India / Govt releases sustainable development rankings for cities, Shimla gets top rank

New Delhi: Shimla achieved the top spot on the first Sustainable Development Goals Urban Index released by the Centre on Tuesday in an attempt to localise SDGs and ensure progress at the national, state, Union territory and local levels.

The index and dashboard are the result of the collaborative efforts of NITI Aayog-GIZ and BMZ, under the Indo-German Development Cooperation, that assessed 56 cities on 77 SDG indicators.

The list was prepared taking into consideration performance of cities under categories such as poverty, health, education, gender equality, affordable and clean energy and climate action, among others.

“Cities are fast becoming engines of growth. The SDG Urban index and dashboard, a product of an innovative partnership between NITI Aayog and GIZ, will go a long way in instituting a robust SDG monitoring system in our cities, and is a milestone step in our SDG localisation journey,” Rajiv Kumar, NITI Aayog’s vice chairperson, said at the launch event of the sustainable development goals index and dashboard.

Here’s the list of the top 10 and bottom 10 cities on the SDG Urban Index:

Top 10 cities on the SDG Urban Index:

1. Shimla

2. Coimbatore

3. Chandigarh

4. Thiruvananthapuram

5. Kochi

6. Panaji

7. Pune

8. Tiruchirapalli

9. Ahmedabad

10. Nagpur

Bottom 10 cities on the SDG Urban Index:

1. Faridabad

2. Kolkata

3. Agra

4. Kohima

5. Jodhpur

6. Patna

7. Guwahati

8. Itanagar

9. Meerut

10. Dhanbad

The data on these indicators have been sourced from official data sources including the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Unified District Information System for Education (U-DISE), data portals of various ministries, and other government data sources.