9 PM Daily Current Affairs Brief – March 3rd, 2023
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Mains Oriented Articles
GS PAPER - 2
On regulating online sale of drugs in India
Contents
Source: The post is based on an article “On regulating online sale of drugs in India” published in The Hindu on 1st March 2023.
Syllabus: GS 2 – Governance
Relevance: regulating e-pharmacies
News: The Ministry of Health has issued a show cause notice to pharmacy companies selling medicines online. The Health Minister has also said that e-pharmacies should be closed down.
Is banning e-pharmacies a viable option?
E-pharmacies flourished during the covid pandemic in the year 2020 where the need for home delivery of medicine was felt. The Ministry of Home affairs at that time issued orders to continue to operate.
The customers availing the benefits of online deliveries have also increased with the years.
Therefore, banning e-pharmacies is not a viable option because there is a possibility that some of these businesses will go underground if banned.
Hence, instead of banning, regulating them is a viable option.
What measures have been taken by the government to regulate e-pharmacy?
The draft e-pharmacy rules were brought by the Ministry of Health in 2018.
The rules were finalised, public comments were taken into consideration and they were ready to be notified.
However, when draft rules were referred to a Group of Ministers, the matter was considered sensitive due to political reasons.
Hence, despite orders from multiple courts to regulate e-pharmacies, the government had not notified the regulations.
How are e-pharmacies competing with offline pharmacies?
There has been tough competition between e-pharmacies and offline chemist shops due to the low profit margin over medicines.
Therefore, in order to reduce competition, online pharmacies have started to buy big and small wholesale drug distributors. They have also started to open their pharmacy shops.
However, e-pharmacies have also witnessed loss since 2015. It was the year when e-pharmacies came up in the market.
Moreover, looking at the online pharmacy companies, even offline chemist shops have started to offer home delivery options to their customers by introducing their own store apps.
They even give customers options to order medicines over WhatsApp.
What can be the course of action?
Looking at the demand, it is not viable to completely ban e-pharmacies. Therefore, the best option is to regulate them by bringing up laws.
No method in the madness – A new critique of the V-Dem democracy rankings highlights where the problem lies
Source: The post is based on an article “No method in the madness – A new critique of the V-Dem democracy rankings highlights where the problem lies” published in Business Standard on 1st March 2023.
Syllabus: GS 2 – Governance
Relevance: Issues associated with ranking of India in V-Dem Report.
News: Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) releases Democracy Report every year. It has consistently degraded India’s ranking for the past few years in its report.
What are the reasons behind downgrading the rank of India by V-Dem?
India was ranked 93 out of 140 countries in the Democracy Report, 2022.
V-Dem rankings are based on five sub-indices, namely, 1) elected officials, 2) universal suffrage, 3) clean elections, 4) freedom of association, and 5) freedom of expression.
The first two criteria (elected officials and universal suffrage) are scored on the basis of an analysis of the constitutions of the countries being ranked. Hence, if the constitution of a country claims it “elects” its officials, it gets a perfect score.
India falls short of a perfect score because till 2021 two Lok Sabha MPs were “selected” (two representatives of the Anglo-Indian community) and not elected.
However, this law was repealed in 2021, but still becomes the reason for V-Dem to give India a less than perfect score under this head in 2022.
The remaining three parameters (clean elections, freedom of association, and freedom of expression) are ranked purely with the help of scientific experts.
Political science experts judge a democracy on their own parameters. Therefore, there may be variations about a knowledgeable expert’s views on Indian democracy.
It may be subject to individual political, ideological or personal biases. For example, India’s rating on clean elections has fallen from 3.6 to 2.3 since 2014 despite free and fair elections conducted by the Election Commission.
This shows that there are flaws with the choices of indicators, unexplainable decisions, and vulnerability to expert biases in the V-Dem Report.
What measures can be taken by India to improve its ranking?
First, it should engage with V-Dem to modify its methodology so that it is truly reflective of trends in Indian democracy.
Second, it must evolve its own standards on how democracy must be ranked in a diverse and multi-religious, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and pluralistic society like India.
Positing India’s stand on the Ukraine war
Contents
- 1 What is the Indian position on the Ukraine crisis?
- 2 What is the viewpoint of the west on the Ukraine war?
- 3 Is this a battle between democracies and autocracies?
- 4 Why western claims of morality in the Ukraine war seem to be dubious?
- 5 What ties with Russia are important for India?
- 6 What should be India’s diplomatic stand on the Ukraine crisis?
Source– The post is based on the article “Positing India’s stand on the Ukraine war” published in The Hindu on 3rd March 2023.
Syllabus: GS2- International relations
Relevance: India and Ukraine crisis
News- Recently, UNGA adopted a resolution, calling for an end to the war. The resolution was favoured by 141 members and opposed by seven, while 32 states abstained. India was one among the 32.
What is the Indian position on the Ukraine crisis?
India has refused to condemn Russia for the invasion. It has refused to join the West’s sanctions.
It has stepped up buying Russian fuel at a discounted price, and has consistently abstained from UN votes on the war.
What is the viewpoint of the west on the Ukraine war?
This is a global crusade for democracy. The war by an authoritarian Russia is a challenge to global democracy.
To save global democracy, the rules based order and international law, all democratic states should take a position against Russia and join the western coalition.
Is this a battle between democracies and autocracies?
An overwhelming majority of nations have supported UNGA resolutions calling for the war to be brought to an end. But beyond the UN votes, the U.S. has hardly managed to mobilise democracies outside its traditional western alliance system against Russia.
India and South Africa, large democracies from Asia and Africa, have consistently abstained from votes at the UN. They have refused to join the sanctions because the sanctions were unilateral, and without UN approval.
Even some countries that are part of the western alliance system like Israel and Turkey are reluctant to join the west. Most of these countries see the war as a European problem between two former Soviet countries with its roots going back to the end of the Cold War.
For them, it is less about global democracy than the post Cold War security architecture in Europe.
Why western claims of morality in the Ukraine war seem to be dubious?
There is no doubt here that Russia has violated the sovereignty of Ukraine. Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territories is a clear violation of international laws.
But a key dilemma before any country in international relations is clash between moral positions and national interests.
For the U.S. and much of Europe, there is a convergence of their moral positions and foreign policy objectives in the case of the Ukraine war. The U.S. wants to “weaken” Russia. So, the moral line they take serves their strategic purpose.
However, this position was violated when there were clashes between values and interests.
In 2003, the U.S. launched its illegal invasion of Iraq, violating the country’s sovereignty. In 2011, NATO turned a UNSC resolution to establish a no fly zone in Libya into a full scale invasion. Right now, the U.S. has illegally placed its troops in Syria.
Israel has illegally annexed East Jerusalem and Syria’s Golan Heights. The U.S. has recognised Israel’s annexation of Golan and moved its embassy to Jerusalem.
What ties with Russia are important for India?
Ties with Russia are important for India in many ways. One important area is energy. Discounted fuel from Russia is a relief for India. It meets over 80% of its fuel needs through imports.
Defence ties are also important, Russia has fulfilled over 46% of India’s defence needs in the last five years. There is a sound argument that India should diversify its source of defence imports, but such a change would take time.
Russia is deepening its ties with China, which is India’s main competitor. India should retain its leverage over Russia.
To manage its continental interests, India has to work with powers in the Eurasian landmass. The U.S. is practically absent, especially after its disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. Russia plays a key role in India’s continental foreign policy.
What should be India’s diplomatic stand on the Ukraine crisis?
Neither the weakening of Russia nor the destruction of Ukraine is in its interests. India wants an immediate end to the war and a new security equilibrium between great powers.
It will stabilise the global economy and the world could focus on more pressing problems from climate change to UN reforms.
India should stick to its pragmatic neutrality, rooted in realism. It should continue to push for a practical solution to the Ukraine crisis.
South Asia’s human capital is the resilience it needs
Source– The post is based on the article “South Asia’s human capital is the resilience it needs” published in The Hindu on 3rd March 2023.
Syllabus: GS2- Regional groupings
Relevance: Development issues related to South Asia
News- Pandemics, economic slumps and extreme weather events have undermined the developmental gains in South Asia since 2020.
What is the human capital advantage of South Asia?
South Asia’s people are its biggest asset. The region enjoys a high demographic dividend.
It has nearly half its population under the age of 24 and over one million young people set to enter the labour force every month until 2030.
What are the human capital related challenges faced by South Asia?
South Asia is also home to over one third of the world’s stunted children. A child born in the region today is expected to attain only 48% of their full productive potential by the age of 18.
South Asian governments on average spend just 1% of GDP on health and 2.5% on education. In comparison, the global average is 5.9% on health and 3.7% on education.
COVID19 pandemic further pushed an additional 35 million people across South Asia into extreme poverty. It has dealt an unprecedented blow to the region’s human capital.
Pandemic has led to rise in learning poverty. Around the world, on average, schools remained closed for between 2020 and 2022 for 141 days. But, in South Asia they were shut for 225 days.
It increased South Asia’s learning poverty from 60% to 78%. The poorest and most vulnerable people fell further behind. For example, in Bangladesh, the poorest students lost 50% more in terms of learning than the richest students.
What is the way forward to improve human capital in South Asia?
There is a need for well designed and implemented interventions. They can make a difference if governments act fast. Recent evidence suggests that even simple and low cost education programmes can lead to sizable gains in skills.
In Bangladesh, for example, attending a year of additional preschool through two hour sessions significantly improved literacy, numeracy, and social development scores.
A new World Bank study notes that health, education, and skills people acquired at various stages of life, build and depend on each other. Human development interventions must recognise and exploit these overlapping connections. They should be agile, resilient and adaptive.
A well functioning human development system must take faster actions during a crisis. It ensures that essential services such as health care and learning remain uninterrupted, and have the flexibility to evolve as needs change.
Data and technology play a crucial role in the delivery of services. Human development systems should ensure they are effectively used.
Booze policy must beat its licence raj hangover
Source: The post is based on the article “Booze policy must beat its licence raj hangover” published in Mint on 3rd March 2023.
Syllabus: GS 2 – Governance
Relevance: Concerns associated with liquor policy
News: Delhi Minister has been recently arrested over liquor policy. The article discusses the different types of liquor policies adopted by most state governments which help politicians to earn through it.
What are the different policies adopted by the government for alcohol?
Alcohol License: Alcohol permits are given to few private shops by the state. Through this limited permit/license, government keeps a check on alcohol supply and controls the demand.
However, license regime gives an advantage to politicians to receive bribe from private players.
Tight-liquor Policy: Another way to check the alcohol demand by the government is a tight liquor policy. It helps in keeping the price of the alcohol high which in turn reduces the demand.
This high price helps in earning more profits and helps the tax authorities to get revenues. This extra profit is again shared by the politicians.
Therefore, there is a need to change the policy on alcohol and reduce the state discretion.
What can be the course of action?
Alcohol needs to be under GST and liquor policies should be made in such a way it focuses more on social safety rather than price and profits.
GS PAPER - 3
Combining social welfare and capital markets through SSE
Contents
- 1 What is a Social Stock Exchange (SSE)?
- 2 Who can invest in SSE?
- 3 What are the eligibility criteria to be listed as a social enterprise?
- 4 Which organisations are not be eligible as social enterprise?
- 5 How can NPOs raise money?
- 6 What is the difference between ZCZP bonds and conventional bonds?
- 7 What are other methods through which NPOs can raise money?
- 8 How can For-Profit Enterprises (FPEs) raise money?
- 9 What disclosures are required to be made to SEBI?
Source: The post is based on an article “Combining social welfare and capital markets through SSE” published in The Hindu on 2nd March 2023.
Syllabus: GS 3 – Indian Economy
Relevance: About Social Stock Exchange
News: Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has given approval to the National Stock Exchange of India to set up a Social Stock Exchange (SSE). SSE was presented in the Union Budget 2019.
What is a Social Stock Exchange (SSE)?
Who can invest in SSE?
Retail investors can only invest in securities offered by for-profit social enterprises (FPSEs) under the Main Board.
In all other cases, only institutional investors and non-institutional investors can invest in securities issued by SEs.
Any non-profit organisation (NPO) or for-profit social enterprise (FPSEs) that establishes the social intent would be recognised as a social enterprise (SE). This will make them eligible to be registered or listed on the SSE.
Further, seventeen eligibility criteria are listed under Regulations of SEBI’s ICDR (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018.
Some of them are that enterprises must be serving to eradicate either a) hunger, b) poverty, c) malnutrition and inequality; d) promoting education, e) employability, among others.
Corporate foundations, political or religious organisations or activities, professional or trade associations, infrastructure and housing companies (except affordable housing) would not be identified as an SE.
Further, NPOs which are dependent on corporates for more than 50% of its funding are also not eligible to be listed as SE.
How can NPOs raise money?
NPOs can raise money either through issuance of Zero Coupon Zero Principal (ZCZP) Instruments from private placement or public issue, or donations from mutual funds. It must be registered with SSE to issue the bonds.
The ZCZP must have a specific tenure and can only be issued for a specific project or activity that is to be completed within a specified duration.
It must also provide past experience in the social sector in order to acquire investor confidence and tackle concerns about potential default.
Moreover, NPOs may also choose to register on the SSE and not raise funds through it but via other means. However, they would have to make necessary disclosures about it.
What is the difference between ZCZP bonds and conventional bonds?
ZCZP bonds differ from conventional bonds in the sense that it entails zero coupon and no principal payment at maturity.
The conventional bonds provide a fixed interest (or repayment) on the funds raised through varied contractual agreement, whereas ZCZP would not provide any such return, instead promising a social return.
What are other methods through which NPOs can raise money?
Another finance method available to NPOs is the Development Impact Bonds (DIB). DIBs are results-based contracts.
Under DIBs, NPOs initially raise money from ‘Risk Funder’. They finance the project on a pre-payment basis and also bear the risk of non-delivery of social metrics.
After the project has been completed and delivered on pre-agreed social metrices at pre-agreed costs/rates, a grant is made to the NPO.
The donor who makes the grant upon achieving the social metrics is referred to as ‘Outcome Funders’.
How can For-Profit Enterprises (FPEs) raise money?
FPEs need not register with social stock exchanges to raise funds. However, it must comply with all provisions of the ICDR Regulations when raising through the SSE.
It can raise money through issue of equity shares or issuing equity shares to an Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) including Social Impact Fund or issue of debt instruments.
What disclosures are required to be made to SEBI?
SEBI’s regulations state that a social enterprise should submit an annual impact report. The report must be audited by a social audit firm and has to be submitted within 90 days from the end of the financial year.
Listed NPOs are required to provide the details on the quarterly basis about the money raised and utilised.
New thermal plants: A reality check
Contents
Source: The post is based on an article “New thermal plants: A reality check” published in Business Standard on 2nd March 2023.
Syllabus: GS 3 – Infrastructure
Relevance: concerns associated with recommendation of the draft National Electricity Plan.
News: Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has been given the task to frame the National Electricity Plan (NEP). The draft recommends creation of new capacity of up to 51 GW of coal-fired plants.
What are the concerns associated with the creation of new capacity of coal-fired plants?
One of the major concerns is the environmental. The recommendation has come at a time when India is committed to a net-zero emissions by 2070.
States like Haryana, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, are planning to set up new capacities of coal-fired plants and these new capacities are mostly located away from coal-bearing states. This ultimately adds burden of transporting coal.
Why has draft NEP recommended setting up new thermal power plants?
It is because the growth in renewables is not fast enough to cater to the rising power demand.
According to the estimates, even if the renewable energy capacity grows at four times the pace it has grown, India would need new thermal power plants.
What can be the probable alternative solution to the recommendation made by the draft NEP?
Instead of setting up new plants, it would be better to improve the performance of the existing plants and add capacity to existing stations or brownfield expansion.
The draft NEP projects about 55 percent plant load factor (PLF) by 2026-27 and 61 percent by 2031-32. However, it is feasible to achieve above 70 percent PLF by maintaining the existing plants.
Thus, it would save capital investment in the new thermal power plants and mobilize it towards establishing renewable capacities.
What can be the course of action?
There has been a sudden rise in power demand in the post-Covid period and states are facing supply challenges. Therefore, they prefer to consider the view of having their own capacity.
However, instead of infusing fresh capex, it is better to invite offers from private developers who may set up capacity outside the state and contracting power from generators who may have untied capacity, etc.
This would help in utilizing the capex for renewables and it will also help railways to utilize its freight services for other goods because it is the railways which bear the burden of transporting coal to thermal power plants.
SC decision to set up expert committee in Adani matter casts doubt on SEBI’s investigation
Source– The post is based on the article “SC decision to set up expert committee in Adani matter casts doubt on SEBI’s investigation” published in The Indian Express on 3rd March 2023.
Syllabus: GS3- Mobilisation of resources
Relevance: Money and capital markets
News- Recently, Hindenburg Research published a report levelling several allegations against the Adani Group.
What is the mandate of the committee?
- To assess the factors that have led to market volatility.
- To examine if there has been regulatory failure in this case
- To suggest measures to strengthen the regulatory apparatus and ensure compliance with the existing framework to protect investors.
The committee has been asked to furnish its report in sealed cover within two months.
What are issues related to the SC decision?
The formation of the committee casts aspersions on SEBI’s investigation and doubts its ability.
The SEBI chairman has been requested by the court to ensure all information is provided to the committee.
There is opacity in the manner in which the members of the panel have been selected, and the lack of transparency the process entails.
SEBI has stated that it will conduct a detailed examination into Adani stocks. The Court has asked SEBI to conclude its investigation into the matter within two months. It would have been more prudent to wait for its regulator’s report.
States have a large role in ensuring capital formation
Source– The post is based on the article “States have a large role in ensuring capital formation” published in the mint on 3rd March 2023.
Syllabus: GS3- Government budgeting
Relevance: Capital expenditure
News- The Central government is continuing with its focus on capital expenditure. Capital expenditure by states has also drawn the attention of policymakers.
How has capital expenditure by states gained importance in recent times?
The combined spending of Indian states on capital expenditure now exceeds that of the central government.
In 2021-22, this figure combined for states and Union territories was ₹10.5 trillion. The Centre’s effective capital expenditure that year was ₹8.4 trillion.
Theme of this year’s RBI report on state finances is ‘Capital Formation in India: The Role of States’. It is an eloquent acknowledgement of the power of states in this context.
What are issues related to capital expenditure by states?
Capital expenditure by states is neither uniform nor necessarily related to the economic size of a particular state.
Uttar Pradesh gross state domestic product (GSDP) was estimated to be ₹20.5 trillion in 2022-23. The budget for capital expenditure was ₹1.24 trillion. Maharashtra with higher GSDP figures of ₹35 trillion budgeted for capital spending of ₹65,000 crore.
States are unable to spend the full budgeted amount of capital expenditure, despite having sufficient resources. They have a tendency to postpone capital expenditure till revenue streams firm up.
What is the way forward to improve the quality of capital expenditure by states?
There is a need to address this uneven inclination of states or capacity for capital expenditure.
The ultimate aim of all capital expenditure is to enhance the productive capacity of the economy. The nature of state capital expenditure is also vitally important. It should align with central capital expenditure to optimise long term enhancements of economic capacity.
For example, UP may hike its road building programme to amplify the impact of the efforts of the National Highway Authority of India. Maharashtra and TN may enhance allocations to urban bodies.
The quality and speed of expenditure also deserves equal attention. States would need to step up their execution capacity and establish an enabling regulatory environment.
Land availability, clearances, logistics and communication, project management, stakeholder engagement and local capacities are all critical determinants that need attention.
The planning and budgeting cycle of states also has to be aligned with the fund releases so as to fully utilise the resources within the time available. They need to spend fully the budgeted capital amounts uniformly over the year.
The RBI report mentions that states should mainstream capital expenditure planning rather than treating them as residuals and meeting budgetary targets from this expenditure.
Development concerns – Nicobar project must be reconsidered
Source: The post is based on an article “Development concerns – Nicobar project must be reconsidered” published in Business Standard on 3rd March 2023.
Syllabus: GS 3 – Infrastructure
Relevance: Concerns associated with developmental project on the Great Nicobar Island.
News: The government has recently given the clearance for the development of a project on the Great Nicobar Island. The project is to be implemented in three phases over the next 30 years.
About the Project
What are the concerns with the project?
The Great Nicobar Island is known for its rainforest ecosystems, having unique coral reefs and rare species of turtles and other fauna and flora.
Further, the protection of leatherback sea turtles, the flagship turtle species of this island, is part of the country’s National Marine Turtle Action Plan. The Galathea Bay is among the important marine turtle habitats of India.
Great Nicobar Island also lies in the seismically active zone and is prone to maritime hazards like tsunamis.
Nearly 850 square kilometres of the island’s area is notified as tribal reserve under the Andaman and Nicobar Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulations, 1956.
The area was also designated as a biosphere reserve in 1989, and made part of Unesco’s “Man and Biosphere Programme” in 2013.
Further, the Shompen and Nicobarese tribes reside in the dense tropical rainforests of the Great Nicobar. They are among the world’s least studied and most vulnerable tribal groups that still relies on hunting and food gathering.
Hence, environmentalists are worried about the deleterious impact of this project on ecology, disaster vulnerability, local communities’ rights, and various other fields.
What can be the way ahead?
One of the reasons to develop the project is national security because there has been an increase in the presence of Chinese ships in the region of Bay of Bengal and in the Indo-Pacific.
Therefore, looking at national security as well as other concerns, the project can be modified to minimise damage to the natural ecosystem of Great Nicobar.
India’s Sustainable Development Goals | SDGs – Performance So Far – Explained, pointwise
Contents
- 1 Introduction
- 2 What are SDGs?
- 3 About the Lancet survey
- 4 What is the status of India’s SDG performance according to the Lancet study?
- 5 What are the positive aspects of India’s SDG performance highlighted in the Lancet survey?
- 6 What is the reason for India’s poor SDG performance?
- 7 What are the initiatives taken by India to achieve SDG Targets?
- 8 What can be done to improve India’s SDG performance?
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Introduction
Recently, the Lancet journal published a report titled “Progress on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators in 707 districts of India: A quantitative mid-line assessment using the National Family Health Surveys, 2016 and 2021″. The report has highlighted India’s SDGs performance is not up to the mark and mentioned that India may not be able to achieve at least 19 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
What are SDGs?
The SDGs are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. There is a total of 17 interlinked goals; interlinked because they recognize that action in one area will affect outcomes in others and that development must balance social, economic, and environmental sustainability.
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They were adopted by a UN General Assembly Resolution in September 2015 (Agenda 2030). Through the resolution, the global leaders pledged to set the world on a new trajectory to deliver meaningful progress for people and the planet through domestic actions in the next 15 years.
Must read: Need for Public-private partnerships in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) |
About the Lancet survey
The study was conducted by collecting data on children and adults from two rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) conducted in 2016 and 2021. It identified 33 indicators that cover 9 of the 17 official SDGs.
It used the goals and targets outlined by the Global Indicator Framework, Government of India and World Health Organisation (WHO) to determine SDG targets to be met by 2030.”
What is the status of India’s SDG performance according to the Lancet study?
- India is not on-target for 19 of the 33 SDGs indicators (Sustainable Development Goals) of the United Nations, which is more than 50% of the indicators.
- Among the 19 off-target indicators, the situation has worsened for three of the off-target goals including those relating to anaemia among women, pregnant and non-pregnant women, between 2016 and 2021.
- The critical off-target indicators include access to basic services, wasting and overweight children, anaemia, child marriage, partner violence, tobacco use, and modern contraceptives.
- Off-target districts are concentrated in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, and Odisha,
- The performance of aspirational districts is also not satisfactory.
- Many districts will never meet the targets on the SDGs even after 2030 due to a worsening trend observed between 2016 and 2021.
What are the positive aspects of India’s SDG performance highlighted in the Lancet survey?
The study found some good things about India’s SDG performance. These include
- At the all-India level, the one SDG indicator that has already been achieved is related to adolescent pregnancy in the age group of 10–14 years.
- India is also On-Target to meet 13 out of the 33 indicators, including Internet use, women having a bank account, full vaccination (card), improved sanitation, multidimensional poverty, birth registration, skilled birth attendants, electricity access, tobacco use (women), child marriage of girls less than 15 years of age, under 5 mortality, teenage sexual violence, and neonatal mortality.
- If efforts continue, India may meet the target of improved water access by 2031, clean fuel for cooking by 2035, lowering teenage pregnancy age by 2039, and partner sexual violence by 2040.
- Another 11 off-target indicators, including access to basic services and partner violence (physical and sexual), may be met between 2041 and 2062.
Read more: [Yojana May Summary] Sustainable Economic Growth – Explained, pointwise |
What is the reason for India’s poor SDG performance?
General reasons responsible for India’s poor SDG performance
Slow world growth rate: To reach the SDGs, the world needs to grow by 2.5 percentage points every year. But the world has only grown by 0.36 percentage points up to 2021. This is almost seven times slower than the United States.
The covid pandemic stopped all progress around the world from 2019 to 2021.
Linear extrapolation: To illustrate the gap between expectations and delivery, one can use linear extrapolation to project a future date when the world will achieve perfection. This is merely a generalisation since countries that are getting near completion will probably start focusing on and funding other goals.
Unrealistic promises: Some of the promises, such as ending the war, poverty, climate change, hunger, and disease, are unrealistic.
Impossible to focus: Having 169 aims is like having no priorities, so promising everything makes it impossible to focus. Most countries are either not able or not willing to set aside enough money to keep all their promises.
India-specific reasons:
Worsening period: According to the Lancet report many districts will never meet the targets on the SDGs even after 2030 due to a worsening trend observed between 2016 and 2021.
Financing SDGs: SDG targets like zero hunger, poverty, etc requires significant investments to eliminate them. Being home to one-third of the world’s 1.2 billion extremely poor, the Indian government alone cannot fund these SDG targets.
Monitoring & Ownership of Implementation Process: Although NITI Aayog is expected to play an important role, the members of the Aayog have expressed their concerns time and again about the limited manpower they have to handle such a Herculean task.
What are the initiatives taken by India to achieve SDG Targets?
- JAM trinity: Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and mobile proved to be helpful in forming the Digital Public Goods (DPGs) and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) which would be helpful in driving financial inclusion and helping improve benefits targeting which have been crucial to India’s progress on SDG 1, namely No Poverty.
- The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) is being used to give unskilled workers jobs and raise their standard of living.
- The National Food Security Act is being used to make sure that food grains are subsidised.
- Healthcare sector initiatives which are helpful in achieving sustainable development goals are – The Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram, Ayushman Bharat, National digital health mission (NDHM), etc.
- The government of India has taken several steps to mitigate the effects of climate change, like – National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP), The Net Zero Commitment.
- The government also supports the 10-Year Framework Programme on Sustainable Consumption and Production. For that the Ministry has published a draft notification of regulation on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for Waste Tyre for receiving comments from the public and ‘Guidelines on the EPR for Plastic Packaging’ under Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 has been notified.
- Apart from the above-mentioned initiative, other initiatives include the Swachh Bharat mission, Beti Bacho Beti Padhao, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Smart Cities, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, among others.
- NITI Aayog “SDG India Index”: It is the world’s first government-led sub-national measure of SDG development. It was launched in 2018 and has been developed to capture the progress of all states and union territories (UTs) in their journey towards achieving the SDGs. This index is based on the idea of cooperative and competitive federalism, which says that action needs to be taken at all levels. The index shows how the Global Goals of the 2030 Agenda cover a wide range of issues while also taking into account national priorities.
Must read: India’s efforts to achieve SDGs |
What can be done to improve India’s SDG performance?
This Lancet report has suggested the following steps to improve India’s performance on the SDGs:
Appraisal of the policies and programs: India needs to urgently conduct an appraisal of the policies and programs that relate to SDGs, especially those that relate to four SDG targets relating to no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being and gender equality.
Identifying and prioritizing districts: On critical indicators of health and social determinants of health, there is a need for a greater degree of precision in identifying and prioritizing districts for intervention. Meeting these goals will require prioritising and targeting specific areas within India
Inter-ministerial initiatives: Since the different SDGs fall under tightly organised ministries, there is a need to establish inter-ministerial initiatives, with clear governance structures under the Prime Minister’s Office. Similar structures could be developed at the state level under the respective chief minister’s office.
Conduct economic cost-benefit analysis: This will aid in setting priorities and directing more resources to the policy that offers the greatest return for each additional rupee spent.
Along with other initiatives, India should also create a strategic road map that will help make sure that the SDGs are met successfully.
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