• Kerala retained its rank as the top State with a score of 70. Chandigarh too maintained its top spot among the UTs with a score of 70. • Himachal Pradesh took the second spot while Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana shared the third spot on the table, respectively. • While three out of five States in the top three spots perform equal to or better than the country average on 12 goals, the other two States do the same on 11 goals. Fastest Movers 2018 to 2019 While all but five States/ UTs improved or retained their overall composite score from 2018 to 2019, the magnitude of change has been varied. The top three States in overall improvement deserve special mention. Uttar Pradesh has improved its overall score from 42 in 2018 to 55 in 2019, and is the highest gainer. The biggest improvement has been in goal 7 – affordable and clean energy, where the jump has been by 40 points. Scores in goal 6 – clean water and sanitation and goal 9 – industry, innovation, and infrastructure, have climbed by 39 and 34 points, respectively. Odisha stands second in overall improvement, with an increase of 7 points, from 51 to 58. Goal 9 has contributed mostly to the rise with a jump of 40 points. Goals 6 and 7 follow, with an increase of 39 and 27 points, respectively. Sikkim is the third best State in overall improvement: from a score of 58 to that of 65, indicating an increase by 7 points. The State has achieved commendable improvement in goal 7 where it has recorded an increase by 55 points. In goal 9, Sikkim has made a jump of 26 points. Performance in goal 11 – sustainable cities and communities, has been by 18 points, which is the third biggest contributor to Sikkim’s improvement. The significant improvement in goal 6 is largely driven by the success of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan in eliminating open defecation. Improvement in goal 7 can be credited to the extensive coverage of LPG for households and saturation of electricity connections. The progress recorded under goal 9 can be largely attributed to the improvement in rural road coverage, and higher mobile and internet penetration. SDGs represent the aspirations and targets of the global community and provide a common agenda for the government and society at large. The progress has to cover the social, economic and environmental pillars. The inter-connectedness among these goals is a challenge for planning, implementation and monitoring at Global to country, state, district and village levels. India’s with world’s 17 per cent of population, holds the key to global SDG progress achievement. Despite multiple challenges across key sectors of development, India has the unique opportunity for developing innovative solutions. These can also help other countries plan better with varied terrain and biodiversity of India that can match many countries in some way or part or the other. It also has a federal structure with States as well as local bodies playing a significant role with inclusive, sustainable and balanced development. NITI Aayog acts as the nodal institution to coordinate all the SDG efforts at the national and sub-national levels with the States/ Union Territories, Districts and local Governments playing a significant role. The SDG Indices report measures the progress achieved and distance to be covered by the States/UTs in their journey towards meeting the targets, using the SDG India Index and identify prior¬ity areas which demand action, facilitate peer learning, highlight data gaps, and promote healthy competition. Due to its huge size, diverse but inter-connected goals, SDGs cannot be achieved by requires a multi-pronged strategy and convergent set of interventions at all levels of government on a sustained basis. Alignment of National Development Agenda with SDGs is significant. At the macro level, India’s key developmental programmes, policy focus and resource allocation align with the SDGs Ayushman Bharat (Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana), which covers 500 million persons and is the largest health protection scheme in the world closely aligns with SDG 3 (health and well-being) and SDG 10 (reduced inequalities). India’s comprehensive climate action agenda and leadership in International Solar Alliance aim to achieve the same outcomes which SDG 7 (clean and affordable energy) envisions. India’s Aspirational Districts Programme, which intends to bring holistic development to 112 relatively backward districts of the country thereby contributing to regional equality aligns with the spirit of SDG 10 (reduced inequalities). “Strategy for New India @75”, the strategy document prepared by NITI Aayog charting a path of transfor¬mation until 2022 also focuses on how the strategies put forward will help the country meet its SDG targets. NITI Aayog works closely with the Ministry of Statis¬tics and Programme Implementation, accountable for the development of the baseline data on the National Indicator Framework, all central ministries, State/UT governments, international development organisation such as the UN system, think tanks, and the civil soci¬ety organisations in driving the adoption, implemen¬tation, and monitoring of the SDG agenda. The SDG Task Force, constituting senior officers from crucial ministries and leaders from think tanks and civil society organisations, offers timely guidance and support. NITI Aayog leads a host of monitoring efforts, which will be detailed in a separate section below.
