Chandigarh emerged as the top Union Territory with 79 points in the SDG India Index 2020–21, which was released by Niti Ayog on Thursday and is developed in collaboration with the United Nations India to track the progress of all states and Union territories (UT) towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals.
The all India average is 66, an improvement of six points from the 2019 score of 60. The SDGs are a blueprint for present and future peace and prosperity of 17 goals laid down by the United Nations. These are to be acted on by nations big and small; developed and developing as global partners.
On the “affordable and clean energy and reduce inequalities” front, the score of the city was a prefect 100, according to the SDG Index report. The overall performance of Chandigarh improved to some extent from 70 in 2019 to 79 in 2020.
Chandigarh was followed by Delhi, Puducherry and Lakshadweep (68), Andaman & Nicobar (67), J&K and Ladakh (66), and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu (62) in the list of top UTs.
After Kerala, the top performing states are Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu with 74 points; Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka and Uttarakhand with 72 points; Sikkim with 71 points and Maharashtra with 70 points.
Despite emerging on top, data showed that Chandigarh has slipped in meeting the index goals of industry, innovation and infrastructure, and gender equality. As per data, 95.2 was the rate of crimes against women per 1,00,000 female population in Chandigarh. The data further said that at least 32.78 per lakh women complained of having experienced cruelty/physical violence by their husbands, or their relatives during the year in Chandigarh.
The worst performing state is Bihar with 52 points, followed by Jharkhand with 56 and Assam with 57 points. Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have 60 points while Chattisgarh, Nagaland and Odisha have 61 points.
