NEW DELHI: Uttarakhand and Kerala have topped the list of states in sustainable development goals (SDG) index while Chandigarh took the top spot among Union Territories, data released by govt think tank Niti Aayog showed on Friday.
Tamil Nadu took the third spot followed by Goa and Himachal Pradesh. This year, 32 states/UTs have scored between 65 and 99, up from 22 in the 2020-21 edition.There are 10 new states and UTs in the front runner category. These include Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
The data showed that between 2018 and 2023-24, the fastest moving states were 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).
The composite score for India improved from 57 in 2018 to 66 in 2020-21 to further to 71 in 2023-24, the data released by Niti Aayog CEO Suman Bery showed. India has made significant progress in accelerating progress on SDGs between the 2020-21 and 2023-24 editions of the index. Goal 13 (Climate Action) records the highest increase in score from 54 in 2020-21 to 67 in 2023-24 followed by Goal 1 (No Poverty) from 60 to 72.
Targeted interventions by govt such as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Ujjwala, Swachh Bharat, Jan Dhan, Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY, Ayushman Arogya Mandir, PM-Mudra Yojana, Saubhgaya, Start-up India had impact and led to rapid improvement, according to an official statement.