New Delhi: Kerala has retained its position as the top performer in the NITI Aayog's Sustainable Development Goal India Index 2023-24. Uttarakhand, with an exact score of 79, also topped the index that evaluates progress of states and union territories on social, economic and environmental parameters. Bihar has been adjudged as the worst performer.

According to the NITI Aayog's SDG India Index 2023-24, India's overall Sustainable Development Goal score increased to 71 in 2023-24, compared to 66 in 2020-21, supported by significant progress on eliminating poverty, providing decent work, economic growth, climate action and life on land.

Among states, the joint top performers are followed by Tamil Nadu (78) and Goa (77). On the contrary, Bihar (57), Jharkhand (62) and Nagaland (63) were the worst performing states in this year's index.

Among the union territories, Chandigarh, Jammu & Kashmir, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Delhi were the top five performers.

"Targetted intervention by the government has helped India achieve significant improvements across 16 goals set under the SDGs," NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam said after releasing the report.

"India is not only on track and ahead of others in achieving most of the targets under SDGs," he said, adding the government hopes to achieve targets before 2030 across some of these goals.

The index shows that out of the 16 goals, India's overall score is below 50 only on the 'Goal 5' (gender equality).

According to the report, all states have shown an improvement in overall score.

Scores for states ranged from 57 to 79 in 2023-24, significant improvement from 66 in 2020-21 and 57 in 2018 (baseline report).

Between 2018 and 2023-24, Uttar Pradesh was the fastest moving state as it increased its score by 25, followed by Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Sikkim.

The fourth edition of SDG India Index measured and tracked national progress of all states and UTs on 113 indicators.

The SDGs, constituted through an unprecedented consultative process, have 17 goals and 169 related targets to be achieved by 2030.

"Among these, goal 13 (climate action) has shown the most substantial improvement with its score increasing from 54 to 67, goal 1 (no poverty) follows closely, with its score rising significantly from 60 to 72." the report said.

The report added that progress underscores the effects of the focused programmatic interventions and schemes of the Union and state governments in improving the lives of citizens.

It said this year, 32 states/UTs have scored between 65 and 99, up from 22 in the 2020-21 edition.

The report said key interventions by the government that helped India improve SDGs include construction of over 4 crore houses under the PM Awas Yojana (PMAY), 11 crore toilets and 2.23 lakh community sanitary complexes in rural areas, giving 10 crore LPG connections under PM Ujjwala Yojana and providing tap water connections in over 14.9 crore households under Jal Jeevan Mission.

Besides, the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana benefitted over 30 crore people, while 80 crore people benefitted under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and direct benefit transfer of Rs 34 lakh crore was made through PM-Jan Dhan accounts.

First launched in December 2018, the index has become the primary tool for monitoring progress on the SDGs in the country and has simultaneously fostered competition among the states and union territories by ranking them on the global goals.

The index, developed in collaboration with the United Nations in India, measures the progress at the national and sub-national level in the country's journey towards meeting the global goals and targets. It has been successful as an advocacy tool to propagate the messages of sustainability, resilience and partnerships as well.