As 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, India’s lessons can provide a useful lens for the localisation of SDGs in other parts of the world.
India is the sixth largest economy and remains a global engine of growth and is projected to be the fastest growing major economy in 2019-20. 271 million people moved out of poverty, halving the incidence of multidimensional poverty between 2005-6 and 2015-16. The poorest groups across States, social categories, religions, and ages had the biggest reductions in multidimensional poverty, showing that they have been catching up, though they still experience high rates of poverty. In recognition of these and other challenges and to further improve the policy ecosystem, the Government of India has unfurled the, ‘Strategy for New India @ 75’, that is aligned to SDGs and aims to propel India towards a US$ 5 trillion economy by 2024.
The Government of India is fully committed to the 2030 Agenda, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There is a convergence of India’s national development goals and agenda of, ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ or ‘Collective Efforts, Inclusive Growth,’ with the SDGs. The goals substantially reflect the development agenda of India, as the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi himself noted in his speech at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015, ‘Much of India’s development agenda is mirrored in the Sustainable Development Goals. Our national plans are ambitious and purposeful; Sustainable development of one-sixth of humanity will be of great consequence to the world and our beautiful planet’.
Further, the government is equally focused and invested in the design and implementation of some of the large-scale programmes bridging critical development gaps on key SDGs. For instance; - Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), is the largest government health protection scheme in the world, entitling 500 million Indians to an annual health protection coverage of approximately US$ 7,100. India is aiming to achieve the goal to eliminate tuberculosis (with poor people more at risk) by 2025, five years ahead of the global target of 2030. Considering that in India over 60 million people fall below the poverty line on account of out-of-pocket health expenditures, these initiatives will go a long way in reducing inequality. To eliminate malnutrition by 2022, the government launched Poshan Abhiyan, a National Nutrition Mission for children and women. The program recognises the interconnectedness of nutrition with other aspects such as water, sanitation, hygiene, mother’s education, poverty, and thereby ensures that all the above services converge on a household for reducing under-nutrition in the country. India has also repeatedly emphasised the need for Climate Justice that involves taking concrete action to protect the poor from the impact of climate change and has taken several actions towards this goal. Further, India is also committed to eliminate single-use plastic by 2022. It has also initiated the International Solar Alliance (ISA), which is expected not only to contribute to India’s ambitious solar energy goals but primarily to promote adoption of solar energy across the sun-rich developing countries with India’s leadership. Further, to reduce marginalisation of vulnerable groups, a number of key legislations were passed by Parliament. The Supreme Court ruled that privacy was a fundamental right, and in a boost to LGBTQI rights, same-sex relationships were decriminalised.
