Sustainable Development Goals
Sustainable Development Goals
India has reaffirmed its commitment to implementing the SDGs by utilizing nationally defined indicators that reflect the country’s unique priorities and developmental needs. In this regard, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has developed the National Indicator Framework (NIF) for SDGs in consultation with concerned Ministries/ Departments, UN Agencies and other stakeholders to facilitate monitoring of the SDGs at national level. In pursuit of integrating the SDGs into national and sub-national policies and programmes, NITI Aayog has aligned the SDGs with centrally sponsored schemes across various Central Ministries and Departments. To further this vision, the Government of India has launched a series of nationwide welfare and developmental programs, guided by its overarching commitment to “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas” in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals’ motto of “Leaving No One Behind.”
States/UTs hold the primary responsibility for the follow-up and review of progress in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the state, district, and local government levels. To effectively track their achievements, States are encouraged to develop their own State Indicator Frameworks (SIFs), as per their specific developmental priorities, data needs, infrastructure, and resource availability. In recognition of this, MoSPI has been actively extending technical assistance to States and UTs in the formulation, review, and refinement of SDG monitoring frameworks at the sub-national level. In this endeavor, in 2019, the Ministry formulated and circulated Guidelines to the States/UTs for crafting their State/UT level monitoring framework. The guideline was subsequently updated in March 2022 as part of the report titled “Guidance on Monitoring Framework on SDGs at the Sub-national Level.”
SDG India Index & Dashboard released by NITI Aayog, monitors the performance of States/Union Territories (UTs), benchmarking them based on their overall achievements across various goals. The Index underscores the varying levels of progress and challenges among States and Union Territories in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The fourth edition of SDG India Index was released in 2023. According to the SDG India Index Report 2023-24 released by NITI Aayog, the country’s overall score has improved from 66 in 2020-21 to 71 in 2023-24. The State/UT-wise progress on SDGs are in public domain and can be accessed at https://www.niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2024-07/SDG_India_Index_2023-24.pdf.
MoSPI has circulated a National Meta Data Structure (NMDS) designed with the objective that data and information are uniformly represented, provide clarity on the data sources, collection methods and enhance discoverability of datasets. It is to bring in improved understanding of various data sets in public domain such as census, surveys, administrative and those from other sources.
Also, MoSPI has circulated the Statistical Quality Assessment Framework (SQAF) which aims to bring in improvement in the National Statistical System by laying down quality parameters and corresponding good practices for statistical processes and products. The framework provides a self-assessment kit for assessing the quality of statistical products and processes by diagnosing the areas of its strength and weaknesses.
This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation; Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Planning and Minister of State in the Ministry of Culture, Rao Inderjit Singh, in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.