Sustainability is a race: among Nations, Continents as well as fellow Humans. The ones who will be left behind in conforming to the new needs of resilience and prioritizing Nature’s needs ahead of ones own, will find it difficult to survive.
Realizing this, the world Nations have all set their respective goals for Sustainability but it becomes important that this spirit trickles down into grassroots and immediate Nature of Mankind.
The targets one can accomlish at community level are unfathomable and overarching when compared to the ones undertaken at National levels.
Niti Aayog’s Sustainability Development Goal India Index 2021
Niti Aayog’s Vice Chairman explained while launching the final edition: “Our effort of monitoring SDGs through the SDG India Index and Dashboard continues to be widely noticed and applauded around the world. It remains a rare data-driven initiative to rank our states and union territories by computing a composite index on the SDGs.”
Evaluation and assessment of progress of Indian states and union territories is done and represented on this Index, based on social, economic and environmental parameters.
It is a joint endeavor of Niti Aayog with the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), United Nations in India, and Global Green Growth Institute.
The first such report was launched back in 2018 with 13 goals and 39 indicators. Since then, it has become agency’s primary tool for monitoring level of advancement on the SDGs in the country.
The index has simultaneously fostered competition among various states and union territories by ranking them on the global goals as well as propagate the messages of sustainability, resilience, and partnerships amongst all.
UN’s SDGs, constituted with consensus of 193 countries, have 17 goals and 169 related targets to be achieved by 2030. The third edition this year, has covered 17 goals, 70 targets, and 115 indicators.
Niti Aayog’s Amitabh Kant explains: “The report reflects on the partnerships we have built and strengthened during our SDG efforts. The narrative throws light on how collaborative initiatives can result in better outcomes and greater impacts.”
The Index’s gainers and losers:
Kerala grabbed the top rank again in the Index 2020-21 and Bihar has been saved last on the list, as per a report released on Thursday (today).
Kerala could retain its rank scoring a total of 75, to be followed by Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu with a score of 74.
Bihar, followed by Jharkhand and Assam were among the worst performing States in this year’s index across the country.
Amongst UTs, Chandigarh maintained the top spot with a score of 79, to be followed by Delhi (68).
Most improvement in the run for Sustainability has been seen with Mizoram, Haryana and Uttarakhand, improving the overall score from 2019, with 12, 10 and 8 points, respectively.
Overall, 22 states/UTs fall in the category of front-runners (gaining scores in the range 65-99) in 2020-21, compared to just 10 in 2019.
These new contenders are: Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Punjab, Haryana, Tripura, Delhi, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Country’s average overall performance:
India’s overall score for SDGs has improved by 6 points i.e. from 60 in 2019 to 66 in 2020-21.
This positive upgrade in status is largely driven by exemplary country-wide performance in goal 6 (clean water and sanitation) with score achieved being 83 and goal 7 (affordable and clean energy) with 92 being the respective score.
This level of monitoring the SDGs continues to be widely noticed and applauded around the world. It serves as a rare, data-driven initiative to rank the country’s states and union territories after proper computation.
Through SDGs, world leaders set out a universal, ambitious commitment and an unprecedented agenda to embrace economic, environmental and social aspects for the wellbeing of societies.
With everyday passing, it becomes clear that by working in unison we can build a more resilient and sustainable future, where no one is left behind.