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Sustainable Developmental Goals Index 2019

GS-Paper-3 Environment SDG PT-MAINS

The SDG India Index (NITI AAYOG) dashboard displays overall & detailed info on the progress made by States & UTs on Global Goals of the United Nations including their incremental progress from 2018, using interactive visualizations.

The SDG index shows that Kerala is on the first rank for 2019 followed by Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The report attributes the improvement in India's performance to several welfare programs including Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and  Ujjwala Yojana.

Imp Points

• According to the index, most of the states still need to work more on subjects like gender equality and nutrition. 
• Bihar and Jharkhand need to put more efforts to improve on the major parameters of the SDG so that they also match the standards of other states.
• In Uttar Pradesh and Assam, a lot of good work has been done in the last year on various parameters like health, education, poverty, hunger, due to which the ranking of these states has improved further.
• When it comes to Uttar Pradesh, it is among the leading states to improve its performance, which has gained 13 points more than the last year.

Analysis

NITI Aayog has released the second edition of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) India Index (SDG Index 2.0).

• The index documents the progress made by India’s States and Union Territories towards achieving the 2030 SDG targets.
• The Index spans 16 out of 17 SDGs which marks an improvement over the 2018 Index, which covered only 13 goals.
• The SDG India Index has been developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), the United Nations, and the Global Green Growth Institute.
• The year 2020 will be the 5^th anniversary of the adoption of SDGs by 193 countries at the UN General Assembly.

Methodology Followed

• A composite score for SDG Index (2019) was computed in the range of 0–100 for each State/UT based on its aggregate performance across 16 SDGs.
  • The higher the score of a State/UT, the closer it is towards achieving the 2030 national targets.
• States /UTs are classified based on the SDG India Index Score as follows:
  • Aspirant: 0–49
  • Performer: 50–64
  • Front Runner: 65–99
  • Achiever: 100

National Analysis

• India's composite score improved from 57 in 2018 to 60 in 2019-20 with major success in water and sanitation, power and industry. However, nutrition and gender equality continue to be problem areas for India, requiring a more focused approach from the government
• The ranks of 14 states have dropped in the index compared to 2018.
• All states and union territories except for Delhi have scored above 65.

State/UT Wise Analysis

• Kerala has the top rank with a score of 70 followed by Himachal Pradesh with 69 points. Further, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana shared the third spot with each state scoring 67 on the Index.
• Bihar has emerged as the worst performer with the lowest score of 50. Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Uttar Pradesh are also some of the worst-performing states on the index.
• Uttar Pradesh has shown maximum improvement followed by Odisha and Sikkim.
• Union Territories: Chandigarh has topped the list with the score of 70 followed by Puducherry with 66.

How will the Index will be useful to States/UTs?

1. Support States/UTs to assess their progress against national targets and performance of their peers to understand reasons for differential performance and devise better strategies to achieve the SDGs by 2030.
2. Support States/UTs to identify priority areas in which they need to invest and improve by enabling them to measure incremental progress.
3. Highlight data gaps related across SDGs for India to develop its statistical systems at the national and State levels.

Significance and analysis:

• India is the first country in the world with a government-led, sub-national measure of progress on Sustainable Development Goals.
• The SDG India Index acts as a bridge between these mandates, aligning the SDGs with the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s clarion call of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, which embodies the five Ps of the global SDG movement: people, planet, prosperity, partnership and peace.
• The Index is designed to function as a tool for focused policy dialogue, formulation and implementation, and moving towards development action pegged to globally recognizable metrics.
• The Index also supplements NITI Aayog’s continuous efforts to encourage evidence-based policymaking by supporting States/UTs to benchmark their progress, identifying priority areas and sharing best practices.
• The SDG India Index 2019 also helps highlight crucial gaps related to monitoring SDGs and the need for improving statistical systems at the National/State/UT levels.
• Further, the Index highlights the need for improvements in data collection, reporting and methodology.
• NITI Aayog is also exploring partnerships for disaggregating data and developing capacity for real-time monitoring and measuring incremental progress.
• There are many schemes to achieve those goals which the central and state governments are running.
• There is a need to train and motivate people to achieve the goals.
• The SDGs still remain outside of the system. We are not mainstreaming many of the concerns.
• There is a lot of overlap. India has 40% food wastage which impact SDG goal 2.
• The growth which has taken in technology is very critical in achieving our targets.
• If we use cutting edge technology in the monitoring and evaluation in a correct way in achieving SDGs it will give results.
• Interconnectivity between the goal is very critical and important.
• Each district, taluk and gram panchayats should have a SDG plan.
• We should develop proper monitoring measure.
• There is a need that Technology and People should converge.