 "Niti Aayog, Niti Aayog CEO")
Niti Aayog (Photo: https://www.niti.gov.in/)
Inequality in India, which includes wealth and social inequality, increased marginally between 2020-21 and 2023-24, according to the latest sustainable development goals (SDGs) report released by the Centre’s think tank Niti Aayog on Friday.
The SDG India Index report, which delves into India’s performance on 17 SDGs outlined by the United Nations (UN), said that India’s composite score in reduction of inequalities went from 71 in 2018 to 67 in 2020-21, and has now fallen to 65 in 2023-24.
In terms of state performance, taking into account all parameters, Uttarakhand and Kerala have been ranked as the best-performing states in SDG. Bihar, Jharkhand, Nagaland and Meghalaya find themselves at the bottom in the “performer” category.
Niti Aayog chief executive officer BVR Subrahmanyam, while releasing the report, said that there is a marginal increase in inequality in India. “It also shows you the distribution of wealth. In large parts of India, there are states where inequalities are high, and it is linked to getting employment at the bottom of the pyramid,” Subrahmanyam said.
“Reduced inequalities”, which is the 10th SDG of the UN, comprises six elements — Gini coefficient, percentage of seats held by women in panchayat raj institutions (PRIs), ratio (in per cent) of female workers to male workers working as professionals and technical workers, rate of total crimes against SCs (per 100,000 SC population), rate of total crimes against STs (per 100,000 ST population), and percentage of SC/ST seats in state Legislative Assemblies.
Gini coefficient measures wealth inequality in the country with scores ranging from 0 (low inequality) to 1 (high inequality). The SDG report uses the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5, 2019–2021, under which the Gini coefficient for India is 0.20.
“Delhi with a Gini coefficient of 0.08 performs the best, while Jharkhand with a coefficient of 0.27 has the most unequal income distribution. Among the UTs, Ladakh has the most unequal income distribution at 0.23,” the SDG report said.
Subrahmanyam also said that the inclusion of Gini coefficient in the inequality metric may have led to the impact on the score.
According to Niti Aayog, India’s composite score across SDGs improved from 66 in 2020-21 to 71 in 2023-24. This includes marked improvements in elimination of poverty (based on the multidimensional poverty index), affordable and clean energy, clean water and sanitation, health and well-being, and sustainable cities and communities.
On the decent work and economic growth parameter, India’s score, after dipping from 65 to 61 in 2020-21, rose to 68 in 2023-24. “The problem is concentrated in a few states — UP, Bihar, MP, West Bengal, and parts of the Northeast. A lot of it is related to labour force participation. In India, labour force participation is not so good in some states. We need to improve on that,” said Subrahmanyam.
According to the think tank, government interventions such as 40 million houses under the PM Awas Yojana (PMAY), 11 million toilets and 223,000 community sanitary complexes in rural areas, 100 million LPG connections under PM Ujjwala Yojana, tap water connections in over 149 million households under Jal Jeevan Mission, 300 million beneficiaries under Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, and coverage of over 800 million people under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) have facilitated the improvement in several SDG indicators.
While India has done well on reduction of multidimensional poverty, the performance ending hunger (as per the UN definition) has been subpar, with a score of 52. This score was 48 in 2018.
“We need improvement in malnourishment, stunting, and body mass index,” the Niti CEO said. He added that the discrepancy between the pace of improvement in poverty elimination and hunger elimination is on account of the fact that the “Zero Hunger” goal of the SDG significantly takes into account the nutrient-richness of the diet, and not just the act of being fed.
First Published: Jul 12 2024 | 9:55 PM IST
