Two Cheers

Context: India betters score in the latest SDG Index, but methodological tinkering is cause for concern.

Improvements in SDG India Index 2020-21

• Overall SDG score improved from 60 in 2019 to 66 in 2021: Backing on India’s policy push related to clean energy, urban development and health.
• Eradication of poverty and hunger and availability of affordable, clean energy.

Major declines in SDG India Index 2020-21

• In areas of industry, innovation and infrastructure besides decent work and economic growth: Made worse by lockdowns imposed by governments seeking to tackle COVID-19 pandemic.
• Persisting socio-economic and governance disparities:
  • Stark differences between southern and western States on one hand and north-central and eastern States on the other in their performance on SDGs.
  • If left unaddressed, it will exacerbate federal challenges and outcomes, as seen in public health challenges during the second wave across some of the worse-off States.

Methodological issues on measurement of SDGs

• Lack of economic indicators: It drops several economic indicators and gives greater weightage to social equality indicators such as representation of women and people from marginalised communities in legislatures.
• Missed out on capturing the impact of pandemic on wealth inequality:
  • By dropping the well-recognised Gini coefficient measure and growth rate for household expenditure per capita among 40% of rural and urban populations (instead, only the percentage of the population in the lowest two wealth quintiles is used).
  • This could be a significant miss as a UN assessment of the impact of COVID-19 had said that the South Asian region may see rising inequality.

Conclusion: While the better score for India in its endeavour to achieve SDGs will bring some cheer, governments must work on addressing pressing issues such as increased inequality and economic despair.