Progress and Challenges: According to NITI Aayog’s latest report, states in India have made notable advancements in reducing poverty, providing decent work and economic growth, sustainable ecosystem use, and climate action, thereby raising the country’s overall score in meeting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to 71 in 2023-24, up from 66 in 2020-21 and 57 in 2018.
Uttarakhand, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa, and Himachal Pradesh are the top performers, while Bihar, Jharkhand, Nagaland, and Meghalaya lag behind. Among Union Territories, Chandigarh ranks highest.
The scores reflect progress towards the targets set by all UN members in 2015, aiming for prosperity for people and the planet by 2030. The federal policy think tank reported that the states’ scores range from 57 to 79 in 2023-24, a significant improvement from the 42 to 69 range in 2018.
Each state’s score indicates the progress towards fully achieving the 17 SDGs, which include eliminating poverty and hunger, ensuring good health and well-being, providing quality education, reducing inequality, and promoting peaceful and inclusive societies. Each goal has individual scores based on various parameters.
NITI Aayog attributed the rapid improvement to government initiatives such as building houses, providing free cooking gas connections, a nationwide cleanliness drive, opening no-frills accounts, offering free health insurance, and providing loans to small businesses.
Specific scores include 95 for affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), 89 for clean water and sanitation, and 83 for building sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11). However, gender equality (SDG 5) remains a challenge, with a score of 49, indicating significant progress is still needed.
Officials are optimistic about achieving all 17 SDGs by 2030 despite India’s large population. NITI Aayog CEO B.V.R. Subrahmanyam expressed confidence, acknowledging the need for more effort in gender equality. He highlighted issues like gender ratio at birth and women’s employment as areas needing improvement, with the central government focusing on empowering women.
India’s success is crucial for global SDG progress, contributing significantly to global targets. However, reducing inequality (SDG 10) requires attention, with a score of 65 in 2023-24, slightly below 67 in 2020-21 but above 64 in 2019-20.
Government initiatives like housing construction, free food grain delivery, direct benefit transfers, and skill development have driven overall score improvements, according to NITI Aayog.