Odisha has been placed second among States in the ‘Fastest Movers’ category in the SDG India Index-2019 released by the NITI Aayog in New Delhi.
“Odisha stands second in overall improvement with an increase of 7 points, from 51 to 58. Goal 9 has contributed mostly to the rise with a jump of 40 points. Goals 6 and 7 follow, with an increase of 39 and 27 points, respectively,” the report said.
The significant improvement in Goal 6 was achieved for success of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in eliminating open defecation. Improvement in Goal 7 can be credited to the extensive coverage of LPG for households and saturation of electricity connections. The progress recorded under Goal 9 can be largely attributed to the improvement in rural road coverage and higher mobile and internet penetration.
The report also revealed that Odisha has highest coverage in ‘maternity benefits’ in the country with 72.6 percent of eligible beneficiaries receiving it. Among all States, Odisha saved the highest amount of CO2 (5.4 MtCO2) through distribution of low-cost LED bulbs under the UJALA scheme, it said. However, Odisha has the lowest coverage of households using clean cooking fuel as the figure stands at 32.6 percent, the report said.
