85% Northeastern districts are top SDG performers, says NITI Aayog

Hnahthial in Mizoram topped the region, followed by Champhal in the same state

The share of districts in the eight Northeastern states — falling under the ‘front runner’ category for achieving sustainable development goals (SDG) — has increased to 85 per cent in 2023-24 from 62 per cent in 2021-22, according to the NITI Aayog.

 

“This signifies the impact of the national flagship schemes coupled with the localisation efforts of states and saturation of benefits through initiatives like the aspirational districts programme,” noted NITI Aayog in its latest ‘Northeastern region district SDG index’ report released on Monday. 

A district is categorised as ‘front runner’ if it has a score between 65 and 99 in the SDG index. If it has a score of between 50 and 64.9, it is categorised as ‘performer’. 

 

Hnahthial district in Mizoram (score of 81.4) topped the region, followed by Champhal district (score of 79.8) in the same state.  

Even as the share of 'front runner' districts improved under all the SDGs, the share of ‘front runner' districts in three SDGs — namely SDG-7 (affordable and clean energy), SDG-10 (reduced inequalities) and SDG-12 (responsible consumption and production) have gone down in 2023-24 compared to 2021-22.  

 

The report also showed that all the districts in three north-eastern states, namely Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura, fell under the ‘front runner’ category.

 

The index is a joint effort of the ministry of development of Northeastern region (MDoNER) and NITI Aayog – with technical support from the United Nations development programme (UNDP).

 

The index is first of its kind progress tracking tool for the Northeastern region as it provides a granular, district level assessment of progress made on the 17 SDGs.  

 

The first edition of the region’s district SDG index was released in August 2021. While the first edition of the index covered 103 of 120 (86 per cent) districts of the region, this edition covers 121 out of 131 (92 per cent) districts.

 

The present edition of the index has 84 indicators. Of the 84 indicators, data for 41 indicators is from various ministries/departments of the Union government and that for 43 indicators is from state sources.