Diagnostic mirror of SDGs for Northeast

The second edition of the “North Eastern Region SDG Index 2023-24” released by the NITI Aayog, recording notable progress over the first edition, is reflective of the push for SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) localisation in the region. Ending disparities among the districts within a state remains the key challenge to realising the objective behind specially monitoring the district-level performance separately for the region. Top-performing districts have set the benchmark for SDG achievement against targets in respect of 84 different indicators of sustainable development. A key finding of the latest edition of the NER SDG Index is that 85% of the total 131 districts in the region now fall in the frontrunner category, which marks remarkable progress from 62% in 2021-22. Significant improvements have been observed in the indicators linked to the National Family Health Survey in sectors such as access to clean cooking fuel, housing, electricity, sanitation, drinking water, bank accounts, child and maternal health services, schooling and attendance, birth registration, unmet need for family planning, and health insurance, among others, the report highlights. The region catching up with the advanced states is a challenging task. Partition fallout and decades of neglect in infrastructure and connectivity stalled the progress across the region compared to the rest of the country. Development policies for the region and the framework of implementation of national flagship schemes receiving special attention of various central ministries and departments is a pragmatic approach to compensate the people of the region for the geographic isolation and disparities in growth. Viewed from the same development perspective, creating a diagnostic mirror of SDGs exclusively for the region is a nuanced and timely intervention to help the Northeastern states monitor the progress toward achieving the goals. The region achieving the SDG goals is critical to India achieving the goals by 2030. If the region lags behind in respect of different SDG indicators, then it will also drag the national score in respect of those indicators. The wide gap in scores between the districts figuring among the top ten and those in the bottom is reflective of district-level challenges in SDG goals that remained unaddressed or were not addressed in the manner they should have been. While good scores in respect of some indicators are encouraging, the objective of the NER SDG Index is to hold up a mirror on indicators with poor scores, which need urgent attention from policymakers, executives, and society. The uniqueness of the region lies in the diversity in language and culture, with different and rich traditional knowledge systems that are intricately linked with geographies and natural landscapes and the demography of different places in the region. An overarching development approach for improving the SDGs will not work and may end up posing an extinction threat to some of the traditional knowledge on agriculture, nature, climate, disaster management, biodiversity conservation, etc., the preservation of which is vital to sustain growth in the long run. Hyperlocal monitoring of SDG achievements within the same districts, therefore, is essential to ensure that marginalised communities are not left behind and innovative strategies are adopted for their inclusion in the development process, particularly for access to health and education, financial inclusion and digital literacy, doubling farmers’ income, marketing linkage, credit support, access to safe drinking water, etc. Women belonging to indigenous communities in the region demonstrate social empowerment through participation in some economic activities such as handloom and handicraft, livestock rearing, and marketing of farm produce in addition to household chores. Equal access of women to education and healthcare is crucial for leveraging this social capital of women in the region to strengthen rural economies. Transforming the women Self Help Groups into powerful social institutions instead of making them dependent on government grants and subsidies can empower women to play decisive role in policymaking and implementation in the region. The Index scores for Assam districts show that the state has many areas that need focused attention to improve the SDG indices before the disparity further widens and makes it difficult to bridge the gap. Even while using the NER Index as the base for setting new development priorities and goals, the states in the region constantly referring to indices of advanced states is of paramount importance to set ambitious goals and required budgetary allocations and determine the approach to catch up with those states. The states building capacities for better implementation of development projects, programmes and schemes is an area that figures quite often in development discourse but is yet to be translated into action. Funds remaining unutilised or underutilised in the region is a persistent problem that needs to be addressed on a priority basis with the desired goal of making every single district figure in the “achiever” category in SDG goals. The fragile biodiversity of the region is increasingly exposed to climate change impact; the achievement of SDG goals is no longer a choice but an urgent necessity.