What is the SDG India Index?

Topics Covered: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

About the Index for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

First launched in December 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 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.

How are states and UTs ranked?

The SDG India Index scores range between 0–100, higher the score of a State/UT, the greater the distance to target achieved.

States and UTs are classified in four categories based on Index score:

Currently, there are no states in the aspirant and achiever category.

What are its latest findings?

Country’s overall SDG score improved by 6 points — from 60 in 2019 to 66 in 2020-21.
This improvement is on accounts of improvement in performance in providing facilities including clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy among others.
Kerala retained its rank as the top with a score of 75, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu both took the second spot with a score of 74.
Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam were the worst performing states in this year’s India index.
Chandigarh maintained its top spot among the UTs with a score of 79, followed by Delhi (68).