SDG India Index

What is SDG India Index?

The Index for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) evaluates progress of states and Union Territories (UTs) on various parameters including health, education, gender, economic growth, institutions, climate change and environment. It is released by the NITI Aayog.
First launched in 2018, the index has become the primary tool for monitoring progress on the SDGs in India. It has also fostered competition among the states and UTs by ranking them on the global goals.
The SDG India Index evaluates progress made across 16 goals on a scale of 1 to 100, higher the score of a State/UT, the greater the distance to target achieved. States and UTs are classified in four categories based on their SDG India Index score — aspirant: 0–49; performer: 50–64; front-runner: 65–99, achiever: 100.

What is the significance of the SDG India Index?

The index is developed in collaboration with the United Nations in India. It tracks the progress of all states and UTs on 115 indicators aligned with the National Indicator Framework (NIF) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
The index is a key tool for focused policy dialogue, formulation and implementation through development actions, in line with the global SDG framework. It helps in identifying crucial gaps related to tracking the SDGs and the need for India to develop its statistical systems.

Why in News?

NITI Aayog has released its fourth SDG India Index, giving India a score of 71 out of 100, as compared to 57 in 2018.
The Index rated Kerala and Uttarakhand as the best performing states with a score of 79 points each, while Bihar emerged as a laggard with 57 points, followed by Jharkhand at 62 points.
Compared to 2020-21 scores, which was the last time NITI Aayog published the index, Punjab, Manipur, West Bengal, and Assam recorded the highest increase of 8 points to 76, 72, 70, and 65 points respectively.

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