Kerala tops NITI Aayog’s SDG Index, Bihar last

NEW DELHI: Kerala has retained its top position in the NITI Aayog’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Index 2020-21, according to a report. Bihar is found to be the worst performer. The SDG Index analysis the progress of the states and union territories (UTs) on social, economic and environmental parameters.

Kerala was found as the best performer with a total score of 75, followed by Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, both scoring 74 points. The worst performing states are Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam. The third version of India SDG Index was launched by Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog on Thursday, June 3. Chandigarh scored the highest among UTs with 79 points, followed by Delhi (68). Mizoram, Haryana and Uttarakhand improved the most in 2020-21 in comparison to last year with an increase of 12, 10 and 8 points respectively.

The overall score of the country in SDG improved by 6 points, from 60 in 2019 to 66 in 2020-21, which can be attributed to the exceptional performance in Goal 6 (clean water and sanitation), and Goal 7 (affordable and clean energy) where the average score is 83 and 92, respectively. The Index is developed in collaboration with United Nations in India and measures the progress of the country in the national and sub-national level in working towards achieving the SDGs. It covers 17 goals, 70 targets and 115 indicators.