Despite the MDA government’s claim that Meghalaya is targeting to become a $10 billion economy in these five years, the report by the NITI Aayog showed otherwise.
Meghalaya is nearly at the bottom of the ranking in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) India Index 2023-2024, the report of which was released by NITI Aayog a few days ago. The latest edition of the SDG India Index tracked progress across all states and Union territories based on 113 indicators.
Among the 28 states in the country, the worst performing states include Bihar which was at the bottom of the ranking with a score of 57 followed by Jharkhand at the 27th rank with a score of 62, Nagaland at 26th rank with a score of 63 and Meghalaya at the 25th position with a score of 63.
The best performers in the ranking from the North East states are Sikkim which was placed at the seventh rank with a score of 76 out of 100, Mizoram at 13th rank with a score of 72, Manipur at 15th rank with a score of 72, Tripura at 16th rank with a score of 71, Assam at 23rd rank with a score of 65 and Arunachal Pradesh at 24th rank with a score of 65.
Among the states, Kerala has clinched the top spot in the rankings for the fourth consecutive time on the NITI Aayog’s SDG Index, sharing the accolade with Uttarakhand as both states secured a score of 79 out of 100. Tamil Nadu secured the third position with a score of 78. This reflected their advancements in achieving the SDGs.
Among the eight Union Territories, Chandigarh was on top of the ranking with a score of 77 out of 100 followed by Jammu and Kashmir at the second spot with a score of 74 and Puducherry at the third rank with a score of 74. Ladakh was at the bottom of the ranking among the Union Territories with a score of 65.
According to the report, Meghalaya’s performance in terms of school infrastructure is very poor as only 20.5 percent of schools have both electricity and drinking water, and only 18.3 percent have computers. Aadhar coverage is below 80 percent in Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, and Nagaland, with Meghalaya at 77.69 percent.
On the SDG 1 Index for ‘no poverty’, and the SDG 2 Index for ‘zero hunger’, Meghalaya remains in the poor category (performer category), with significant challenges in child under-nutrition and maternal anaemia. Further, Meghalaya’s murder rate per lakh population is 2.2, slightly above the national average of 2.1.
This index evaluates states and Union Territories across crucial sectors such as poverty, hunger, education, health, clean water and sanitation, employment, infrastructure, energy, economic growth, gender equality,
The SDG India Index computes goal-wise scores on the 16 SDGs for each State and Union Territory. Overall State and Union Territory scores or Composite Scores are generated from goal-wise scores to measure the aggregate performance of the sub-national unit based on its performance across the 16 SDGs.
These scores range between 0–100, and if a State or Union Territory achieves a score of 100, it signifies it has achieved the targets. The higher the score of a State or Union Territory, the greater the distance covered to the target.
The SDG India Index, introduced in December 2018, has become a pivotal tool for monitoring national progress towards sustainable development goals, fostering healthy competition among states and union territories to achieve global benchmarks.
