Nagaland shows considerable growth in ‘environmental quality’ | Popgen Tech

Dimapur, December 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 ‘Index of Social Progress: States and Districts in India’ released by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, Chairman Bibek Debroy, stated that the top three states are Mizoram, Nagaland, and Meghalaya – all from regional northeast

Overall, 18 out of 36 states/UTs scored above the mean 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, he said, registered forest protection of 84.53%, and its groundwater withdrawal was only 3.81%, and only about 1.66% of the sources were above the acceptable limit for chemical contaminants and 2.07% of the sources were more higher than acceptable limits for bacterial contaminants.

For sulfur dioxide (So2), Mizoram and Nagaland had an average annual concentration of 2 μg/m3 compared to the maximum annual limit of 50 μg/m3, while for nitrogen dioxide (No2), Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, and Sikkim had a annual average concentration of 6 μg / m3 compared to the maximum annual limit of 40 μg / m3. Only Delhi had a concentration of No2 higher than the annual limit ie 61.

Puducherry, Lakshadweep and Goa emerged as the best performers among all the states and Union territories in the SPI, while Jharkhand and Bihar as the 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, due to its remarkable performance across elements such as personal freedom and choice, shelter, and water and sanitation.

Lakshadweep and Goa closely followed it with scores of 65.89 and 65.53, respectively, he added.

According to 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 frontrunners.

On the basis of access to basic knowledge, the report said Punjab has the highest component score of 62.92, while Delhi 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 in India according to their performance across various indicators of social progress in terms of access to education, health care, water and sanitation, exercise of personal freedom and choice, ensuring shelter, personal security and adequate environmental quality for people.

He pointed out that only 27 out of 112 districts under the Aspirational District Program (ADP) scored above the national average on the Social Progress Index.

Among these 27 districts, only five are ranked in the top 100 districts.

SPI assesses the performance of states and districts on three dimensions of social progress — basic human needs, foundation of well-being and opportunity.

It can be mentioned that the total score of the Social Progress Index of 60.19 in 2022 is slightly lower than the global average of 65.24. (With inputs from PTI)