Performance of Odisha in achieving the sustainable development goals has increased by ten score points

Bhubaneswar: 21/6/21:The performance of Odisha in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) has increased by ten score points in the year 2020 over the year 2019. This was revealed during a consultation meeting of the State Government with NITI Aayog Advisory Team on SDG Index India 2020-21 held under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra today.

The presentation of SDG India Index Dashboard by Advisor Sanyukta Samaddar showed that Odisha’s SDG performance score increased to 61 in the year 2020 from 51 in 2019. The State ranked Number-1 in SDG -13 relating to action on combating climate change and its impacts. The State also ranked No-1 in SDG-14 relating to conservation and sustainability of the use of the ocean, sea, and marine resources.

Odisha also was ranked as a frontrunner in the achievement of nine number of SDG goals and an aspiring State in the achievement of six number of SDG goals. The state did well in pursuing the Goal-6 relating to clean water and sanitation; Goal-9 relating to investment promotion, innovation and industrial infrastructure; Goal-11 relating to making human settlements inclusive, safe, and resilient; and, Goal-15 relating to protection, restoration, and promotion of the sustainability of terrestrial ecosystems.

Considering the data presented in the meeting by NITI Aayog Team, Mahapatra emphasised on capturing of the ground-level outcomes of all developmental interventions.

Development Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Jena said that Odisha’s performance in a number of areas was not properly reflected in the SDG Report of 2020. Chief Secretary Sri Mahapatra emphasized that the outcomes of the State schemes like MAMATA, Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana, universal health assurance, rural housing, urban housing, State food security scheme, State’s performance grading index ( PGI) score in education, etc should also be taken into account while assessing the SDG performance of the State. Development Commissioner Sri Jena pointed out the “data discrepancy in the performance of many indicators.”

It was pointed out in the meeting that had the outcomes of both State and Central schemes been taken into consideration properly, then Odisha’s score in Goal-1 would have raised to 50 instead of 41. Similarly, in Goal-2 and Goal-9 score of the State would have raised to 56 and 48 respectively instead of the presently counted score of 45 and 46 in the report.

Additional Chief Secretary and Agriculture Production Commissioner Raj Kumar Sharma, Additional Chief Secretary Home Sanjeev Chopra, Additional Chief Secretary Health and Family Welfare Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra, Additional Chief Secretary Forest and Environment Dr. Mona Sharma along with Principal Secretaries and Secretaries of concerned departments participated.