NITI Aayog and the SDG scoreboards, then the ideas under them: limits, the Kuznets curve, the circular economy, and human capital.
TopicPart 1 of 4
Subtopic 5.1: Top Five Ranking Clusters Across Editions
Missing the top five is not the same thing as sitting in a low band.
Starting point
Rank lists invite a different mistake from band lists. A state can be a respectable front-runner and still miss the top five. In both the 2019-20 and the 2020-21 SDG India Index editions, Gujarat was not among the top five. The notes’ consistent top-tier names include Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The questions are written in the negative: which state was not in the top five, and the key is Gujarat.
Do not “correct” that from memory of a later year in which Gujarat’s score improved. The items name 2019-20 and 2020-21. A higher score in a later edition can move a state up the bands, as the previous topic allowed, without rewriting the top-five membership of the earlier editions.
Read the edition in the stem.
For 2019-20 and for 2020-21, Gujarat is the state that was not in the top five.
Keep Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the consistent top tier of the notes.
Do not confuse top five with the front-runner band. A state can be one and not the other.
Do not use a 2023-24 joint lead to answer a 2020 top-five question.
Worked example. Suppose the options are Gujarat, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, and the question asks who was not in the top five in 2020-21. Kerala and the other two are the cluster the notes keep. Gujarat is the exclusion. The same answer is keyed for the 2019-20 list. Two papers, one exclusion.
Memory hook. 2019-20 and 2020-21 top five: Gujarat is the one left out. Himachal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu stay in the top tier.
Further explanation
Top-five lists are sensitive to one indicator and to Union territories, which sometimes enter the same table as states. A careful reading checks whether the question says states only. The items here are keyed on Gujarat’s absence, so the practical revision is the exclusion, not a reconstructed table of all thirty-odd units.
Later editions can and do reshuffle the top. That is why the edition is part of the answer, exactly as with the global rank.
Figure
Top tier and the named exclusion
Consistently in the top tier
Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, across the editions the notes describe.
Not in the top five
Gujarat, in both 2019-20 and 2020-21.
Concept
Original notes
Subtopic 5.1: Top Five Ranking Clusters Across Editions
Competitive federalism has generated close competition among top-performing states in India. Tracking the top clusters reveals shifts across editions:
2019-20 Top 5: 1. Kerala (70), 2. Himachal Pradesh (69), 3. Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu (67 each). Gujarat (score 64) was excluded from the top five.
2020-21 Top 5: 1. Kerala (75), 2. Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu (74 each), 3. Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, and Uttarakhand (72 each), 4. Sikkim (71), 5. Maharashtra (70). Gujarat (score 69) again remained outside the top five.
Important points
In both 2019-20 and 2020-21, Gujarat was not among the top five states.
Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu consistently ranked within the top tier.
Topic
Questions
MCQs
Choose one option, then the next question.
Original question
Question 7: As per SDG India Index and Dashboard 2020-21 published by NITI Aayog, which one of the following States was NOT among the top five States in their performance regarding SDGs? [U.P.P.C.S. (Pre) 2021]
The top five positions in 2020-21 were occupied by Kerala (75), Himachal Pradesh & Tamil Nadu (74), Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka & Uttarakhand (72), Sikkim (71), and Maharashtra (70). Gujarat (69) was not among the top five.
Original question
Question 9: Which of the following State is NOT in the list of top five States on the Sustainable Development Goals Index 2019-20 in India? [U.P. B.E.O. (Pre) 2019]
In the 2019-20 Index, the top states were Kerala (70), Himachal Pradesh (69), and Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu (67 each). Gujarat (64) was not in the top five.
Added question
In the 2020-21 SDG India Index, which statement matches the key?
The 2020-21 item excludes Gujarat from the top five. The achiever band is a score of 100, not a rank list.
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