By Bhagirathi Panda
This write-up is essentially a situational analysis of the North Eastern Region (NER)of India vis-à-vis the country with regard to the SDG index and its different dimensions based on the report of NITI Aayog’s SDG India Index & Dashboard 2020-21.
Ever since the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, countries across the world in general and developing countries in particular are making continuous efforts to make visible progress in its 17 proclaimed goals. The SDGs are the outcome of a protracted and broad-based engagement and consultative process with more than 100 national governments and millions of citizens from across the world. Post adoption of the SDG framework, there has been a revival of developmentalism mainly in the developing world. This has led to monitoring of countries every year by international developmental agencies including self-monitoring by individual countries through development of explicit methodology based on robust data. NITI Aayog of India started coming out with its yearly comprehensive SDG index report from the year 2018. This has generated a lot of interest among provincial governments, development practitioners and academicians in our country to examine the sustainable development situation as well as study the incremental achievements of every state with respect to SDGs and its various dimension goals. It has also unleashed healthy competition among the states to improve their status in the overall SDG index and its different dimensions. This write-up is essentially a situational analysis of the North Eastern Region (NER)of India vis-à-vis the country with regard to the SDG index and its different dimensions based on the report of NITI Aayog’s SDG India Index & Dashboard 2020-21. Such a comparative analysis is having its implications for all the relevant stakeholders working in the development space in this region. Further, this may also help our provincial governments to prioritise their development agenda and devise appropriate policy measures.
SDG Index 2021 and the NER.
SDG Index scores are in the range of 0-100. The overall SDG index score for the country is 66. In comparison, out of the 8 states in the NER, 6 are having index scores less than the Country’s average. These six states are Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, and Tripura having index scores of 57, 60, 60, 61, 64 and 65 respectively. Two states i.e., Mizoram and Sikkim having index scores of 68 and 71 respectively are better off compared to the country as a whole. In terms of individual states, Assam (the largest economy in the region) ranks lower than the country in 13 of the 15 SDG dimensions. This is a serious concern for the region. Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura, Manipur, and Nagaland rank lower than the country in 10, 9,9, 8 and 8 SDG dimensions respectively. This clearly shows that the NER is a comparative laggard when it comes to realisation of sustainable development.
Individual SDG Dimensions and the NER
The SDG report of NITI Aayog also provides index score for the country as a whole and various states and UTs on 17 individual SDG dimensions. Two of the SDG dimensions i.e. Life Below Water (goal No 14) and Partnerships to Achieve the Goal(Goal No 17) have not been considered for the NER. Hence, the scores for the NER are provided for 15 SDG dimensions. These 15 goals are: Goal 1: No Poverty, Goal 2: Zero Hunger, Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being, Goal 4: Quality Education, Goal 5: Gender Equality, Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy, Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Goal 10: Reduced Inequality, Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, Goal 13: Climate Action, Goal 15: Life on Land and Goal 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions. When we position the individual states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura, Manipur and Nagaland , they rank lower than the country in 13, 10,9,9, 8 and 8 numbers of these SDG dimensions respectively. It means out of 8 states in NER, 6 are worse compared to the country in majority of the SDG dimensions. In one of the most important dimensions of SDG i.e. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (Goal No 9), all the 8 North-eastern states rank lower than the country. This dimension score is the most important one when it comes to creating wealth and employment in the region. Next to it, are the SDG dimensions of Good Health and Well-being(Goal No 3) and Sustainable Cities and Communities(Goal No 11). Here 7 of the states rank lower than the country’s average. In the dimension of Decent Work and Economic Development (Goal No 8), 6 of the states lag behind the nation. With respect to the SDG dimensions of Quality Education (Goal No 4) and Peace and Justice, Strong Institutions (Goal No 16), 5 of the states are below the country. Similarly, in SDG Dimensions of Gender Equality (Goal No 5), Clean Water and Sanitation(Goal no 6), Affordable and Clean Energy(Goal No 7), Reduced Inequality(Goal No 10) and Life on land(Goal No 15) , 50% of the states in the region rank lower than the nation’s average.
Some other Relevant Key Indicators of Development
Indicators like percentage share of surfaced road to total road length, infant mortality rate(IMR), percentage of institutional delivery and gross enrolment ratio(GER) in higher education are related to sustainable development. The percentage share of surfaced road to total road length for the country as a whole is 72 (Basic Road Statistics, Government of India, 2021) . In the NER, the share of surfaced road to total road length in all the states except Sikkim is lower than the country( Assam 23.1, Meghalaya 45, Nagaland 49.1 , Manipur 56.3, Tripura 61.2, Arunachal 63.3 , Mizoram 66.9 and Sikkim 76.5). The region has done reasonably well in IMR. Except, two states i.e. Assam and Meghalaya, the other six states are having better IMR than the country(Economic Survey, GOI, 2021-22). However, in another important indicator of health i.e., institutional delivery, the region does poorly. Six of its states i.e., Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh are having institutional delivery statistics which are worse than the country’s average of 79. With respect to GER in higher education, 5 of the states in the region i.e., Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura rank below the national average.
The Story of ‘The Happening North-East’
Amidst some of the relatively disappointing situations in the development space in the region, there are some positives happening particularly in the area of infrastructure. The region is experiencing large scale development programmes in road connectivity, air connectivity, rail connectivity, digital connectivity, and water connectivity. Budgetary allocation for expansion of road connectivity has increased by 285% over the period 2014-15 to 2021-22. Air connectivity has recently got and currently receiving a big drive under the UDAN Scheme. Under this scheme, 43 Air connectivity projects have either been completed or undergoing. Considerable progress is being made with respect to digital and water connectivity.
Epilogue
The story of the NER in its attainment of the benchmarked global SDG dimensions vis a vis the country is a relative underachievement. Sustainable Development requires, inter alia, sustainable wealth and job creation. Promotion of the institution of ‘entrepreneurship’ is at the heart of the development agenda of the region. The traditional hypothesis of capital deficiency being the prime factor of underdevelopment of NER is redundant now. The region has enough capital for investment as reflected in the low credit to deposit ratio(CD ratio) of commercial banks. Progression and critical actualization of entrepreneurship in development practice fundamentally requires three things-critical infrastructure, innovations, and institutions. In the context of the NER, the last one i.e., ‘Institutions’ assumes immediate as well as long term significance. Institutions here refer to both the formal institution of Government (Government and Governance) and the informal institution of societal and community values, practices, outlooks etc. Institutions to be critical enablers of sustainable development require reasonable convergence of the four important establishment spaces in development i.e., the Government, Market, Community and Civil Society. The responsibility of bringing this much needed convergence primarily, if not entirely, depends on the Government.
(The author is a Professor, in the Department of Economics, NEHU)