A marker of development

NITI Aayog index suggests progress but also raises questions

The NITI Aayog, the government think tank, has presented a hopeful picture in its latest Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) India Index with the nation’s composite score improving to 71 points (out of 100) from 66 in 2021 and 57 in 2018, the baseline year. The report, which tracks the progress of states and Union Territories (UTs) on 113 indicators aligned with the United Nations’ National Indicator Framework, shows that all states and UTs have improved their SDGs with scores ranging from 57 to 79 against a 42-69 range in 2018. In the broad national rankings, 32 states/UTs made the “front-runner category” (scores of 65 to 95) with 10 new entrants. If no state figures in the “aspirant” or lowest category (a score 0-49), no state figured in the highest (score of 100) either. There has been significant progress on 12 of the 16 goals. The most concerning outlier is gender equality, where the needle has hardly moved since 2019-20; India remains firmly in the aspirant category on this SDG.

The report has linked the improved composite score to government welfare programmes and initiatives. If this is the case, a closer look at the disaggregated data suggests that this assistance has been unevenly distributed. The goal of zero hunger is one example. Though the composite score has improved (from 48 to 52), a wide swathe of “aspirant” scorers cuts through the centre of India, from wealthy Gujarat in the west through to Bihar and parts of the Northeast. On quality education, patches of central, east, and north-east India remain at aspirant levels. All of this suggests that programmes providing access to food or schools and educational institutions do not necessarily translate into satisfactory outcomes in all parts of the country. Both these parameters have a direct bearing on the future quality of India’s population, as does the relatively slow progress on industry innovation and infrastructure.

Some scores, however, appear to be incompatible with lived experience. India gets a lavish score of 83, up from 29 in 2018, on sustainable cities and communities, which is hard to reconcile with the poor quality of life for most people in Indian cities. This parameter appears to have relied on the degree to which bio-hazard and bio-medical waste is treated, which must surely be just one dimension of creating a sustainable city. Similarly, the enormous leaps recorded in affordable and clean energy — most of India gets a 100 per cent score — skew a picture in which India ranks high among the world’s most polluted (read: Fossil fuel emitting) cities and coal does the heavy lifting in power generation.

The NITI Aayog’s SDG report is undoubtedly an invaluable exercise in cooperative federalism, and the evidence of a reduction in multi-dimensional poverty is heartening. But the exercise is essentially an inward-looking, comparative picture of the country’s social and development progress. When measured against global, even Asian, standards, India lags on almost all parameters. In the latest UN Sustainable Development Report, India ranked 109th out of 193 countries. The report stated only 30 per cent of the SDG targets are on track or have been achieved, and there has been limited progress in 40 per cent of the targets and a worsening situation in 30 per cent. Reconciling these varying pictures may require raising the standards on which states are judged to more realistic levels.