NITI Aayog releases 2nd Edition of Indian Innovation Index 2020; Karnataka tops the Index

On January 20, 2021, NITI Aayog, along with the Institute for Competitiveness virtually released the 2nd Edition of Indian Innovation Index 2020. Karnataka topped the Index in the Major States Category, Delhi topped among the Union Territories (UT) and Himachal Pradesh among North-Eastern and Hilly States. Overall, Indian States have achieved an average score of 23.4 in the Index

i.The Index was released by Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog in the presence of Dr VK Paul, Member (Health); Dr Ramesh Chand, Member (Agriculture);Amitabh Kant, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NITI Aayog; Neeraj Sinha, Adviser (Science & Technology); Dr Amit Kapoor, Chairman of Institute for Competitiveness.

ii.The Index analyses the innovation capabilities & performance of States & Union Territories.

iii.The Main objective of the index is to

• Create a Framework for evaluation of India’s Innovation Environment
• Rank States & UT based on scores, recognize opportunities & Challenges and assist them in preparing government policies to boost innovation

iv.In order to make the Index effective, NITI Aayog has also added several new indicators & remodeled the Methodology, one of the indicators is Research & Development (R&D) expenditure by State.

v.For effective comparison of performances, the States & UTs have been divided into 17 Major States, 10 North-East (NE) & Hill States & 9 UTs and City States.

Methodology:

Totally the index has 32 Indicators which are based on 2 dimensions – Enablers (Innovation Inputs) & Performance Pillars (Innovation Outputs)

i.Enablers (5) –  Human Capital, Investment, Knowledge Workers, Business Environment & Safety and Legal Environment.

• Factors which reinforce innovative capacities, can be institutions, policies, infrastructure or capital, FDI inflows, Enrolment in PhD.

ii.Performance (2) – Performance Pillars which are Knowledge output & Knowledge Diffusion.

• Benefits derived from inputs such as knowledge creation, competitiveness, patents filed, Geographical Indicators (GI) filed & wealth generation.

iii.R&D Expenditure Indicator will help in understanding the regional differences in investment towards innovation.

Key Points:

i.Karnataka has topped the ranking due to increase in number of venture capital deals, Registration of GI & Exports of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) & Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Inflows.

ii.Bihar came last in the Major States Category, while Lakshadweep and Meghalaya came last in the UT & City State and NE and Hill States Categories Respectively.

iii.Overall, the score of 23.4 attained by States/UT in the Index highlights the room for improvement in innovation.

• Contributors in Growth of Innovation – Policy Framework & Initial incentives.
• Factors Affecting Innovation – Deficiency in knowledge workers, low expenditure for R&D in higher education, Science, Technology & Environment & lack of Venture Capital Investment.
• The scores achieved by States/UTs show correlation with Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), which shows the Higher Economic Growth leads to Innovation & vice versa.

Innovation – India vs The World:

The report also highlighted India’s 48th Rank in the 13th Edition of Global Innovation Index (GII) 2020 released by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Cornell University and INSEAD Business School.

• It was the 1st time that India joined the group of Top 50 countries of the list.  Click here to read the news.
• The report had highlighted that India spends just 0.7% of its GDP on R&D, which is lower than Israel, South Korea, Sweden and Japan.

Click here to read the Full Report

NITI Aayog releases Report on Faecal Sludge & Septage Management in Urban Areas

On January 19, 2021, NITI Aayog released the report ‘Faecal Sludge and Septage Management in Urban Areas – Service & Business Models’. The report has been jointly developed by NITI Aayog with National Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (NFSSM) Alliance.

• Due to concerted efforts under Swachh Bharat Mission, more than 7 million toilets have been constructed in urban areas and several transformative initiatives have been implemented.
• The report presents 27 case studies regarding the implementation of FSSM initiatives across 10 States of India.
• It was virtually released by Amitabh Kant, NITI Aayog CEO, Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) & Dr. K. Rajeswara Rao, NITI Aayog Additional Secretary.
• It consists of FSSM best practices which can be adapted and replicated across the country.
• City Managers, Municipal functionaries, elected representatives, state decision makers, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) can utilize it to understand the latest Developments in FSSM.

Key Points from the Report:

India was declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) in 2019

• It has also achieved Universal Access to toilets in Urban India through the construction of 66 lakh household toilets & more than 6 Lakh Community and public toilets.
• Around 60% of Urban households depend on Onsite Sanitation Systems (OSS).
• The next target of India is to achieve ODF+ and ODF++.
• Around 19 out of 36 States & UTs have drafted state specific FSSM guidelines.

Click here to read the Full Report 

National Policy on Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM):

The National Policy on Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM) was launched by the Ministry of Urban Development in 2017.

Objective – To ensure that all Indian cities and towns become totally sanitized, health and liveable and ensure sustenance of good sanitation practices.

Recent Related News:

i.November 19, 2020, Bhubaneswar became the First City in the Country to get ISO 9001:2015 Certification for Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM) services.

ii.September 3, 2020, India ranked 48th in the 13th Edition of Global Innovation Index 2020 released by WIPO

About NITI Aayog:
Chief Executive Officer – Amitabh Kant
Headquarters – New Delhi