Sustainable Development Goals 2030

India's Progress and Challenges

- Pushakr K Singh and Dr Mani Singh

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda is a set of goals related to the well-being of the world to be achieved by 2030. It was adopted by 193 Member States at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Summit in 2015. The Agenda 2030 comprises 17 SDGs and 169 targets and is guided by the principle of universality, inclusivity and sustainability to ensure development for all people, everywhere, especially the most vulnerable ones. SDGs address challenges like hunger, poverty, inequality, environmental degradation etc. for equal societies and a prosperous planet.

Institutional Mechanism

The Division for Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG) in the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) is responsible for advocacy and evaluation of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda of SDGs. The SDG Summit takes place every four years in UNGA and is reviewed annually by the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.

India has established a strong institutional framework for SDG implementation. The NITI Aayog is the nodal agency to implement SDGs, mapping of schemes and coordinating with the States and Union Territories. The sector-specific goals are implemented by central Ministries and the State Governments are key players in localizing these goals. The private sector and civil society are stakeholders in emerging areas like technology and renewable energy. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has been instrumental in developing indicators for monitoring the performance of SDGs. The UN Country Team in India supports all the key agencies in their efforts to make global efforts successful.

India’s Progress on SDGs