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Dimapur, Dec. 20 (EMN): Nagaland is among the top three states in the country showing considerable growth in ‘environmental quality’, according to the Social Progress Index (SPI) released on Tuesday.
The report titled ‘Social Progress Index: States and Districts of India’ released by Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, Chairman, Bibek Debroy, stated that the top three states were Mizoram, Nagaland, and Meghalaya -- all from north-east region.
Overall, 18 out of 36 states/UTs scored above the average sub-pillar score, i.e. 56.08.
Mizoram had the highest score, i.e. 85.80, followed by Nagaland (76.73), Meghalaya (75.51) and Lakshadweep (72.38), while Rajasthan scored the lowest, 32.33.
Mizoram, it said, registered forest coverage of 84.53%, and its groundwater withdrawal was only 3.81%, with only about 1.66% of the sources being above permissible limits for chemical contaminants and 2.07% of the sources being above permissible limits for bacterial contaminants.
For sulphur dioxide (So2) , Mizoram and Nagaland had an annual average concentration of 2 μg/m3 compared to the maximum annual limit of 50 μg/m3, while for nitrogen dixoide (No2), Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, and Sikkim had an annual average concentration of 6 μg/m3 compared to the maximum annual limit of 40 μg/m3. Only Delhi had a No2 concentration above the annual limit i.e. 61.
Puducherry, Lakshadweep and Goa emerged as best-performing among all states and Union Territories in the SPI, while Jharkhand and Bihar as worst, the report stated.
Meanwhile, Aizawl (Mizoram), Solan (Himachal Pradesh) and Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) emerged as the top three best-performing districts.
According to the report, Puducherry had the highest SPI score of 65.99 in the country, attributable to its remarkable performance across components like personal freedom and choice, shelter, and water and sanitation.
Lakshadweep and Goa closely follow it with scores of 65.89 and 65.53, respectively, it added.
As per the report, Jharkhand and Bihar scored the lowest, 43.95 and 44.47, respectively.
In terms of basic human needs, Goa, Puducherry, Lakshadweep and Chandigarh were the top four states with the best performance in water and sanitation and shelter as compared to other states and union territories.
In terms of shelter and personal safety, Chandigarh and Nagaland emerged as the front-runners.
On the basis of access to basic knowledge, the report said Punjab has the highest component score of 62.92, while Delhi has topped the list for access to information and communication with a score of 71.30.
The report ranks 36 states/Union Territories and 707 districts of India based on their performance across various social progress indicators in terms of access to education, healthcare, water and sanitation, exercising personal freedom and choice, ensuring shelter, personal safety and quality environment for people.
It pointed out that only 27 out of 112 districts under the Aspirational District Programme (ADP) have scored above the national average on the Social Progress Index.
Among these 27 districts, only five have ranked in top 100 districts.
SPI assesses the performance of states and districts on three dimensions of social progress -- basic human needs, foundations of wellbeing and opportunity.
It may be mentioned that India’s aggregate Social Progress Index score of 60.19 in 2022 is slightly lower than the world average of 65.24. (With inputs from PTI)