GUWAHATI, August 24: NITI Aayog and the Ministry of DoNER (Development of North Eastern Region) will launch the first edition of the North Eastern Region (NER) District SDG (sustainable development goals) Index Report and Dashboard 2021-22 on August 26.
This inaugural edition is the first of its kind region-wide district SDG index in the country and a milestone in the efforts towards localising the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in 120 districts of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
NITI Aayog vice-chairman, Rajiv Kumar; Union minister of DoNER, G. Kishan Reddy and Union minister of state for DoNER, B. L. Verma will launch the index and dashboard in the presence of top officials of NITI Aayog, DoNER ministry and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), an official statement issued on Tuesday said.
The NER District SDG Index and Dashboard is a collaborative effort of NITI Aayog and the Ministry of DoNER, with technical support from UNDP. It measures the performance of the districts of the eight states of Northeast on the SDGs and their corresponding targets and ranks the districts based on the same.
“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 and shares the common ethos of benchmarking performance and ranking on the SDGs to foster competition among the districts,” the statement said.
The index will facilitate in identifying crucial gaps and inform interventions to fast track progress towards achieving the SDGs in the region and act as a ready reckoner for gauging the progress of districts on the expansive set of the Global Goals on health, education, gender, economic growth, institutions, climate change and environment, among others.
“The NER District SDG Index and Dashboard: Baseline Report 2021-22 has been constructed by NITI Aayog, the nodal agency for SDGs in India, utilising 84 indicators which cover 15 of the Global Goals across 50 targets,” it said.
The construction of the index and the ensuing methodology embody the central objectives of measuring the performance of districts on the SDGs and ranking them; supporting states in identifying areas which require more attention; and promoting healthy competition among them.
“All aspects related to the selection of indicators and computation methodology of the NER District SDG Index and Dashboard followed extensive consultation with all the eight states of the region. States played a crucial role in shaping the index by enriching the feedback process with localised insights and field experience,” the statement said.