Hyderabad: Telangana at sixth place in Niti Aayog's index for sustainable development goals (SDG), according to the data released on Thursday. The SDG index evaluates the progress of states and Union Territories on social, economic and environmental criteria and is released every year by Niti Aayog.
Kerala retained its rank as the top state with a score of 75. Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu took the second spot with 74 points. Andhra Pradesh shared third spot with Goa and Karnataka with a score of 72.
Telangana was placed at sixth place along with Gujarat with a score of 69. Bihar has been adjudged the worst performer.
AP and TS did not figure in the list of top states on parameters of no poverty (Goal No.1), zero hunger (Goal No. 2), good health and well being (Goal No. 3), quality education (Goal No. 4), gender equality (Goal No. 5), clean water and sanitation (Goal No. 6).
Out of total 16 goals, the Telugu states figure among the top states only in terms of Goal No. 7 on affordable and clean energy.
Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam were the worst performing states in this year's index with a score of 52, 56 and 57 respectively.
The third rendition of India's SDG Index was launched by Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar on Thursday.
“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,” Kumar said.
Launched in December 2018, the index has been stated to be the primary tool for monitoring progress on the SDGs in the country and has simultaneously fostered competition among the states and union territories by ranking them on the global goals.
The index, developed in collaboration with the United Nations in India, measures the progress at the national and sub-national level in the country's journey towards meeting the global goals and targets and has been successful as an advocacy tool to propagate the messages of sustainability, resilience, and partnerships, as well.
From covering 13 goals, 39 targets, and 62 indicators in the first edition in 2018-19 to 17 goals, 54 targets and 100 indicators in the second, the third edition covers 17 goals, 70 targets, and 115 indicators.
The SDGs, constituted through a consultative process, have 17 goals and 169 related targets to be achieved by 2030.
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.
