NITI Aayog Releases Sustainable Development Goals Index

The NITI Aayog has released a first-of-its-kind Sustainable Development Goals index. According to the SDG Index, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu have been ranked on top

3 positions and are on track to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Aim of the Sustainable Development Goals Index:

• The recently released Sustainable Development Goals Index aims to promote healthy competition among States by evaluating their progress in social, economic and environmental terms that will help India in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030.

Scoring:

• Based on the performance of the States and UTs across 13 of the 17 identified SDGs, a score ranging between 0 and 100 has been assigned to each of them in the index.
• The index considered only 13 out of 17 goals because of non-availability of data at the state level.
• The average Indian score in the SDG index is 57 and varies between 42 and 69 for the States and between 57 and 68 for UTs.

Key Points of the SDG Index:

• Kerala and Himachal Pradesh have been called as the front-runners in the Index with a score of 69.
• Chandigarh has been declared as the front runner in the Index with a score of 68 among the UTS.
• The state of Tamil Nadu (score 66) is at the top to meet the goals of eradicating poverty and providing clean and affordable energy. 
• Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are at the bottom of the rankings in the NITI Aayog's Sustainable Development Goals Index.
• Goa, Kerala, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland were the front runners on the 'Zero' hunger sub-index.
• The states performed badly in the SDG Index in regards to the goals of gender equality (36), in enabling industry, innovation, and infrastructure (44), and in eradicating hunger (48) and in creating sustainable cities and communities (39).

Question:

Who has released a first-of-its-kind Sustainable Development Goals index?
a. Urban Development Ministry
b. National Development Mission
c. NITI Aayog
d. None of the above