GUWAHATI: Assam is among the worst performers in the third edition (2021) of Niti Aayog's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) index which was unveiled on Thursday, June 3.
The composite SDG score of Assam stands at 57 while India's average score is at 66.
India’s overall score across sustainable development goals improved marginally by six points from 60 in 2019 to 66 in 2021 driven by country-wide improvement across clean water and sanitation (Goal 6) and affordable and clean energy (Goal 7), NITI Aayog said in its SDG India Index unveiled on Thursday, June 3.
As per the index, Kerala retained its rank as the top state with a score of 75. Both Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu took the second spot with a score of 74.
Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam were the worst performing States in this year's India index.
“Mizoram, Haryana and Uttarakhand are the top gainers in 2020–21 in terms of improvement in score from 2019, with an increase of 12, 10 and 8 points, respectively,” NITI Aayog said in a statement.
First launched in December 2018, the index has become the primary tool for monitoring progress on the SDGs in the country and has simultaneously fostered competition among the states and union territories by ranking them on the global goals.
The index, developed in collaboration with the United Nations in India, measures the progress at the national and sub-national level in the country's journey towards meeting the global goals and targets and has been successful as an advocacy tool to propagate the messages of sustainability, resilience, and partnerships, as well.
