Significant progress in SDGs, yet challenges remain: Mospi report

Report highlights gains in health, education; gaps remain in wage equality, waste

India has made significant progress in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators but needs to address challenges in certain areas, according to the National Indicator Framework progress report 2024, launched on Saturday on the occasion of Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation's (Mospi's)18th National Statistics Day.

The report presents the time series data on the SDG national indicators based on the data received from the concerned line ministries. It highlights significant gains made in maternal and child health, education, poverty, and climate change since 2015-16.

The National Indicator Framework tracked 290 indicators across 17 SDG goals.

The neonatal mortality ratio has declined to 20 per 1000 live births during 2020 compared with 25 in 2015. Similarly, the share of fully vaccinated children (between 12-23 months of age) increased to 76.6 per cent in 2019-21 from 62 per cent in 2015-16.

On the other hand, the gross enrolment ratio or number of students enrolled as a proportion of the school-age population for higher secondary had risen nearly ten percentage points to 57.6 in 2021-22 from 48.32 in 2015-16.

In terms of decent work and employment opportunities, the total outstanding credit to MSMEs stood at Rs 22.6 trillion in 2022-23 from Rs 12.16 trillion in 2015-16.

However, in certain indicators, the situation has worsened.

The gender wage gap for casual labourers has widened compared to 2017-18. In 2022-23 (July-September), the average wage gap between male and female casual labourers widened to Rs 178, compared with Rs 96 in 2017-18.

Similarly, the amount of hazardous waste generated per capita increased to 9.28 metric tonnes in 2022-23 from 7.19 metric tonnes in 2017-18.

The ministry further indicated that it had taken the initiative towards bridging data gaps in SDG reporting. The report was launched on the occasion of the 18th Statistics Day with the theme of “Use of data for decision-making.”

Speaking at the event, Rajeeva Laxman Karandikar, chairman, National Statistical Commission (NSC), emphasized the need to make the data more accessible and usable and suggested that the ministry's efforts on leveraging information technology for producing data needs to continue.

Meanwhile, secretary Saurabh Garg highlighted the recent initiatives of the ministry for reducing the time lag in survey data like Computer-Aided Personal Interview (CAPI), new surveys, user engagement exercise, and the newly launched e-Sankhyiki portal.