Context;
The NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog has released its latest Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) India Index for 2023-24, showing significant progress in sustainable development across states and union territories of India.
Relevance:
GS II: Government policies and Interventions
Dimensions of the Article:
- Sustainable Development Goal
- Understanding the SDG India Index
- Key Highlights of the SDG India Index 2023-24
Sustainable Development Goals Analysis
Overview of Goal Progress
- High Increases: Goals like “No Poverty”, “Decent Work and Economic Growth”, and “Life on Land” showed significant increases in scores across states from 2020-21.
- Low Increases: “Gender Equality” and “Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions” had the smallest increases in points, indicating slower progress compared to other goals.
Reduced Inequalities
- Decrease in Points: “Reduced Inequalities” saw a decrease from 67 in 2020-21 to 65 in 2023-24, highlighting persistent challenges in wealth distribution and socioeconomic opportunities.
- Challenges: High levels of inequality, especially in employment opportunities at the lower socioeconomic strata, continue to pose significant hurdles in many parts of India.
- Gender Inequality: Addressing gender inequality in workforce participation remains a critical aspect of reducing inequalities across states.
Gender Equality
- Lowest Score: “Gender Equality” received the lowest score among all goals, indicating ongoing challenges.
- Incremental Progress: Marginal increase in scores from the previous year suggests slow improvement in areas such as sex ratio at birth, women’s land and asset ownership, employment, and labour force participation rates.
- Concern Areas: States with sex ratios below 900 at birth face particular challenges in achieving gender equality goals.
Quality of Education
- Score Increase: “Quality of Education” goal improved by 4 points to 61, indicating progress in some states, particularly in central India.
- Challenges Remain: Despite improved access, the quality of education remains a significant issue impacting employment opportunities across the country.
Understanding the SDG India Index
What is the SDG India Index?
- Purpose: Developed by NITI Aayog, the SDG India Index tracks India’s progress towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- Localization Effort: Encourages states to integrate SDGs into their development plans for effective local implementation.
- Benchmarking Tool: Provides policymakers with a benchmark to identify gaps and prioritize actions towards achieving sustainable development by 2030.
- Measurement Criteria: Assesses states and union territories (UTs) across 16 SDGs using 113 indicators aligned with national priorities.
- National Alignment: Scores are computed using the National Indicator Framework, evaluating goal-wise and composite scores.
- Goal Exclusion: Goal 14 (Life Below Water) is excluded from the composite score calculation as it applies solely to coastal states.
- Scoring System: Scores range from 0 to 100, where higher scores indicate greater progress towards SDG targets.
- Categorization: States/UTs are categorized as Aspirant, Performer, Front-Runner, or Achiever based on their SDG India Index score.
Key Highlights of the SDG India Index 2023-24
Overall Progress
- Improvement: India’s overall SDG score rose to 71 in 2023-24, up from 66 in 2020-21 and 57 in 2018.
- State Progress: All states demonstrated improvement in their overall scores, driven by targeted government interventions in poverty reduction, economic growth, and climate action.
Top Performers
- Leading States: Kerala and Uttarakhand emerged as top-performing states, each achieving a score of 79 points.
Challenges and Developments
- Lowest Performer: Bihar recorded the lowest score at 57 points, with Jharkhand following at 62 points.
- New Entrants: 32 states and UTs entered the front-runner category, including Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, and Uttar Pradesh, highlighting progress across various regions.
-Source: The Hindu
