Kerala Retains Top Spot In Sustainable Development Goals Index 2019; Bihar Deemed As Worst Performer

On Monday 30 December, Niti Aayog released the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Index 2019 where Kerala appeared to be in the first rank.

Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar and CEO Amitabh Kant released the SDG India Index which presented detailed information on the progress made by the States and Union Territories on Global Goals of the United Nations including their incremental progress from 2018.

The SDGs, also known as Global Goals were adopted by member states of the United Nations in September 2015. The 17 broad-based global goals set ambitious quantitative targets to be achieved by 2030 in every country.

Niti Aayog has formed its own monitoring approach to the Indian context with a set of 100 indicators for the fulfilment of the purposes of the Index.

The Report shows Kerala to be the top achiever in meeting sustainable development goals. It has also managed to retain its position on the top with a score of 70 out of 100.

The overall score of India has improved from 57 points in 2018 to 60 in 2019 with success in water and sanitation, industry and innovation.

Besides Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana are amongst the top performers towards meeting the required goals. These goals include hunger, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, climate action, quality of education, and the like.

On the contrary, Bihar, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, and Meghalaya are at the bottommost positions in the list.

The report also suggests that India has fallen from 54 points in 2018 to 50 points in 2019 in terms of poverty. Additionally, it has gone down to 64 from 65 in terms of economic growth.

Considering the SDG Index 2018, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim have shown maximum improvement, while states such as Gujarat have not shown any improvement.

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