ASKS DEPARTMENTS TO BE MORE AGGRESSIVE IN BOOSTING PERFORMANCE IN OTHER SEGMENTS
CHANDIGARH, JANUARY 1: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday lauded the marked improvement in several key sectors under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in Punjab, while calling for more aggressive efforts to boost performance in others.
Niti Aayog’s ‘SDG Index 2019-20’ report, based on 17 goals covering 100 indicators, showed that the state, under the Captain Amarinder led government, had done exceptionally well in areas like Open Defecation Free (ODF), internet subscribers, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and door to door waste collection, besides showing improvement in the average annual dropout rate at secondary level, according to an official spokesperson.
The State of Punjab ranked 10th position with Index Score 60 among the states against India’s overall score of 57 points in NITI Aayog’s first report ‘SDG Index India 2018’, based on 13 goals covering 62 priority indicators.
The Chief Minister appreciated the constant and effective monitoring by various departments, coupled with field visits senior officers, that had led the state to score 62 points as compared to India’s Index Score of 60 points.
As per the SDG report, Punjab had made remarkable improvement with respect to these indicators: districts verified to Open Defecation Free (ODF) (%) improved from 40.91 to 90.91, internet subscribers (per hundred population) grew from 52.67 to 84.1, homes completed under PMAY (%) improved from 0.74 to 28.12, wards with 100% door to door waste collection(%) went up from 65.82 to 97.45, children under age 5 years stunted (%) declined from 25.7 to 24.3, average annual dropout rate at secondary level (%) came down from 8.86 to 8.6.
However, there were a few indicators where the state’s performance had marginally declined, said the spokesperson. Employment under MGNREGA (%) decreased from 81.63 to 76.12, the sex ratio at birth decreased from 893 to 886, reported cognizable crimes against children (1 lac population) increased from 21 to 24.3.
The Chief Minister, who is regularly monitoring the state’s performance under the indicators envisaged under Sustainable Development Goals, asked the concerned departments to work more zealously to achieve the desired targets and ensure better citizen-centric services.
Notably, Punjab has adopted the United Nations 2030 Development Agenda, with 17 SDGs, 169 Targets and 306 Indicators, with the Chief Minister closely overseeing the planning, implementation and monitoring of the progress to realize Sustainable Development Goals. The State is in the process of preparing 4-Year Strategic Action Plans of all departments. Till now 4-Year Strategic Action Plans of 16 departments have been prepared and approved at the cabinet level.
An Online Monitoring System is also being put in place to regularly evaluate the progress of realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals, which will help the state in improving its outcome, besides evolving appropriate strategies and interventions to bring greater efficiency in its performance.
