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 :
- (a)Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)
- (b)Both (A) and (R) are true but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A)
- (c)(A) is true, but (R) is false
- (d)(A) is false, but (R) is true
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.
- (b)Both (A) and (R) are true but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A) — 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)(A) is true, but (R) is false — 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 false, but (R) is true — 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.
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.
In an Assertion-Reason item, work in two steps. First test each statement for truth on its own; here both survive. Then ask the harder question: is R the reason A happens, or just a separate fact? The tell is that R names the mechanism — health and education dominate the SDG targets, and health and education are two of the HDI's three pillars, so the correlation follows from shared content. Candidates who verify both statements and then stop out of caution choose (b) and lose the mark.
- HDI dimensions: health (life expectancy at birth), education (years of schooling) and income (GNI per capita, PPP) — inequality is handled by a separate index, the Inequality-adjusted HDI.
- SDG India Index bands: Aspirant 0-49, Performer 50-64, Front Runner 65-99, Achiever 100.
- The edition current on exam day (15 December 2019) was the first, baseline SDG India Index of December 2018; the 2019-20 edition followed on 30 December 2019.
- Uttar Pradesh scored 55 in the 2019-20 index and was classed a 'Performer', up from about 42 ('Aspirant') in the 2018 baseline.
- Kerala topped the SDG India Index in 2019-20 and again in 2020-21; Bihar was last in 2020-21 — the same ordering seen in state human-development rankings.
- SDG 3 (good health and well-being) and SDG 4 (quality education) are goals in their own right, which is why the SDG score overlaps so heavily with HDI content.
The two highlighted rows are the Reason: health and education are simultaneously two-thirds of the HDI and two headline SDGs, so the same states top both lists.
- Choosing (b): accepting both statements as true but failing to see that the overlap in measured dimensions IS the explanation.
- Assuming the SDG India Index is mainly an environmental scorecard — health, education, poverty and basic services carry much of the weight.
- Believing the HDI accounts for inequality; that is the separate Inequality-adjusted HDI.
- Comparing SDG India Index scores across editions as if the methodology were unchanged — the indicator set has been revised between editions.
UPPSC asks this area either as an Assertion-Reason pair on development indices or as flat recall ('which category was Uttar Pradesh placed in'); UPSC prefers the composition of the HDI and the basics of the SDG framework.
Human Development Index comprises literacy rates, life expectancy at birth and
- (a) Gross Domestic Product per head in US dollars
- (b) Gross Domestic Product per head at real purchasing power
- (c) Gross National Product in US dollars
- (d) National Income per head in US dollars
Answer(b) Gross Domestic Product per head at real purchasing power
Establishes the very fact the Reason turns on — the HDI is built from education, health and income, which is why it overlaps with the health-and-education core of the SDGs.
According to the Report released by NITI Aayog in December 2019 on 'Sustainable Development Goals India Index 2019-20', the Uttar Pradesh is grouped under which of the following categories?
- (a) Aspirant
- (b) Performer
- (c) Front runner
- (d) Achiever
Answer(b) Performer
The very index this Assertion is about, asked as recall the following year — UP's placement in the SDG India Index 2019-20 released on 30 December 2019.
Which of the following indicators is NOT used to calculate Human Development Index (HDI) ?
- (a) Life Expectancy
- (b) Education
- (c) Per Capita Income
- (d) Social Inequality
Answer(d) Social Inequality
The other half of this question — it fixes the HDI's three dimensions (health, education, income), the overlap with SDG targets that makes the Reason a genuine explanation.
- practice — not a real PYQ
In NITI Aayog's SDG India Index, a state with a composite score of 58 would be placed in which category?
- (a)Aspirant
- (b)Performer
- (c)Front Runner
- (d)Achiever
Answer(b) Performer — the bands are Aspirant 0-49, Performer 50-64, Front Runner 65-99 and Achiever 100, so a score of 58 falls in the Performer band.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following is NOT one of the three dimensions of the UNDP's Human Development Index?
- (a)A long and healthy life
- (b)Knowledge / education
- (c)A decent standard of living
- (d)The level of income inequality
Answer(d) The level of income inequality — the plain HDI uses only health, education and income; inequality is captured separately by the Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI).