Sustainable Development Goals India Index 2019 Released

In News

The NITI Aayog has released the Sustainable Development Goals India Index 2019 for all the states and Union Territories that measure the progress made in achieving the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In-Detail

• According to the index, India improved its score from 57 last year to 60 this year.
• Among states, Kerala topped the index.
• As per the index, there are seven states and two UTs in the “Front runners” category.
• Of the 27 “performer states,” Bihar found itself in the last place.
• This is the second edition of the SDG Index from NITI Aayog.
• The index measures progress made by states across 16 SDGs.
• The assessment is based on the progress made by states and UTs on 100 indicators.
• These indicators are drawn from the National Indicator Framework prepared by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation.
• Chandigarh topped among the UTs with a score of 70.
• No state came close to get the “achiever” status, which is the 100% scorecard points.
• Also, no state has fallen into the “aspirants” category, the lowest category with a score of 0-49.
• However, 22 states have scored below 50 in indicators such as child stunting, obesity and anaemia, agricultural production and subsidised food distribution.
• The central Indian states of Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have soccer below 30 in the above mentioned indicators. This indicates a high prevalence of hunger and malnutrition in these states.
• The front runner states in 2018 were Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh. Five other states joined them in this year’s index – Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Sikkim and Goa.
• The improvement in the performance of the states can be majorly attributed to positive push in five major goals – affordable and clean energy, industry, innovation and infrastructure, clean water and sanitation, life on land and peace, justice and strong institutions.

Poor Gender Equality

• Gender equality is the fifth SDG and as per the index, almost all states fare poorly in achieving gender equality.
• Only states like Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir, and Himachal Pradesh were able to achieve scores above 50.
• For gender equality, the indicators included crime against women, eradicating sex selection, discrimination against daughters, access to health schemes, political empowerment etc.
• The sex ratio of 896 females for 1000 males and prevalent spousal violence against women contributed to the low score countrywide.

Swachh Bharat

• Coming to the sixth SDG – clean water and sanitation – the impact of Swachh Bharat is clearly visible, as four of the seven indicators deal with toilets and sanitation.
• Except for Delhi, almost all states have scored above 65 on the percentage of urban households having individual household toilets.

SDG Seven

• Progress in achieving SDG seven – affordable and clean energy – was majorly due to government interventions like providing electricity and cooking gas connections to rural India.

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