Access to affordable and improved Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) facilities is essential for people's daily lives, and it is the primary goal of Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG-6). However, achieving this goal is a significant challenge for many countries, including India. The aim of this study is to assess the progress made towards achieving SDG-6 targets in Indian districts, states, and Union Territories (UTs) and to identify clusters by measuring spatial inequality of WASH coverage in India. The primary objective of this study is to measure the progress made towards achieving the SDG-6 targets for WASH facilities in Indian districts, states, and UTs. To fulfill this objective, the study used the household data of the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) conducted from 2019 to 21. The study used the household data of NFHS-5, which is a nationally representative survey that provides information on household and individual-level characteristics related to health and nutrition. The study identified the variables associated with WASH and created a composite index to measure WASH coverage separately and combined. The study used Gini coefficient to show WASH inequality, and Moran's statistics were used to show spatial dependency. The study found that the inequality of improved water coverage sources in Indian districts was high. Western and northeastern districts need to catch up in terms of achieving the SDG-6 targets. The value of the Gini coefficient (0.29) indicates that inequality in sanitation coverage is also high. All states have reached close to SDG-6 achievement in hygiene indicators. Goa, Sikkim, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep are close to the overall WASH coverage achievements of SDG-6. However, Jharkhand, Orissa, Tripura, Assam, and Rajasthan are behind in meeting the goal of SDG-6. The study suggests that more government initiatives and investments are needed to increase the availability, accessibility, and affordability of WASH facilities to improve WASH conditions in western and northeastern Indian districts. The localization or bottom-up approach by giving responsibility to rural and urban local bodies can also help enforce the achievement of SDG-6. The findings of this study can be used to guide policymakers in developing targeted interventions to improve WASH conditions and reduce inequality in India.

Unplanned and haphazard built-up growth due to immense pressure of population is a common problem for maximum cities of developing countries which paves to create urban sprawl by capturing spacious areas of natural environment. For this, selection of suitable places for built-up development by maintaining ecological balance has become inevitable part for proper urban planning. Siliguri planning area, which has witnessed a tremendous growth in built-up features after the 1990, has been chosen for this work to find out best places for future built-up development with minimum effects on different natural features and also calculates the amount of different types of suitability which will be transferred from different land use and land cover categories in near future which is a novelty of this work. The work has been executed through GIS-based multi-criteria analysis, and a total of nine criteria have been taken to locate best places for built-up development. Analytic hierarchy process or AHP has been used to calculate weights of each criterion by using pair wise comparison matrix. Final site suitability map has been prepared with four different classes: high suitable, moderate suitable, less suitable and restricted area and the percentage of land is high in moderate suitable category that is 52.33% which covers the intermediary portion, mainly wastelands and agricultural land of the study area with higher facility of accessibility. Results from this work would be helpful for the planners, stakeholders, policy makers by identifying best locations for the intensive developmental projects in near future.

The present study was designed to assess the capability of the novel Multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method such as Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) along with Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in identifying the potential site of ecotourism in the Eastern Dooars region of West Bengal, India. Two popular objective weighting methods such as Entropy and Criteria Importance through Interaction Correlation (CRITIC), were used to minimize the subjectivity of AHP methods. The suitability map obtained from these applied methods showed that the northern and north-eastern parts, namely Kalchini and Kumargram blocks, were identified as the highly suitable zone for ecotourism development. Finally, the obtained suitability map was validated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and Area Under Curve (AUC) analysis. The AUC value of ROC was more than 0.80 for all the applied methods, indicating the reliability of all the applied models.

Land Suitability Analysis (LSA) is one of the most important methods for developing a precise land suitability map. The present study was aimed to identify suitable paddy crop-growing regions in the Koch Bihar district of West Bengal, India. For the study, 18 criteria were chosen, and their weightage was assigned based on expert opinion and the GIS-based Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy process (F-AHP) method adopted. Results indicated the most important factors for developing LSA for paddy cultivation are rainfall (16.72%), soil texture (13.22%), slope (11.55%), elevation (09.63%), soil moisture (08.27%), temperature (07.11%), and pH (05.03%). It has been observed that highly suitable (14.54%), moderately suitable (46.07%), marginally suitable (24.20%), and not suitable (15.19%) areas for paddy cultivation. The Area Under Curve (AUC) value (0.869) confirms the reliability of the F-AHP approach in LSA. The findings of the study provide sustainable agricultural planning and delineate potential sites for paddy cultivation.