India, its SDG pledge goal, and the strategy to apply

Source– The post is based on the article “India, its SDG pledge goal, and the strategy to apply” published in “The Hindu” on 1st May 2023.

Syllabus: GS1- Poverty and developmental issues. GS2- Governance

Relevance: Women in politics

News- The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi expressed concern that progress on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) seems to be slowing down.

What are some facts about India’s performance on SDG indicators?

India is ‘On-Target’ to meeting 14 of the 33 SDGs. It includes indicators for neonatal and under-five mortality, full vaccination, improved sanitation, and electricity access. But it does not apply equally across all districts.

Neonatal and under-five mortality are currently both ‘On-Target’ for the country. But 286 are lagging in case of neonatal mortality and 208 districts in case of under-five mortality.

There is significant progress on access to improved sanitation. But 129 districts are not on course to meet this SDG indicator.

Indicators such as eliminating adolescent pregnancy, reducing multidimensional poverty, and women having bank accounts have improved across a vast majority of the districts between the years 2016 and 2021.

For 19 of the 33 SDG indicators, the current pace of improvement is not enough to meet SDG targets.

Despite a national policy push for clean fuel for cooking, more than two-thirds of districts remain ‘Off-Target’. Some 415 and 278 districts are ‘Off-Target’ for improved water and handwashing facilities, respectively.

SDG indicators for women’s well-being and gender inequality are causes of concern. No district in India has yet succeeded in eliminating the practice of girl child marriage before the legal age of 18 years.

At the current pace, more than three-fourths of districts will not be able to reduce the prevalence of girl child marriage to the SDG target of 0.5% by 2030.

Despite the overall expansion of mobile phones, only 56% women report owning a mobile phone, with 567 districts remaining ‘Off-Target’.

What is the way forward to improve India’s performance on SDG indicators?

India adopted an “optimisation” approach to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was given the focus and resources necessary to succeed.

First, strong and sustained political leadership was critical to the success of both India’s COVID-19 vaccination programme and efficient rollout of a comprehensive relief package. It was supported by a responsive administrative structure at all levels.

A similar mission-oriented approach that is assessment-oriented and provides adequate support for accomplishing India’s district-level SDGs is now urgently needed.

Second, India’s success with COVID-19 was largely possible both because of the existing digital infrastructure, and indigenous initiatives like the Co-WIN data platform, the Aarogya Setu application.

India must put in place a coordinated, public data platform for population health management. It must consolidate its many siloed platforms into an integrated digital resource for district administrators, as well as State and national policy makers.

Finally, a targeted SDG strategy delivered at scale of India’s COVID-19 relief package must be executed with the same timeliness. The Government of India provided support through Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana.

This was critical in removing the adverse effects of COVID-19, especially for vulnerable and the socio-economically disadvantaged groups. It also demonstrated the value of a proactive, government-supported programme aimed at improving people’s well-being.