AP ranks top in health insurance, clean water & sanitation: SDG 2019

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh finished among the ‘frontrunner’ states with a creditable third position in the latest United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 2019) report by Niti Aayog.

The state stood no.1 in some of the indicators which include health insurance coverage, clean water and sanitation. Telangana stands at fifth place. Overall, Andhra Pradesh scored 67 out of 100 points which marginally qualifies it as a frontrunning state among all 28 states. AP’s SDG score comparatively stands higher than the national average of 60. The state also improved on its overall score by three points compared to 2018 when it was 64 qualifying it as just a ‘performer’.

On the other hand, Telangana scored well in economic growth and decent work while ranking poorly in gender equality. Interestingly, despite being a combined state once, there are certain contrast ratings between both the states as AP still lacks a concrete capital city. Some of the aspects Telangana scored over AP includes: wards with 100% door-to-door waste collection; births registered; and population covered under Aadhaar and households electrified.

Of the 16 SDG indicators, AP is graded as a ‘frontrunner’ state in 11 indicators, two categories as ‘performer’ and three cases as ‘aspirant’ which is the lowest grade. AP also stands second place in terms of climate action, life below water — marine ecosystems (compared to nine coastal states in India), after Karnataka. AP stands third in terms of ‘no poverty’ with a score of 69 points.

Each indicator has some sub-indicators in which there are contrasting ratings given by the SDG report. Some of the major improvements that the state witnessed under these sub-indicators include: internet subscribers, mobile tele density, habitations connected by all-weather roads under PMGSY, houses completed under PMAY, wards with 100% door-to-door waste collection, waste processed, sex ratio at birth and districts verified to be ODF.

In terms of the sub-indicators, AP’s highest score of 96 comes with clean water and sanitation. The second indicator in which AP scored well is affordable clean energy and peace, justice and strong institutions. Conversely, AP stands amongst the worst in ‘zero hunger’ criteria despite standing second in agriculture productivity as food wastage is cited as a ‘major concern' in the report.

Source: The Times of India