Source: North Eastern Region District SDG Index Baseline Report 2021-22 and Report 2023–24, NITI Aayog.
Mokokchung, Kohima, & Dimapur feature in top 10
Morung Express News
Dimapur | July 8
In what could be seen as welcome news for those at the helm of affairs, three districts of Nagaland have made it into the top 10 of the second edition of the North Eastern Region (NER) District Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Index Report (2023–24), released by NITI Aayog on July 7.
With a composite score of 78.43, Mokokchung ranked 4th among the 121 districts from the Northeast assessed in the Index.
Nagaland’s capital Kohima was ranked 6th with a score of 76.93, while the commercial capital Dimapur (76.29) was placed at 10th.
This marks a significant improvement from the first ranking in 2021, when Nagaland’s highest-ranked district Kohima stood at 70 out of 103 districts. At the time, Dimapur was ranked 76th and Mokokchung 85th.
However, the scenario has reversed positively in the latest edition of the Index.
Alongside the top three, districts such as Phek (25th), Longleng (28th), Peren (34th), and Wokha (44th) also featured in the top 50.
Meanwhile, five districts viz. Phek, Mon, Tuensang, Zunheboto, and Kiphire featured in the bottom 10 in the previous edition, with Kiphire ranked the lowest among all NE districts at 103.
In the 2023–24 Index, Kiphire has improved to 98th, overtaking Tuensang (105th) and Zunheboto (110th).
The districts of Chümoukedima, Niuland, Shamator, Tseminyu, and Noklak were not assessed in the 2023–24 Index. The data also showed that all districts in Nagaland were ranked in the ‘Front Runner’ category, except Tuensang and Zunheboto.
Overall NE outlook
The composite scores for the 121 districts ranged from 58.71 in Longding, Arunachal Pradesh, to 81.43 in Hnahthial, Mizoram. In the Index Districts are categorised into four categories: i) Achiever – Score of 100 (targets achieved for identified indicators); ii) Front Runner – Score between 65 and 99; iii) Performer – Score between 50 and 65; iv) Aspirant – Score below 50.
Apart from the top rank, Mizoram’s Champhai district was placed second, followed by Gomati district in Tripura. West Tripura secured the fifth position, while South Tripura was ranked seventh. Gangtok in Sikkim and Kolasib in Mizoram were placed eighth and ninth, respectively.
The bottom 10 districts, starting from the lowest rank, included Longding (Arunachal Pradesh), Kamle (Arunachal Pradesh), Pherzawl (Manipur), South Salmara-Mankachar (Assam), Tirap (Arunachal Pradesh), Siang (Arunachal Pradesh), Tamenglong (Manipur), East Jaintia Hills (Meghalaya), Anjaw (Arunachal Pradesh), and Pakke Kessang (Arunachal Pradesh).
NER SDG Index
The Index is developed by NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MoDoNER), with technical support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Building on the momentum of its first edition released on August 26, 2021, the Index measures the performance of districts across the eight North Eastern states on the SDGs, an official release informed.
The SDGs are a set of 17 global goals adopted by the United Nations in 2015, to be achieved by 2030. These goals cover a broad range of development issues from poverty eradication and equal opportunities to health, education, environmental sustainability, and responsible consumption and production. However, SDG-14 (Life Below Water) is not included in the NER District SDG Index.
