NITI Aayog Releases North Eastern Region District SDG Index and Dashboard

Source: PIB (Article 1 and Article 2)

What is the News?

NITI Aayog has released the first edition of the North Eastern Region District SDG Index and Dashboard 2021–22.

About North Eastern Region District SDG Index:

• Developed by: NITI Aayog in collaboration with the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER). The index has been developed with the technical inputs from the United Nations Development Programme.
• Purpose: To measure the performance of the districts of the eight North Eastern States on the Sustainable Development Goals(SDG) and their corresponding targets and ranks the districts based on the same.
  • Eight states include Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura
• Based on: The index is based on NITI Aayog’s SDG India Index –the principal and official tool for monitoring progress on the SDGs at the national and State/ Union Territory levels.
• Indicators used: The index utilizes 84 indicators that cover 15 Sustainable Development Goals(SDG) across 50 targets.

Rankings:

• East Sikkim district ranks first in the index, followed by districts Gomati and North Tripura in the second position.
• Out of the 103 districts considered for the ranking, 64 districts belonged to the Front Runner category while 39 districts were in the Performer category in the composite score and ranking of districts. 
• All districts in Sikkim and Tripura fall in the Front Runner category, and there are no districts in the Aspirant or Achiever categories.

Significance of the index:

1. Firstly, the index is the first of its kind in the country, as it focuses on a specific region.
2. Secondly, the index offers insights into the social, economic, and environmental status of the region and the districts in their march towards achieving the SDGs. 
3. Thirdly, the index will help in evidence-based planning, resource allocation both financial as well as others. It will also help in effective supervision and monitoring of developmental efforts for focused and balanced regional development.