SDG India Index

Developed by NITI Aayog in collaboration with the United Nations, the SDG India Index is a comprehensive monitoring tool that evaluates and tracks the progress of Indian States and Union Territories toward achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

• It operationalizes competitive and cooperative federalism by benchmarking sub-national units on socio-economic and environmental parameters.
• It provides actionable, evidence-based data to help state administrations identify regional disparities and optimize resource allocation.
• It facilitates the localization of global development targets into concrete policy frameworks at state and district levels.

UPSC frames questions on this tool under GS Paper II and GS Paper III to evaluate candidates' understanding of competitive federalism and sustainable governance. Questions typically require analyzing NITI Aayog's structural role in localizing global goals and addressing inter-state developmental gaps. Candidates are expected to assess how data-driven benchmarking drives administrative accountability and sub-national policy reforms.

• Government policies and interventions GS2
• Indian Economy GS3

• Corruption Perceptions Index
• Ease of Doing Business Index
• Economic Survey
• Environmental Performance Index
• Global Competitiveness Report
• Global Gender Gap Report
• Global Hunger Index
• Global Innovation Index
• Human Development Report
• World Happiness Report