SDGs in India
In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi noted, “Sustainable development of one-sixth of humanity will be of great consequence to the world and our beautiful planet. It will be a world of fewer challenges and greater hope; and, more confident of its success”.
As India is the largest country by population and the seventh largest country in terms of area, it has a lot to carry on its shoulders.
The efficacy of these schemes has to be evaluated. NITI Aayog maintains statistics related to progress, but there hasn’t been an update recently. However, they did publish a document in 2022 titled “The Indian Model of SDG Localisation”.
According to the document, “Government of India’s leadership in shaping the SDGs has been globally recognised”. It also states that “The Government of India’s (GoI) strong commitment to the SDGs is also driven by the fact that the globally agreed goals substantially reflect the national agenda of development.”
The document focuses on the Indian model of SDG localisation, derived from the experience of a large country with 36 sub-national governments as it can offer valuable insight to other countries.
The document details the process of SDG localisation in India and says that it constitutes of four inter-related pillars operating sequentially and simultaneously at the national level and state level. They are: Pillar 1: Creating institutional ownership Pillar 2: Establishing a robust review and monitoring system Pillar 3: Developing capacities for integrating SDGs in planning and monitoring. Pillar 4: Promoting a “whole-of-society” approach
The document talks about in detail the SDG Dashboard which allows everyone to look up statistics and see the rise in development. It says that the dashboard is an advocacy tool and it promotes broader engagement.
Unfortunately however, the dashboard contains statistics only up to the year of 2020. Trying to download the data results in the browser alerting us of a potential security risk as the download is being sent through an unsecured http channel.
All of this hampers the transparency of such programmes. Even to find information regarding the specific programs takes more effort than should be required. The information is not accessible and not up-to-date.