The implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has just ended and a new more comprehensive international development agenda—the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—has taken its place. An assessment of India’s performance on the MDGs is, therefore, crucial at this time to draw lessons for the SDGs. While India has made major gains in poverty reduction, access to water, combating deadly diseases and halting deforestation and biodiversity loss, its performance on crucial education, health and sanitation indicators has been weak which has serious consequences for its human development and future growth. This article focuses particularly on a comparative assessment of the performance of individual states by developing an MDG composite performance index. While all states have made improvements since 1990 on the MDGs, some have progressed far more than others and 10 states have been identified as particularly lagging behind. The article also identifies five major factors or ‘drivers’ explaining these interstate variations.
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