Shimla, Chandigarh top Niti Aayog’s 1st SDG Urban India index. Full list here

As many as 56 urban local bodies have been ranked on 77 SDG indicators related to ending poverty, zero hunger, good health and well being, quality education, gender equality among others.

The index has been prepared by NITI Aayog-GIZ and BMZ , under the umbrella of Indo-German Development Cooperation.

The top ten urban areas 

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh), Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) Chandigarh (Chandigarh), Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), Kochi ( Kerala), Panaji (Goa), Pune (Maharashtra), Tiruchirapalli (Tamil Nadu), Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Nagpur (Maharashtra).

The bottom 10 urban areas 

Faridabad (Haryana), Kolkata (West Bengal), Agra (Uttar Pradesh), Kohima (Nagaland), Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Patna (Bihar), Guwahati (Assam), Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh), Meerut (Uttar Pradesh), Dhanbad (Jharkhand).

The SDG Urban Index and Dashboard rank 56 urban areas 77 SDG indicators across 46 targets of the SDG framework. The data on these indicators have been sourced from official data sources such as NFHS, NCRB, U-DISE, data portals of various ministries, and other government data sources, added the press release.

The index and dashboard will further strengthen SDG localization and institute robust SDG monitoring at the city level. It highlights the strengths and gaps of ULB-level data, monitoring, and reporting systems, as per the press statement.

Tools such as this index and dashboard will contribute to the creation of an ecosystem in which all stakeholders will be equipped to adopt and implement data-driven decision making. This transformative change is quite essential, given the increasing prominence of our cities and urban areas in charting the future of development in India, according to the statement.

“Cities are fast becoming engines of growth. The SDG Urban index and dashboard, a product of an innovative partnership between NITI Aayog and GIZ, will go a long way in instituting a robust SDG monitoring system in our cities, and is a milestone step in our SDG localisation journey,” Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog said during the launch.

With one-third of the journey towards achieving the 2030 Agenda behind us, measuring progress on the SDG in urban areas is critical. On this theme, Sanyukta Samaddar, Nodal Officer (SDG), said that NITI Aayog, “seeks to empower local administrations to adopt a measurement-based approach to decision making. Only if the SDG agenda is adopted by the last mile stakeholders can we hope to achieve the global 2030 Agenda. The SDG Urban Index is one more step towards localising the SDGs further.”

Out of 56 urban areas ranked in the index, 44 are with a population of above one million. 12 are State capitals with a population of less than a million, a press release said.

(With inputs from agncies)