed on the need to improve the coordination between the various public and private sector Science and Technology institutions. He also underlined the need to bring the Indian Innovation Index in sync with the global innovation index's parameters.

Chief Executive Officer of NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant said that innovation will play an important role in making the country self-reliant and heading towards the five trillion-dollar economy. He also said that the innovation index will amplify the competitive federalism among the States and Union Territories.

The States and Union Territories have been divided into 17 Major States, 10 North-East and Hill States and 9 Union Territories and Small States for effectively comparing their performance in the India Innovation Index-2020.

Karnataka maintained its first position in the Major States category, while Maharashtra climbed one step above and stood at second spot and Tamil Nadu dropped to the 3rd position in the 2020 ranking.

Meanwhile, in the North East and Hill States category, Himachal Pradesh secured the first position followed by Uttarakhand and Manipur. In case of Union Territories and Small States category, Delhi secured the first position while Chandigarh retained its second spot.

Karnataka was the highest scorer among Major States, and Delhi among UT and City States. Puducherry ranked at the bottom of the overall list, while Bihar came last among Major States and Tripura among the NE and Hill States.

Manipur scored 29.87 in the knowledge worker index, and secured the third rank in India. The average score in Knowledge Workers (14.46) is significantly lesser than that in Human Capital (42.32), representing a vital gap between educational attainment and employability among Indian graduates in knowledge-intensive activities.

However, Manipur scored the lowest of 4.04 in business index, and came eighth among northeast and hill states. Delhi scored 39.7 and compared to India's average score on the Business Environment pillar of16.8, Delhi secured the top spot.

Kerala with a score of 37.1 has emerged as the best performer among Major States, and Himachal Pradesh with a score of 22.9 among NE and Hill States. Arunachal Pradesh, on the other hand, with a score of 2.8 finished last overall and among NE and Hill States, Bihar with 5.2 among Major States, and Puducherry with a score of 8.2 among UT and City States.

In safety and legal environment Manipur stood fourth among Northeast and Hill states, with a score of 71. 52. The country's average score stands at 60.29, and 14 states scored below the national average.

The regional equality of this pillar is noticeable with most Indian states scoring higher than the national average. This is the only pillar where the positive outliers appear from three north-eastern states, and Sikkim.

Knowledge Output is one of the two performance pillars with the widest difference between the highest-scoring state, Delhi with 82.82 and the lowest-scoring state, Sikkim with 2.31. Manipur scored 13. 97, and attained third ranked among northeast and hill states.

The knowledge output has seven markers to govern the score- grassroots innovation, trademark application filed, patents application filed, industries design application filed, publications, start up in the state and new business registration.

Knowledge Diffusion mirrors a state's ability to apply knowledge to amplify the value-added components of products and services and in general its aim towards an innovation-driven economy. On this front, Manipur scored 2. 48 and stood sixth among northeast and hill states of India. The pillar is indicative of the extent to which a state's economy has grown from a resource-driven to an innovation-driven one. The majority of Indian states, concentrated mostly in the north-eastern and central parts of the country stood below the national average of 17.6.

In Northeast and hill states, Manipur scored 40. 01 on human capital and secured the sixth rank. It is to be noted here that according the report, human capital is measured on the basis of seven indicators- enrolment in PhD programs; enrolment in engineering and technology, colleges connected through the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT); higher education institutions with National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) grade A and above; pupil-teacher ratio (higher education), schools with ICT labs and National Achievement Survey (NAS) Scores (Class X).

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