NITI Aayog on Monday released the second edition of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) India Index, which comprehensively documents the progress made by India’s States and Union Territories towards achieving the 2030 SDG targets.

The SDG India Index—which has been developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), United Nations in India, and Global Green Growth Institute—was launched by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar.

At the launch, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar said, ‘This government, led by Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will not leave any stone unturned to make sure India achieves Agenda 2030.There is commendable traction and no complacency.

NITI Aayog has committed itself to building capacities and monitoring progress at the state level. Close coordination with the states over the next 5 years will further accelerate SDG localization and ensure greater improvement.’

‘In 2020, the world enters the final decade for achieving the SDGs—the ‘Decade for Action’. And the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change tells us that we have 12 years left to save the planet from the worst effects of climate change. So, the time to act is now.,’ said UN Resident Coordinator Renata Dessallien.

He added the SDG India Index 2.0 and the dashboard enables India to both track and encourage accelerated progress to meet the SDGs across all its States and Union Territories

India’s composite score has improved from 57 in 2018 to 60 in 2019, thereby showing noticeable progress.

The world is now in the fifth year of the SDG era. India’s National Development Agenda is mirrored in the SDGs. India’s progress in the global Goals is crucial for the world as the country is home to about one-sixth of the world’s population.

The SDG India Index 2019 tracks progress of all States and UTs on 100 indicators drawn from the MoSPI’s National Indicator Framework (NIF).

The process of selection of these indicators included multiple consultations with Union ministries/departments and States/UTs.

The SDG India Index 2019 is more robust than the first edition on account of wider coverage of goals, targets, and indicators with greater alignment with the NIF.

The Index spans 16 out of 17 SDGs with a qualitative assessment on Goal 17. This marks an improvement over the 2018 Index, which covered only 13 goals.

Additionally, this year, the SDG India Indexreport has a new section on profiles of all 37 States and UTs, which will be very useful to analyse their performance on all goals in a lucid manner.

NITI Aayog has the twin mandate to oversee the implementation of SDGs in the country and promote competitive and cooperative federalism among States and UTs.

The SDG India Index acts as a bridge between these mandates, aligning the SDGs with the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s clarion call of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, which embodies the five Ps of the global SDG movement: people, planet, prosperity, partnership and peace.