NITI Aayog unveils SDG India Index; Kerala retains top spot, Bihar at the bottom

Kerala retained the top spot followed by Himachal Pradesh while Bihar featured at the bottom of Niti Aayog's index for sustainable development goals (SDG), the latest data released on Thursday showed. The SDG index evaluates the progress of states and union territories on social, economic and environmental criteria and is released every year by the government.

India’s overall score across sustainable development goals improved marginally by six points, from 60 in 2019 to 66 in 2021, Niti Aayog said while releasing the index. This rise in the score was due to the country-wide improvement across clean water and sanitation (Goal 6) and affordable and clean energy (Goal 7), it added.

Kerala scored 75 out of 100 while Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu scored 74 each. Andhra Pradesh was placed next in the list with 72 points. On the other hand, Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam were the worst-performing states this year with 52, 56, and 57 points, respectively.

Releasing the third rendition of the index, Niti Aayog vice-chairperson Rajiv Kumar said, “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.”

The index was first launched in December 2018. Over the years, it has fostered competition among all states and Union territories by ranking them on global goals developed in collaboration with the United Nations in India.

“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,” Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said.

This edition of the index covers 17 goals, 70 targets, and 115 indicators, while the last covered 17 goals, 54 targets and 100 indicators. The first edition, in 2018-2019, covered 13 goals, 39 targets, and 62 indicators.