SHILLONG, Aug 28: The recent continuous evaluation of districts of the North Eastern region on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) released on August 26, has once again indicted Meghalaya on some of the 16 indices.
The 16 indices include (1) No poverty (2) Zero hunger (3) Good health & well-being (4) Quality Education (5) Gender Equality (6) Clean water & sanitation (7) Affordable and clean energy (8) Decent work and economic growth (9) Industry, innovation and infrastructure (10) Reduced inequalities (11) Sustainable cities and communities (12) Responsible consumption & production (13) Climate action (14) Life below water (not applicable to North Eastern states) (15) Life on land (16) Peace justice and strong institutions.
NITI Aayog has used four marking standards with the worst performing being marked Aspirant (0-49), Performers (50-64), Front Runners (65-99) Achievers (100). Sikkim Tripura and Mizoram have done consistently well from among the 8 states.
In terms of points allotted, Sikkim scored between 71.87 and 75.87, Tripura between 71.93 and 75.73, Mizoram between 63.40 and 74.87, Manipur: between 64.93 and 72.13, Assam: between 62.67 and 71.73, Arunachal Pradesh between 55.60 and 68.87, Meghalaya between 56.87 and 66.27 and Nagaland between 53.00 and 64.07. Meghalaya stands 7th and scores just above Nagaland.
There are 64 districts in the front runner category, and 39 districts 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. The evaluation marks the highest and lowest districts of each state.
In Meghalaya, East Khasi Hills is highest at 57th and North Garo Hills is lowest at 98th.
Meghalaya has fared poorly on Goal 3 – Good health and well-being with marking of 63-64 mainly because some of the districts are under-achievers.
South West Khasi Hills ranked at the bottom of the heap at 103/103 districts and scored only 31 points.
East Jaintia Hills ranked 102/103 scoring 32 points while West Jaintia Hills was placed 101/103 and scored 40 points.
What has brought Meghalaya’s ranking so low in health and well-being of infant and maternal mortality which continue to be high in nearly all districts.
In Goal No 4: Quality education, as a state Mizoram topped the list followed by Sikkim.
Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills was ranked 25th while South West Garo Hills ranked 98/103.
The marking was for educational infrastructure amongst others and availability of computers in schools.
Meghalaya fares poorly with the percentage of schools having computers ranging from 24.5 % in East Khasi Hills, South Garo Hills a poor 5.34 % and South West Khasi Hills just 7.46 %.
In terms of schools with access to electricity even
East Khasi Hills has only 47.35 % of schools having electricity, North Garo Hills just 13.75%, South Garo Hills with 6% and South West Garo Hills at 6.56 % are the lowest. Without electricity how do schools get into the digital learning process?
On Goal 5- Gender Equality where matrilineal Meghalaya should be scoring high points, the irony is stark.
East Khasi Hills is ranked 95/103 with West Garo Hills faring better at 78/103. South West Garo Hills and South West Khasi Hills were both ranked at 100th. But this ranking is not surprising considering the yardstick for marking were for crimes against women and sexual crimes.
Meghalaya managed to score 100 % on 3 Goals – These are Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth, Goal 10: Reduced inequalities, Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production and Goal 15 : Life on land which includes agriculture, horticulture etc. In the ultimate analysis, Meghalaya has something to cheer about but there are districts that really need to buck up.
What Meghalaya should be worried about is the low representation of women in institutions of governance, a factor that has managed to show it in poor light.
