NITI Aayog, Government of India hasreleasedthereportofSDG2023- 24 on Friday. In the report, Uttarakhand has met the criteria of SustainableDevelopmentGoalsand securedthefirstpositionintheentire country. The State scored highest marks in the ranking. Keralatoohasemergedas thetop performerStateinNITIAayog’sSDG India Index 2023-24, which evaluatesprogressofstatesandunionterritories on social, economic and environmental parameters, while Biharhasbeenadjudgedastheworst performer.

 

CongratulatingpeopleoftheState, ChiefMinisterPushkarSinghDhami saidthatthisachievementhasbeen achievedwiththe blessings and cooperation ofthe people ofthe state. “Under the dynamic leadership of PrimeMinisterNarendraModi,with the development-oriented efforts of our double engine government, ourStatehasmovedtowardsbecoming a leading State,” he said. Dhami said his Government was continuously moving ahead in the direction of ‘Developed Uttarakhand’ with the co-ordination of ecology and economy.

 

“Our top priority is to establish a transparent system in the State and to achieveall-roundandholisticdevelopment,” the CM added. Among States, Uttarakhand and Keralahaveemergedasjointtopperforming States with a score of 79, followed by Tamil Nadu (78) and Goa(77).Onthecontrary,Bihar(57), Jharkhand (62) and Nagaland (63) were the worst performing states inthis year’s index. Among the UnionTerritories,Chandigarh,JammuandKashmir, Puducherry, Andaman &NicobarIslands and Delhi were thetop five performers. “Targetted intervention by theGovernment has helped Indiaachieve significant improvementsacross16goals setundertheSDGs,”NITI Aayog CEO BVRSubrahmanyamsaidafterreleasingthereport.“Indiaisnotonlyontrackand ahead of others in achievingmost ofthe targetsunder SDGs,”hesaid, adding Government hopes toachieve targets before 2030 acrosssome of these goals. The index shows that out of the16goals,India’soverallscoreisbelow50onlyonthe‘Goal5’(genderequality).