Given below are two statements, one is labelled as Assertion (A) and the other as Reason (R).
Assertion (A) : There is a positive relation between Human Development Index (HDI) and Sustainable Develop

Question

Given below are two statements, one is labelled as Assertion (A) and the other as Reason (R).
Assertion (A) : There is a positive relation between Human Development Index (HDI) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) ranking of Indian State.
Reason (R) : The underlying dimensions of SDG targets are closely related to education and health aspects.
Select the correct answer from the codes given below :

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — A, both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A). The Assertion is borne out by the actual rankings: the states that stand highest on human development also stand highest on NITI Aayog's SDG India Index, and the weakest human-development states sit at the bottom of both. Kerala, which has long recorded the best human-development indicators among Indian states, topped the SDG India Index 2019-20 and again the 2020-21 edition, with Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu close behind; Bihar came last in 2020-21, and Uttar Pradesh scored 55 in 2019-20 (the 'Performer' band), up from about 42 in the 2018 baseline index. The Reason explains exactly why the two lists look alike. The HDI is built from three dimensions — a long and healthy life, knowledge, and a decent standard of living — and the SDG framework's goals and indicators are dominated by the same concerns: SDG 3 (good health and well-being), SDG 4 (quality education), SDG 1 and 2 (poverty and hunger), SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation). Because the two composites measure heavily overlapping things, a state that does well on one almost has to do well on the other. That is a causal explanation of the correlation, not merely a second true statement — hence (a) and not (b). Date anchor: this paper was written on 15 December 2019, when the current edition was still the first (baseline) SDG India Index of December 2018; the 2019-20 edition was released on 30 December 2019, a fortnight after the exam.

Why the other options are wrong — (b) This is the main trap. Both statements are indeed true, but R is not a bystander fact — the overlap in what the two indices measure (health and education above all) is precisely the mechanism that makes HDI and SDG rankings move together. Since R supplies the reason for A, (b) understates the link.  (c) R is plainly true. Health and education are not peripheral to the SDGs — they are two of the seventeen goals in their own right (SDG 3 and SDG 4) and feed into several others, and health and education indicators carry substantial weight in the SDG India Index.  (d) A is supported by the published rankings: high-HDI states such as Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu lead the SDG India Index while low-HDI states such as Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh trail on both measures. The relationship is positive, not absent.

Concept: The Human Development Index, introduced by UNDP in the 1990 Human Development Report (Mahbub ul Haq, with Amartya Sen's capability approach behind it), is the geometric mean of three equally weighted dimensions: health (life expectancy at birth), knowledge (mean and expected years of schooling) and standard of living (GNI per capita at PPP). NITI Aayog's SDG India Index, first published in 2018, scores every state and UT from 0 to 100 on India's progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals and sorts them into four bands — Aspirant (0-49), Performer (50-64), Front Runner (65-99) and Achiever (100). The two instruments were built for different purposes, but a large share of the SDG indicators are health, education, poverty and basic-services measures, so the two scores end up tracking each other.

State PCS 2019 Q30 — Economy PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2019 Q30 — Economy PYQ with Answer