Sikkim @40

In the 40 years since Sikkim became India's 22nd state, the erstwhile Himalayan kingdom has been flying under the radar in accomplishing the near-impossible.Its impressive record in literacy, poverty alleviation, sanitation and organic farming makes it nearly unparalleled not just in the region but in, perhaps, all of Asia.
With a population of just 6,10,000 Sikkim, the least populated state in India, has its per capita GDP growing in double digits since 2004-05 -similar-sized northeastern states barely registering 5% growth.
Sikkim slashed its poverty ratio by 22% to 51,000 (8.2%) in 2011-12 from 1.7 lakh (30.9%) in 2004-05. In 1994, it stood at 41%. The reduction catapulted Sikkim into the nation's top five states in battling poverty . Only Goa (5.1%), Kerala (7.1%) and Himachal (8.1%) fared better.
Sikkim's literacy rate shot to 82.2% from 68.8% in 2001, among the country's highest. Male literacy 86.6%, female literacy 66.4%. Its rural literacy rate of 79.8% surpassed the national rate of 68.9%. The state aims to make Sikkim India's second 100% literate state.
Sikkim's evolution into a fully organic state since embracing the mission in 2003 received a fillip from PM Narendra Modi earlier this year. Speaking at a reception by Indian expats in Germany, Modi waxed eloquent on huge advances made by Sikkim in organic farming. Of the state's 60,000 ha farmland, 40% is organic.
The UN hailed Sikkim for its Human Development Report indices as a global best-practice in February 2014. Terming its achievements as `incredible', UN's India representative Lise Grande said there was no other government under similar conditions that had achieved such success, acknowledging the tiny state's 15% growth in less than a decade as among the highest for all Indian states and one of Asia's highest.
Sikkim was also declared to be the first state to achieve 100% sanitation coverage becoming completely free of public defecation on December 8, 2008, in a country where large parts of the population still defecate in the open.