India is getting building blocks in place at local levels for measuring progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The North Eastern Region (NER) District SDG Index Report and Dashboard 2021-22, which ranked East Sikkim, Gomati and North Tripura as the top three out of 103 districts in eight states in the region on social, economic and environmental parameters, is an important instrument for taking the SDGs from the global to the national to the local level. The index is useful in not only tracking progress at the local level, but also identifying areas requiring more attention, including allocation of more resources.
The first of its kind initiative has been undertaken by NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (M/DoNER). The United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) provided technical support, including data collection at the district level, analysis and compilation of the index.
South Sikkim, South Tripura, West Tripura, Unakoti, Dhalai and Sepahijala in Tripura and Serchhip, Lunglei and Kolasib in Mizoram are the other districts in the top 10 list. While 64 districts, including all districts of Sikkim and Tripura, qualify under the front runner category, 39 districts are ranked under the performer category.
The region comprising eight states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura has recorded remarkable progress on forest cover, wasteland, and wildlife cases (SDG 15- Life on Land). The SDG has been assessed based on indicators related to protecting, restoring and promoting sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainable management of forests, combating desertification, and halting and reversing land degradation and halting biodiversity loss. The progress on this goal is also important because the region is one of the 17 biodiversity hotspots in the world. With about 6% of the geographical area of India, the region accounts for 25% of the country’s forest cover. The region has also fared well on the SDG 6 on Clean Water and Sanitation, which is focused on ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
At the same time, the SDG 9 on Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure needs more attention on indicators like roads, broadband and mobile connectivity. The progress on the goal is measured on indicators related to building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and fostering innovation. The SDG 11 on Sustainable Cities and Communities for making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable; and the SDG 13 on Climate Action for taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts also call for focused attention.
The report tracks progress on 15 of the SDGs across 50 targets and 84 indicators as per the National Indicator Framework (NIF) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation’s (MoSPI), NITI Aayog’s SDG India Index, and the State and District Indicator Frameworks of the North Eastern States.
It is not surprising that the NER District SDG Index & Dashboard is in keeping with the SDG India Index 2020–21 released earlier this year, which had also recorded countrywide progress on Clean Water and Sanitation and decline in progress in industry, innovation and infrastructure. The SDG India Index 2020–21 had ranked Sikkim amongst the top five states in the country, and Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya amongst the worst five performing states.
The government has already been giving special thrust to development in the region by providing central assistance on a 90:10 basis. Non-exempted Union Ministries are required to spend 10% of gross budgetary resources of the central sector and centrally sponsored schemes for the region. A dedicated ministry is in place for working on development initiatives in the region. Obviously more needs to be done by the Centre to accelerate the pace of development in the region. The States, which have already formulated SDG-aligned vision documents and set up SDG cells, also need to step up.
Source: The Times of India
Published on 30 August 2021