Uttar Pradesh illuminated brightly and saw a 69% percent change in the total radiance from 2015 to 2019
India Data Portal (IDP), Bharti Institute of Public Policy (BIPP) at the Indian School of Business (ISB) releases the report on ‘Nightlights’ data of Uttar Pradesh, showing growth in economic activity at the assembly constituency level. The report compares the Change in luminosity year-by-year that demonstrates how economic activities have expanded to newer areas from 2015 to 2019 and the fall in nightlights during the pandemic year between 2019 – 2020.
The growth trend in the constituencies of Uttar Pradesh between 2015 and 2019: Change in total radiance depicts that constituencies of Phulpur (6645 pixels) and Sarojini Nagar (5936 pixels) have shown tremendous transformation, pointing towards an immense surge in economic and developmental activities. The entire Uttar Pradesh saw a percent change in the total radiance of 69%. Region-wise, the central region stands out with the highest percent change in the total radiance of 709.76%, followed by the eastern (109%).
Change in percent lit pixels captures the growth of economic activities distributed over space and spread to newer areas. The state records a 42% increase in five years on this parameter. The regional figures reemphasise upon a substantial expansion of economic activities in the central (64.82%) region followed by Bundelkhand (45.55%), eastern (40%) and western (15.71%) regions of UP.
Pandemic Impact in the constituencies of Uttar Pradesh between 2019 and 2020: The indicator of percent change in total radiance shows that Uttar Pradesh stays affected by the pandemic as it records a shift to -9.19%. The Bundelkhand region has remained least affected by the pandemic with a -3.18% change, central (-8.1%), western (-8.59%), eastern (-11.88%) regions bear a much more profound impact.
The Change in percent lit pixels shows the state (-8.48%) has undergone a sizable reduction in economic activity. The central region has also predominantly remained affected by the pandemic, followed by eastern, Bundelkhand and western areas.
Speaking on the data release, Prof. Ashwini Chhatre | Executive Director – BIPP, Indian School of Business, said, “Night-time radiance and Lit pixel as captured by satellites measure the Change in economic activity. It is a reasonable indicator for GDP at the national and sub-national levels. It also helps to understand the Impact of COVID 19 on economic activity. The data allows the discussion to focus on questions around patterns of economic growth and quality of governance. Through this report, you can see and compare economic activity over six years for 2015-2020 in every assembly constituency.”
The data is available with Bharti Institute for Public Policy for research that will further help to assess and track the development and progress for various indicators. For publication of content from this report, © India Data Portal, BIPP, ISB is mandatory. The report is the intellectual property of BIPP, ISB. India Data Portal has already released detailed reports on Nightlights as indicators of economic growth for Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand.
