<span style="color: #222222;">NITI Aayog under the Indo-German Cooperation has released the inaugural Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Urban Index and Dashboard 2021-22.<br />''<br />''In its journey towards localizing the SDGs and instituting robust SDG progress monitoring systems at the national, state, UTs, and local levels, NITI Aayog has achieved yet another milestone with the launch of the inaugural SDG Urban Index and Dashboard (2021-22) today. <br />''<br />''The index and dashboard are a result of the NITI Aayog-GIZ and BMZ collaboration focused on driving SDG localization in cities, under the umbrella of Indo-German Development Cooperation. Total fifty-six urban areas were considered for computation. Shimla tops the Index followed by Coimbatore and Chandigarh.<br />''<br />''The index and dashboard will further strengthen SDG localization and institute robust SDG monitoring at the city level. Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, and Prof Dr. Claudia Warning, Director General, BMZ, launched the index and dashboard. Dr Kumar said cities are fast becoming engines of growth.  <br />''<br />''He said, the SDG Urban index and dashboard, a product of innovative partnership between NITI Aayog and GIZ, will go a long way in instituting a robust SDG monitoring system in cities, and is a milestone step in country's SDG localization journey.<br />''<br />''AIR correspondent reports, that the statistical methodology for the SDG Urban Index is drawn from the globally accepted methodology developed by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).<br />''<br />''The methodology, used for the SDG India Index and North Eastern Region District SDG Index as well, was finalised in close collaboration with the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).<br />''<br />''Out of 56 urban areas ranked in the index, 44 are with population of above one million. 12 are State capitals with population of less than a million. </span><br />