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In the latest edition of NITI Aayog's annual assessment of progress made by states in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDG), retained the top slot, followed closely by Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. In the lower ranks, still, are Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Assam, and Uttar Pradesh, with Bihar at the bottom. This latest report, which is much more expansive in nature than the previous edition, provides insight on the variations in states' performance across different parameters, and also serves as a useful guide to locate where state intervention is needed to achieve the SDGs.
The SDG Index 2019 measures the performance of states and Union territories on indicators such as poverty, hunger, gender equality, health, education, and clean water and sanitation, among others. While the 2018 index measured performance on 13 of the 17 SDG goals, the latest edition goes one step further, covering all 17 SDGs (a qualitative assessment has been made for measuring performance on partnerships). It has been constructed using 100 indicators, and covers 54 targets. At the aggregate level, India's composite score has improved form 57 in 2018 to 60 in 2019, affordable and clean energy industry, innovation and infrastructure life on land, and peace, justice, and strong institutions. On all these indicators, India has scored between 65 and 99. The improvement on these parameters, in part, stems from the beneficial impact of various government programmes. For instance, improvement on clea water and sanitation has been largely driven by the progress made by the Swachh Bharat Abiyaan in eliminating open defecation, while the increases coverage of LPG, as well as the surge in electricity connections has helped shore up performance on affordable and clean energy. Large challenges remain, however, in areas of health, nutrition, basic infrastructure, quality of education, among others.