Welcome to the United Nations
Government of India
Background:
Together with the world, India has marched into the "Decade of Action". With less than eight years left to achieve the Global Goals, nations are accelerating the design and implementation of sustainable solutions to the world's biggest challenges - ranging from poverty and gender inequality to climate change. Since the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), all key development stakeholders have reached a consensus on the need and urgency for adopting, implementing, and monitoring the Global Goals at the national, sub-national, and local levels. This consensus is being translated into focused actions at all levels of the government through partnerships with the civil society, the private sector, and other stakeholders.
India has been driving various SDG initiatives in the past six years. When the world collectively recognised the urgency of sustainable development and instituted the SDG framework, India was at the forefront of embracing, adopting, and championing it. India's commitment to SDGs has only strengthened in the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic and our efforts to chart a new development course for the post-pandemic future. The gains in poverty reduction, agricultural production, disease eradication, mass education, industrial action, innovation, and urban development are testaments to India's march forward. The government has adopted the SDGs as a guiding framework to steer development activities at the national and sub-national levels. The government programmes and policies, such as Ayushman Bharat [health insurance for all], POSHAN Abhiyan [nutrition mission] and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan [sanitation mission], to name a few, are closely aligned to the SDG priorities, enabling acceleration of progress towards meeting the Global Goals on time. On the progress monitoring side, the SDG India Index & Dashboard, designed and developed by NITI Aayog, has become the official and principal tool for SDG monitoring at the national and sub-national levels. Further, NITI Aayog has led the efforts to compute the Multidimensional Poverty Index at the national, states, and district levels and derive actionable insights for faster outcomes in health, education, and living standards. Globally, the COVID pandemic has added a considerable additional challenge to SDG attainment by setting back development –livelihoods were affected, access to healthcare came under stress, and educational attainment was interrupted in the short run. It is also widely recognised that the effects of the pandemic are expected to linger for years to come. Governments and other stakeholders are invested in understanding the costs of COVID-19, looking beyond the pandemic, and asking how countries can accomplish the desired sustainable development outcomes in this changing world. Further, how can governments derive the right foresight to drive an effective action to better prepare for the uncertain future?
In this context, SDG-focused initiatives and their progress monitoring are more relevant than ever. When the world has charted the course to build back better after the global pandemic that has disrupted development progress on many fronts, it is crucial to embed sustainability principles in the rebuilding efforts. Lives have been lost; therefore, resilience must be built. Livelihoods have been impacted; hence, sustainable jobs must be created. Unless we build back sustainably, we leave it to fate to impede our hard-earned progress. Through a "whole-of-society" approach, the course ahead must be charted together through a "whole-of-society" approach, built on partnerships with all stakeholders.
The Government of India is making strategic and bold investments to address the more profound nature of the crisis and build resilience to future outbreaks and similar emergencies. The full implementation of the SDGs can serve as the overarching framework for recovering and building back better from the COVID-19 pandemic. Commitment to effective governance, enhanced social protection, moving to a green economy, and leveraging digital disruption and innovation for speed and scale are ways to move beyond a crisis to an opportunity. The subnational entities – the States and Union Territories, play a pivotal role in these efforts. Specifically, the strong foundation for SDG localisation is laid by the states and Union Territories in terms of developing SDG vision documents and roadmaps, creating State and District Indicator Frameworks, instituting a robust review and follow-up systems, and building capacities across levels, have been commendable and aid journey towards the Goals. Scope The side event will enable India to showcase some of its recent initiatives to make faster progress toward the SDGs. The Indian model of SDG localisation, built on partnerships and engagements with the subnational entities – the states and Union Territories, has facilitated faster SDG achievements. The evidence generated by national and subnational surveys and studies reflects these achievements in outcomes. In a range of areas, from health to nutrition to basic infrastructure and beyond, the progress achieved by the states and UTs, facilitated through the approach of "cooperative and competitive federalism", is visible. India's lessons can provide a valuable lens for perspectives on SDG localisation, as it is home to one-sixth of humanity, a significant share of the world's developmental challenges and opportunities by scale, and some of the world's largest and most ambitious developmental and social inclusion schemes and programmes.
The event aims to extend the national dialogue in India to the experiences and challenges of countries and generate new avenues of cooperation and knowledge exchange in the Global South. The side event is curated to present an institutional perspective on localising the SDGs by showcasing initiatives undertaken by NITI Aayog and the State governments.
Key Questions
- How can the Sustainable Development Goals be used as a framework to guide the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis?
- How are local authorities and subnational governments using data to drive decision making to achieve the SDGs?
- What are possible data innovations to respond to the crisis and support SDG acceleration?
- How can diverse stakeholders –including businesses and industry, civil society, science and academia and youth– contribute to sustainable recovery?
- How can vertical integration between national and subnational governments be enhanced for increased policy coherence? What is capacity-building support needed for localisation?
