Sandeepp Saxena
AS the world reaches the mid-point of the window for achieving 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed upon by the UN Member States, India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stepped on the pedal.
According to the SDG India Index 2023-24 released by the Government think-tank Niti Aayog, the country has made substantial progress on SDGs, with its composite score leaping from 57 in 2018 to 71 in 2023-24. This reflects advancements across 113 indicators aligned with the SDGs. The achievements are especially commendable in sectors like poverty eradication, economic growth, water, sanitation, and climate action.
Noteworthy advancements have been observed in Goals 1 (No Poverty), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), 13 (Climate Action) and 15 (Life on Land). Among these, Goal 13 has shown the most substantial improvement, with its score increasing from 54 to 67. Goal 1 follows closely, with a rise from 60 to 72.
Targeted interventions by the Modi Government such as the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Ujjwala, Swachh Bharat, Jan Dhan, Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY, Ayushman Arogya Mandir, PM-Mudra Yojana, Saubhgaya and Start-up India have had major impact and led to the rapid improvement in the SDG score. Increased financial inclusion and digital infrastructure development further supported economic growth and societal welfare.
India, through its efforts, has been an important contributor to progress across the SDGs, Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Suman Bery said while delivering the National Statement at the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) General Debate at the United Nations. He also mentioned that on the multi-dimensional poverty index, India is on track to achieve Target 1.2, much ahead of the 2030 deadline, as around 135 million Indians escaped multi-dimensional poverty between 2015-16 and 2019-21.
Localisation push
Launched in 2018 under PM Modi’s directions to provide impetus for his localisation push, SDG India Index measures and tracks progress of all states and Union Territories on various indicators aligned to SDGs, The 2023-24 Index, the fourth in the series, reports a positive trend in the performance of states and UTs. The scores for states now range from 57 to 79, while UTs score between 65 and 77. This represents an improvement over the 2020-21 scores, where the range was 52 to 75 for states and 62 to 79 for UTs.
While Uttarakhand and Kerala have tied as the top-performing states with a score of 79, Tamil Nadu follows closely with a score of 78, and Goa comes next with a score of 77. On the other hand, Bihar (57), Jharkhand (62), and Nagaland (63) were the worst-performing states in this year’s index.
Among the Union Territories, the top five performers were Chandigarh, Jammu & Kashmir, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and Delhi. This year, 32 states/UTs have joined the Front Runner category (65-99), up from 22 in the 2020-21 edition. The states and UTs that have improved their performance include Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu.
