NITI AYOG RELEASED THIRD EDITION OF SDG INDIA INDEX

Subject : Governance

Context : Recently, the NITI Aayog has released the third edition of SDG India Index & Dashboard 2020-21.

Concept :

About SDG India Index

It was first launched in 2018.
It is designed and developed by NITI Aayog.
The preparation of the index followed extensive consultations with the primary stakeholders i.e. the States and Union Territories, the UN agencies in India, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), and the key Union Ministries.
It has been comprehensively documenting and ranking the progress made by States and Union Territories towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
It has become the primary tool for monitoring progress on the SDGs in the country and has simultaneously fostered competition among the States and Union Territories.
It remains a rare data-driven initiative to rank our States and Union Territories by computing a composite index on the SDGs.
The States and Union Territories are classified as below based on their SDG India Index score:
Aspirant: 0–49 , Performer: 50–64 , Front-Runner: 65–99 , Achiever: 100.

Overall results and findings of SDG India Index 2020-21

The country’s overall SDG score has improved by 6 points i.e. from 60 in 2019 to 66 in 2020–21.
The positive stride towards achieving the targets is largely driven by exemplary country-wide performance in Goal 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and Goal 7(Affordable and Clean Energy).
Mizoram, Haryana, and Uttarakhand are the top gainers in 2020–21in terms of improvement in score from 2019, with an increase of 12, 10 and 8 points, respectively.
Kerala has retained the top rank in NitiAayog’s SDG India Index 2020-21, while Bihar has been adjudged as the worst performer.
Both Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu took the second spot with a score of 74.
Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam were the worst performing states in this year’s India index.