North Eastern Region (NER) District SDG Index

North Eastern Region (NER) District SDG Index : Recently, NITI Aayog, in collaboration with the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MoDoNER) and with technical support from UNDP, released the 2nd edition of the North Eastern Region (NER) District SDG Index 2023-24.

o The report assesses district-wise progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across all eight northeastern states of India.

• Key Highlights: 85% of districts showed an increase in their composite SDG scores.

o Scores range from 58.71 (Longding, Arunachal Pradesh) to 81.43 (Hnahthial, Mizoram).

o Top Performing Districts: Hnahthial (Mizoram) emerged as the best-performing district.

- Three districts from Nagaland broke into the Top 10 performers.

o Front Runner States: All districts of Mizoram, Sikkim, and Tripura achieved Front Runner status (score 65–99).

o No districts in the NER fell into the Aspirant (<50) or Achiever (=100) categories.

o Good Health & Well-being (SDG 3): Improved scores in 93 districts.

o Assam saw district-wide improvement in Zero Hunger (SDG 2), Quality Education (SDG 4), Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6), and Decent Work & Economic Growth (SDG 8).

• About NER District SDG Index : A data-driven tool designed to assess and monitor the progress of 121 districts across the eight northeastern states: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura.

o Evaluates district-level performance on selected SDG indicators.

o Modeled after the national SDG India Index methodology developed by NITI Aayog.

o Enables evidence-based policymaking, decentralized planning, and targeted development interventions. Aims to promote inclusive and sustainable development by identifying progress, gaps, and priority areas at the local level.