Sustainable Development Goals And India’s Position
What are Sustainable Development Goals?
Sustainable Development Goals are a set of 17 goals that the nations around the world are
trying to achieve by 2030.
17 Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by all the members of UN at UN Sustainable
Development Summit held in NewYork in September 2015, as a part of the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development to address five important aspects:
people, planet, peace, prosperity and partnership.
i.e.
#forpeopleforplanet
#Transforming theworld
Sustainable Development Goals:
- No Poverty
- Zero Hunger
- Good health and Well Being
- Quality Education
- Gender Equality
- Clean Water and Sanitation
- Affordable and Clean Energy
- Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- Reduced Inequalities
- Sustainable Cities and Communities
- Responsible Consumption and production
- Climate Action
- Life below Water
- Life on Land
- Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
- Partnerships for the goals.
India’s Initiatives to achieve Sustainable Development Goals:
- MGNREGA is being implemented to provide jobs to unskilled labourers and improve their standard of living.
- National Food Security Act : The Act provides for subsidized food grains.
- Swachh Bharat Abhiyan : The aim of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is to make India open defecation free.
- Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)
- Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) schemes have been launched to improve the infrastructure aspects.
- Renewable Energy generation targets have been set at 175 GW by 2022 to exploit Solar energy, Wind energy and other renewable sources of energy to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels.
- Ratifying Paris Agreement
- NAMAMI GANGE Mission.
- Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao
- Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana
- Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
- Pradhan Mantri Ujjawala Yojana
- National Clean Air Program
- Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana
- Make-in-India
- Start-up India
- Digital India
India’s progress so far:
- Sustainable Development Goal 1 : No poverty India has made significant progress in reducing poverty, with the poverty rate declining from 21.9% in 2011-12 to 4.4% in 2020.
- Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger India has made progress in reducing hunger with declining from 17.3% in 2004-06 to 14% in 2017-19. India is also working on zero hunger through a lot of programes like National Food Security Act, Mid-day Meal scheme.
- Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Well Being: India improved maternal and child health, with maternal ratio declining from 167 per 100,000 live births in 2011-13 to 113 in 2016-18.Government has launched programmes like Primary Health Clinics, Ayushmaan Bharat Scheme etc.
- Sustainable Development Goal 4: Quality Education India has made progress in improving access to education, with the gross enrolment ratio for primary education increasing from 93.4% in 2014-15 to 94.3% in 2019-20. Right to Education Act plays a significant role in ensuring free and compulsory education of children of 6-14 years of age.
- Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality India has made progress in improving gender equality, with the sex ratio at birth increasing from 918 in 2011 to 934 in 2020.
Score of States / UTs to achieve SDGs by NITI Aayog:
- Sustainable Development requires ever nation to prioritize their targets and carefully implement various schemes in accordance with capacity, available resources and local challenges.
- NITI Aayog has come up with a single measurable index to track the progress of all States and UTs.
- Indicating aggregate progress towards each Sustainable Development Goal of each State/ Union Territory , the NITI AAYOG has composite index.
- Kerala and Himachal Pradesh are first amongst all the states with all over score of 69.
- Among the Union Territories, Chandigarh and Puducherry are at top with score 68 and 65 respectively.
- Uttar-Pradesh is at the bottom of the list with score of 42 followed by Bihar with score of 48.
To sum up:
On a few parameters India is on track like under five mortality rate has declined
considerably, trying to achieve full vaccination for preventable diseases, improving
sanitation, ensuring electricity and water to as many people as possible etc.
However there are certain parameters on which India is lagging behind for instance improved
water access, eliminating adolescent pregnancy, reducing multi-dimensional poverty, child
marriage domestic violence, tobacco consumption, women bank accounts etc.
