PAI 2020 is the flagship project of the Public Affairs Centre and it is solely funded by the organisation itself. No third party is involved in financing the project

Public Affairs Index 2020 (PAI 2020) is the 5th edition and a flagship project from Public Affairs Centre. PAI 2020 ranks the States and Union Territories in India, on the basis of their performance in the subnational governance on the overarching sustainable development pillars of Equity, Growth and Sustainability. Several indicators that construct these 3 pillars aim to capture all the important human development aspects.

PAI 2020 has included new indicators totalling to 50 and a pair-wise correlation which is used to select the indicators.

The new elements in PAI 2020 are the inclusion of:

1. Union territories
2. Chapter on Delta Analysis and State of States which
3. Analyses the growth of all the states and identifies the path in achieving a steady state.

All the data that has been used for the analysis is taken from the public domain released by the Central Government.

A detailed methodology section provides in-depth information on the creation of the Index and is explained in Technical report section. In short, the indicators were finalised using a pair-wise correlation method, followed by standardising the data, applying the Principal Component Analysis and thus arriving at Composite Index to rank the states and Union Territories. The overarching dimensions of the report are Equity, Growth and Sustainability.

PAI 2020 constitutes 3 Pillars (Equity, Growth and Sustainability), 5 Themes (Voice and Accountability, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law and Control of Corruption), 13 SDGs (SDGs- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15 and 16) and 50 Indicators.

PAI 2020 focusses only on 13 of 17 SDGs where it was felt that the states have the greatest role to play.

Large states are classified with a population of more than 2 Crore and Small states are classified with a population of less than 2 Crore.

Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Jammu and Kashmir, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.