General Studies Paper-3

Context: Recently, NITI Aayog released SDG India Index 2023-24.

About SDG India Index 2023-24

• SDG India Index 2023-24, the fourth edition of the country’s principal tool for measuring national and subnational progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
• It measures and tracks national progress of all States and UTs on 113 indicators aligned to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation’s (MoSPI) National Indicator Framework (NIF).

v  The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):   They were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. v  The 17 SDGs are integrated—they recognize that action in one area will affect outcomes in others, and that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability.

• Methodology: The SDG India Index computes goal-wise scores on the 16 SDGs for each State and UT. Overall State and UT scores or Composite Scores are generated from goal-wise scores to measure the aggregate performance of the sub-national unit based on its performance across the 16 SDGs.
  • These scores range between 0–100, and if a State/UT achieves a score of 100, it signifies it has achieved the targets. The higher the score of a State/UT, the greater the distance covered to the target.

India’s Progress

• India is progressing towards the Sustainable Development Goals despite global headwinds
• The composite score for India improved from 57 in 2018 to 66 in 2020-21 to further to 71 in 2023-24
  • Noteworthy advancements have been observed in Goals 1 (No Poverty), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), 13 (Climate Action). These are now in the ‘Front Runner’ category (a score between 65–99).

• Comparison: Since 2018, India has witnessed substantial progress in several key SDGs. Significant progress has been made in Goals 1 (No Poverty), 3 (Good Health and Well-being), 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities).
• State wise: Uttarakhand and Kerala have taken the top spot among states in NITI Aayog’s SDG India Index 2023-24
  • Between 2018 and 2023-24, fastest moving States are Uttar Pradesh (increase in score by 25), followed by J&K (21), Uttarakhand (19), Sikkim (18), Haryana (17), Assam, Tripura and Punjab (16 each), Madhya Pradesh and Odisha (15 each)

Interventions facilitating SDG achievements

• Over 4 crore houses under the PM Awas Yojana (PMAY),
• 10 crore LPG connections under PM Ujjwala Yojana,
• Tap water connections in over 14.9 crore households under Jal Jeevan Mission
• Over 30 crore beneficiaries under Ayushman Bharat -Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana
• Coverage of over 80 crore people under the National Food Security Act (NFSA)
• Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of ₹34 lakh crore made through PM-Jan Dhan accounts.
• The Skill India Mission has led to over 1.4 crore youth being trained and upskilled and has reskilled 54 lakh youth
• PM Mudra Yojana sanctioned 43 crore loans aggregating to ₹5 lakh crore for entrepreneurial aspirations of the youth besides Funds of Funds
• Emphasis on renewable energy resulted in an increase in solar power capacity from 2.82 GW to 73.32 GW in the past decade.
• Improvement in digital infrastructure with reduced internet data costs by 97% which has in turn positively affected and fostered financial inclusion

Issues

• Income and gender inequality were the SDGs which have seen a drop in the score.
• States not doing well have issues like sex ratio at birth.

Conclusion and Way Forward

• India bettered its performance in achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) during 2023-24 with significant progress in eliminating poverty, economic growth and climate action.
• However, progress in addressing inequalities related with gender and income as well as access to equal opportunities needs to be addressed more effectively.
• Ending discrimination against women and girls is a basic human right and is a prerequisite for sustainable development.
• NITI Aayog is committed to supporting all the States and UTs in the localisation and acceleration of SDGs, an important barometer to measure progress towards Viksit Bharat @ 2047.