BHUBANESWAR: The State government on Monday expressed its disagreement with the NITI Aayog's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Index 2020-21 stating that Odisha’s performance in a number of areas was not properly reflected in the report.
Pointing out 'data discrepancy' in performance of many indicators during an interaction with NITI Aayog advisory team here, Chief Secretary Suresh Mahapatra said the outcomes of the State schemes like Mamata, Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana, universal health assurance, rural and urban housing, State food security scheme and State's performance grading index (PGI) score in education should also be taken into account while assessing the SDG performance of Odisha.
Had the outcomes of both the State and Central schemes been taken into consideration properly, Odisha’s score in Goal-1 would have raised to 50 instead of 41, he told the team. Similarly, in Goal-2 and Goal-9, the State’s score would have gone up to 56 and 48 respectively instead of the current score of 45 and 46 in the report.
The team comprising Advisor (SDGs, Rural Development) Sanyukta Samaddar, SDG Officer Alen John Samuel and senior consultant Sundar Narayan Mishra made a presentation of the SDG India Index and dashboard at a high-level meeting here chaired by the Chief Secretary.
Sensitising the team on outcome-based data from the field, the Chief Secretary emphasised capturing of ground-level outcomes of all developmental interventions. He directed to form seven thematic groups under the chairmanship of Additional Chief Secretaries and Principal Secretaries to spearhead the SDG vision and bring synergy in implementation of the work plan.
Development Commissioner Pradeep Jena said a separate project management unit (PMU) will be set up in Planning and Convergence department for planning, monitoring and coordination of the work plan for achievement of SDG goals in a time-bound manner.
The Chief Secretary said the government will work in close coordination with the NITI Aayog team to improve the performance scores of the SDGs.
The State slipped four places in the SDG rankings from 15th to 19th place. Though the composite score has improved from 58 to 61, Odisha remains among bottom five states along with Nagaland and Chhattisgarh.
Action plan
Formation of seven thematic groups to achieve SDG vision
Capturing of ground-level outcomes of all developmental interventions
A project management unit will be set up