Andhra Pradesh stands at third position, Telangana at fifth in NITI Aayog SDG index report

Andhra Pradesh state has a reason to cheer up as it has bagged a third position among the 28 states in the United Nations Sustainable Goals report released by NITI Aayog. AP has stood in the first position in terms of health insurance coverage, clean water and sanitation, with a score of 67 points.

According to the report, Andhra Pradesh has bagged the first position in providing clean drinking water and sanitation as well as peace, justice and strong institutions while it stood second in good health and well-being, climate action as well as economic growth, and in alleviating poverty. It stands sixth at generating clean and affordable energy and 17th position at tackling gender inequality. The state has an overall score of 67 points, which is three points more compared to 2018 rating. Despite the state being at the third position in the 'Zero Poverty' category, it stood at last in 'zero hunger'.

While the neighbouring state Telangana stands at the fifth position among all the states doing better at providing electricity, houses covered under electricity and economic growth. Interestingly, Telangana has scored poor in maintaining gender equality, which is something to be addressed by the Telangana government. As usual, Kerala ranks top and Bihar at the bottom.