Is Tamil Nadu ranked wrongly in SDG index?
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu may have been ranked third among states under the Sustainable Development Goals Index but officials are not happy with ranking given by the Union government as they feel certain indicators do not reflect the actual status of the state as the data on the Union government site has not been updated. It is learnt that during a high-level meeting, the secretaries have been asked to check with the Centre if the data provided by the State was actually incorporated into the report.
Officials are not happy with the ranking given by Union government for indicators such as social protection benefits under maternity benefit, ratio of rural households covered under the Public Distribution System, pupil-teacher ratio, and maternal mortality. They say the ranking does not reflect the actual status as the State is way ahead of other states in these areas.
Sources said top officials from various departments were requested to update the data in the Union government’s website and the relevant data sources so that the actual status is reflected in the Union government report. This comes as the State is planning to boost its ranking under the targets fixed for 2020. It is leant that the Tamil Nadu e-governance agency has developed a dashboard to look into the targets, goals and composite index of districts for various indicators.
Currently, as per indices brought out by Niti Aayog, the state ranks second in Public Affairs Index, Child Rights Index and India Innovation Index and fourth in Ease of Living Index. Last year, departments were asked to include the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) that aim to build a more prosperous, more equal, and more secure world by 2030 in its ‘policy notes.’
Niti Aayog, the Union government’s premier think-tank, which has been entrusted with the task of coordinating the SDGs, has asked the States to map their schemes, including Centrally sponsored schemes, which relate to sustainable development goals and its target. Sources indicated that all secretaries of various departments of the State have been asked by the state planning department to include the SDGs in the policy note as part of capacity development initiative mooted by the Central planning agency. The 17 SDGs and 169 targets are part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by 193 member-states at the UN General Assembly Summit in September 2015, which came into effect on January 1, 2016.
17sustainable development goals were given to government departments last year to build a more prosperous world by 2030
2020 is the year by which the government plans to boost its ranking under the sustainable development goals index