NITI Aayog’s 2020-21 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) India Index detailed the implementation of the United Nations’ SDGs in the country, States and Union Territories (UTs). It gave marks, between 0 and 100 points, to each region. In a significant marker of improvement, no State fared in the ‘Aspirant’ category, the lowest in the index. All the States managed to score above 50 points in SDG implementation, with 13 States featuring in the ‘Performer’ category and 15 in the ‘Front Runner’ category (the second-highest position). There was improvement in the overall performance of the country towards SDG implementation. India stepped into the ‘Front Runner’ category with a score of 66 points, though it dropped two ranks in the ordinal scale. However, our neighbouring countries performed better than us. India did well in implementing SDGs 6,7, 11 and 12, which are ‘clean water and sanitation’, ‘affordable and clean energy’, ‘sustainable cities and communities’, and ‘sustainable consumption and production’, respectively, but did not do well in many others.
Odisha’s good show
While the national ranking dropped, Odisha saw a three-point improvement in its overall score and settled at 61 points. It topped in the implementation of two SDGs — 13 and 14, which are ‘climate action’ and ‘life below water’, respectively. In the ‘climate action’ SDG, which aims to integrate climate change and disaster risk measures with sustainable natural resource management into national development strategies, the State scored 70 points. Its disaster preparedness programme has been recognised multiple times by different UN agencies. Odisha managed to save 120.07 tonnes of CO 2 per 1,000 population, by using LED bulbs, against India’s 28.04 tonnes. In the ‘life below’ water SDG, which aims to conserve oceans, seas and marine resources by preventing marine pollution and illegal fishing practices, Odisha scored 82. The State showed improved shore water quality and saw a 3.19% increase in the area under mangroves. Odisha’s rankings in these two goals come across as a highlight because, as per the Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Report 2021, the Asia-Pacific region showed a decline/regression in its commitment to goals 13 and 14 of the SDGs.
