INTRODUCTION

India is currently at a crucial point in its path of development when it must

carefully manage the need for economic growth while also working towards
achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) outlined by the United
Nations. The SDGs offer a comprehensive strategy to address global challenges,
encompassing the eradication of poverty, the advancement of environmental
sustainability, and the promotion of social equity (United Nations, 2015). This
assignment aims to enhance our understanding for Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) through historical, economical, political and social perspectives in
the context of India.

India has had remarkable economic progress in the past few

decades, which has resulted in the upliftment of millions of people from poverty
and established the country as a prominent participant in the global economy
(World Bank, 2020). Nevertheless, in addition to its expansion, India confronts
significant obstacles such as enduring poverty, ecological deterioration, and
social inequalities. The SDGs provide a comprehensive framework to tackle these
challenges, with an emphasis on encouraging inclusive and sustainable
development that guarantees the inclusion of all individuals (United Nations,
2015)

In India, National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog has been
entrusted with the responsibility to coordinate and monitor implementation of
SDGs on behalf of the Government of India. Ministry of Statistics and Programme
Implementation (MoSPI) has already undertaken a parallel exercise of interaction
with the ministries to evolve indicators reflecting the SDGs.

In consultation with the MoSPI, it has

mapped all the centrally-sponsored schemes (CSSs) against the SDGs and
targets, and identified departments and ministries in the Government of India
responsible for each target. States have also started drafting their vision
documents and action plans in the light of SDGs. For example, the Government
of Assam has written to the NITI Aayog stating that it has officially adopted the
“Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.
For understanding SDGs better it has been divided into various perspectives
which are as follows :-

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were born at the United Nations
Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. The objective
was to produce a set of universal goals that meet the urgent environmental,
political and economic challenges facing our world.

The SDGs replace the Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs), which started a global effort in 2000 to tackle the indignity of
poverty. The MDGs established measurable, universally-agreed objectives for
tackling extreme poverty and hunger, preventing deadly diseases, and
expanding primary education to all children.

The legacy and achievements of the MDGs

provide us with valuable lessons and experience to begin work on the new goals.
The SDGs are a bold commitment to finish what we started, and tackle some of
the more pressing challenges facing the world today. All 17 Goals interconnect,
meaning success in one affects success for others.

The SDGs coincided with another historic agreement reached in 2015 at the
COP21 Paris Climate Conference. Together with the Sendai Framework for
Disaster Risk Reduction, signed in Japan in March 2015, these agreements
provide a set of common standards and achievable targets to reduce carbon
emissions, manage the risks of climate change and natural disasters, and to
build back better after a crisis.

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES

SDG 2 (zero hunger), SDG 3 (ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all
at all ages), SDG 8 (promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic
growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all), and SDG 9
(build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization
and foster innovation) [33,34]. By complying with SDG 2, we seek to eliminate
the lack of food. This is necessary for people to survive in the world. SDG 8 is
important because it is necessary to ensure that people have a decent job and
quality of life.

SDG 9 seeks to
overcome those challenges to ensure that companies and people improve their
productivity and become competitive in their markets. Due to the significant
growth of cities and industries, this objective is essential to continue building
sustainable and innovative infrastructure. It is essential to mention that studies
have shown that giving autonomy to employees and assuring a good work
environment can increase the possibility of achieving high innovation levels
while also meeting SDG 8

SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES

SDG 4 (ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong
learning opportunities for all), SDG 5 (achieve gender equality and empower all
women and girls), SDG 10 (reduce inequality within and among countries), and
SDG 16 (promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development,
provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive
institutions at all levels).

SDG 5 is socially
relevant because it focuses on ensuring gender equality and empowering women
and girls, thereby achieving lower spending on violence prevention against
women, achieving healthier organizations by reducing harassment, and ensuring
that people in companies and schools can experience a harmonious society and
life.

SDG 10 seeks to achieve equal access to work, health

services, and food, ensuring that people can achieve more significant
development, generating direct economic development within the country by
optimizing access for citizens [36]. SDG 16 is focused on creating a peaceful,
inclusive society for sustainable development, generating trust within the
population, and thereby achieving solid institutions that positively impact
people’s daily lives [37]. In healthcare systems, strategies related to open
innovation were used and implemented quickly during the pandemic. This is
 because the use of artificial intelligence, for example, speeds up the diagnostic
processes, making the healthcare system more efficient than ever.

POLITICAL PERSPECTIVES

The importance of local government in the timely successful achievement of

SDGs has been recognized by the UN. United Cities and Local Governments
(UCLG) in its report has argued that local governments should not only be seen
as implements but also policy-makers and that local governments are best
placed to link global goals with local communities particularly to their role in
delivering basic services and that’s why local and regional governments must be
at the heart of the 2030 Agenda.

As 68% of India’s population lives in

rural areas, Gram Panchayats (GPs) are the most important local government
institutions as far as achieving SDGs and their targets in India is concerned.
Gram Panchayats are democratically elected Local Governments and have an
important role in shaping local socio-economic development. Part IX (Article 243)
of the Indian Constitution, inserted by 73 rd Constitutional Amendment, provides
for panchayats at the village, intermediate and district level to function as
institutions of local self- government.

The Constitution
envisages that panchayats will plan for and implement schemes for economic
development and social justice. The Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution also
lists 29 subjects in which states may devolve to panchayats. Majority of these
subjects are directly linked to one or more SDGs.

LIST OF GOAL-WISE RELEVANT SCHEMES

Goal Centrally- Sponsored Schemes

Goal 1: End Poverty in a) Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
all its forms (MGNREGA), 2005.
everywhere b) Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana- National Rural Livelihoods
Mission (DAY-NRLM).
c) National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP).
 d) The Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled
Areas) Act (PESA), 1996.
Goal 2 : End hunger, a) National Food Security Mission.
achieve food security b) National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture.
and nutrition, and c) Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana
promote sustainable d) National Livestock Mission.
agriculture e) Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY).
f) Mid-Day Meal (MDM) Scheme.
Goal 3: Ensure healthy a) National Health Mission (NHM).
lives and promote b) Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS).
well-being for all at all c) Adolescent Reproduction and Sexual Health (ARSH).
stages d) Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY)
Goal 4: Ensure a) Right to Education (RTE) Act.
inclusive and equitable b) Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).
quality education and c) Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyan.
promote lifelong d) Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP)
learning opportunities e) Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS)
for all f) Swachh Vidyalaya Mission (SVM)
Goal 5: Achieve gender a) DAY- National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM).
equality and empower b) Pre Conception-Pre Natal-Diagnostic Technique (PCPNDT) Act,
all women and girls 1994.
c) Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS).
Goal 6: Ensure a) Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G).
availability and b) National Rural Drinking Water Mission (NRDWM).
sustainable c) Mission Water Conservation of MGNREGA and PMKSY
management of water
and sanitation for all
Goal 7: Ensure access a) Schemes of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE)
to affordable, reliable, b) Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)
sustainable and
modern energy for all
Goal 8: Promote a) MGNREGA
inclusive and b) DAY-NRLM
sustainable economic
growth, full and
productive
employment for all

INDIA’S DEVELOPMENT PROGRESS CURRENT

DATA

The below mentioned data is taken from SDG INDIA Index 2023-24, which
measures and tracks national progress of all States and UTs on 113 indicators
aligned to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation’s (MOSPI).
The SDG India Index compute’s goal – wise scores on the 16 SDGs for each State
and UT. These scores range between 0-100, and if a State/UT achieves a score of
100, it signifies it has achieved the targets.
Key highlights and results from the fourth edition of the SDG India
Index:

 The composite score for India improved from 57 in 2018 to 66 in 2020-21

to further to 71 in 2023-24

 India has taken significant strides in accelerating progress on the SDGs

between the 2020-21 and 2023-24 editions of the Index. Noteworthy
advancements have been observed in Goals 1 (No Poverty), 8 (Decent
Work and Economic Growth), 13 (Climate Action). These are now in the
'Front Runner' category (a score between 65–99).

 Among these, Goal 13 (Climate Action) has shown the most substantial
improvement, with its score increasing from 54 to 67. Goal 1 (No Poverty)
follows closely, with its score rising significantly from 60 to 72. The
progress underscores the effects of the focused programmatic
interventions and schemes of the Union and State Governments in
improving the lives of citizens.
 Since 2018, India has witnessed substantial progress in several key SDGs.
Significant progress has been made in Goals 1 (No Poverty), 3 (Good
Health and Well-being), 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), 7 (Affordable and
Clean Energy), 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and 11
(Sustainable Cities and Communities).

 Government's focus on ensuring food & nutrition security, health,

education, electrification, housing for all, sanitation, clean cooking fuel &
energy has significantly contributed to the improvements.

 Index records a significant increase in the number of States and UTs

achieving Front Runner status. This year, 32 States/UTs have scored
between 65 and 99, up from 22 in the 2020-21 edition. Notably, there are
10 new States and UTs in the Front Runner category. These include
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur,
Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Dadra and Nagar
Haveli and Daman and Diu.

 The SDG India Index 2023-24 demonstrates the increase in composite

scores across all States, with improvements ranging from 1 to 8 points.
Leading the way in terms of score improvement are Assam, Manipur,
Punjab, West Bengal, and Jammu and Kashmir, each achieving a positive
change of 8 points since the 2020-21 edition.
 GOAL-WISE RESULTS

Goal 1 – No Poverty

Goal-1 (No Poverty) improved by 12 points from 2020-21 (Index 3) to

2023-24 (Index 4), advancing from Performer to Front Runner category.

 Multidimensional poverty nearly halved from 24.8% to 14.96% between

2015-16 and 2019-21.

 Multidimensional poverty for 2022-23 further likely dropped to 11.28%,

with 24.8 crore people moving out of multidimensional poverty between
2013-14 and 2022-23.

 99.7% were offered employment of the persons demanding employment

under MGNREGA in 2023–2024.

 95.4% households live in pucca/ semi-pucca houses as per NFHS-5 (2019-

21).

 41% of households have at least one member covered under health

insurance or health scheme as per NFHS-5 (2019-21), an improvement
from 28.7% in NFHS -4 (2015-16).

Goal 2 – Zero Hunger

 Improvement in overall composite score of Goal 2 moving from Aspirant
category in SDG India Index 3 (2020-21) to Performer category in the SDG
India Index 4 (2023-24)

 99.01% of beneficiaries covered under National Food Security Act (NFSA),

2013

 Improvement in productivity of rice and wheat from 2995.21 kg/ha in

2018-19 to 3052.25 kg/ha in TE 2021-22

 Increase in Gross Value Added (GVA) (constant prices) in agriculture per

worker from ₹ 0.71 lakhs in 2018-19 to ₹ 0.86 lakhs in 2022-23

Goal 3- Good Health and Well-being

 Overall score improved substantially from 52 in 2018 to 77 in 2023-24

 Maternal Mortality Rate per 1,00,000 live births stand at 97

 Reduced under 5 mortality rate (per 1,000 live births) from 36 in 2016-18
to 32 in 2018-20.

 93.23% children aged 9-11 months are fully immunized

 87.13% tuberculosis cases notified against target

 97.18% of total deliveries reported in health institutions

SDG 4 – Quality Education

 Adjusted Net Enrolment Rate (ANER) for elementary education is 96.5%

for 2021-22, up from 87.26% in 2018-19, with 14 States and UTs achieving
100%.

 Pupil Teacher Ratio is 18 for 2021-22, thus achieving the target of 30.

 88.65% of schools have access to both electricity and drinking water.

 100% parity between females and males in Higher Education (18-23

years)

Goal 5 – Gender Equality

 Overall score improved significantly from 36 in 2018 to 49 in 203-24.

 Sex ratio at birth (females per 1,000 males) stands at 929

 Improved ratio of female to male earnings (regular waged salaried

employees) from 0.74 in 2018-19 to 0.76 in 2022-23

 Improved ratio of female to male Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR)

(15-59 years) from 0.33 in 2018-19 to 0.48 in 2022-23

 74.1% of married women have their demand for family planning met by
any modern method as per NHFS -5.

 53.90% of women own a mobile phone that they themselves use (aged
15-59 years) as per NHFS -5.

 88.70% of married women participate in three household decisions as per

NHFS -5.

SDG 6 -Clean Water and Sanitation

 Significant improvement in score from 63 in 2018 to 89 in 2023-24

 All individual household toilets have been constructed against target and
all districts have verified to be ODF under SBM(G).

 99.29% of rural households have improved their source of drinking water.

 94.7% of schools have functional toilets for girls.

 Overexploitation in blocks/mandals/taluks has reduced from 17.24% in

2017 to 11.23% in 2022.

Goal 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy

 Highest score amongst all SDGs also significant improvement from 51 in

2018 to 96 in 2023-24
 100% households have access to electricity under Saubhagya Scheme.

 Significant improvement in households have clean cooking fuel (LPG +

PNG) connections from 92.02% (2020) to 96.35% (2024)

Goal 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth

 5.88% of annual growth rate of India’s GDP per capita at constant prices in
2022–2023

 Reduction in unemployment rate (15-59 years) from 6.2% in 2018-19 to

3.40% in 2022-23

 Increased Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) (%) (15-59 years) from
53.6% in 2018-19 to 61.60% in 2022-23

 95.70% of households have one member with a bank or post office

account

 55.63% of accounts in Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) are held
by women

SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

 Improvement in score from 41 in 2018 to 61 in 2023-24

 99.70% of all targeted habitations are now connected with all-weather

roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, an improvement from
47.38% in 2017-18.

 93.3% of households own atleast one mobile phone.

 95.08% of villages have 3G/4G mobile internet coverage.

Goal 10 – Reduced Inequalities

 45.61% seats of Panchayati Raj Institutions held by women.

 28.57% representation of SC/ST persons in state legislative assemblies.

 SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities

 Significant improvement in score from 39 in 2018 to 83 in 2023-24

 Installed sewage treatment capacity as a percentage of sewage generated

in urban areas has increased from 38.86% in 2018 to 51% in 2020-21.

 The percentage of municipal solid waste processed has increased from

68% in 2020 to 78.46% in 2024.

 97% of wards have 100% door to door waste collection.

 90% of wards have 100% source segregation under SBM (U).

Goal 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production

 91.5% of biomedical waste generated is treated in 2022.

 54.99% hazardous waste recycled/utilized of total hazardous waste
generated in 2022-23– an increase compared to 44.89% in 2018-19.

Goal 13 – Climate Action

 Drastic improvement of 13 points in overall composite score of Goal 13

from 54 (Performer category) in SDG India Index 3 (2020-21) to 67 (Front
Runner category) in the SDG India Index 4 (2023-24)

 Disaster preparedness score as per Disaster Resilience Index stands at

19.20

 Improvement in electricity generation from renewable energy from

36.37% in 2020 to 43.28% in 2024

 94.86% of industries comply with environmental standards

Goal 15 – Life on Land

 The score increased from 66 in Index 3 (2020-21) to 75 in Index 4 (2023-
24). The number of States/UTs in Front Runner category increased from 17
in 2020-21 to 32 in 2023-24.

 Nearly 25% geographical area under forests and tree cover – as per India
State of Forest Report 2021.

 1.11% increase in carbon stock in forest cover – as per India State of

Forest Report 2021.

Goal 16 – Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

 95.5% of the population is under Aadhaar coverage as of March 2024.

 89% of births registered of children under five years as per NFHS-5 (2019-
21)

 71.3% charge sheeting rate of IPC crimes as per NCRB 2022.

 India’s SDG Goals Challenges

1. One of the major challenges for India is devising suitable indicators

to effectively monitor the progress of SDGs. The definition for “safe”
drinking water has been misconstrued with the availability of hand
pumps and tube wells and the official data suggested that 86% of
Indians had access to safe drinking water and therefore were “on
track” for the MDG goal on drinking water. But the number of
waterborne diseases and deaths due to diarrhoea are quite high in
India
2. The other flaws in the SDGs include the lack of any reference to
important provisions of the International Covenants on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR), the fact that inequality is not integrated into
other goals in a cross-cutting manner, and that the means of
implementing the stipulated targets do not tackle the root causes of
development conundrums.
3. Although the SDG’s have been accepted in principle, they have also
been criticized for being too large in number and too wide in their
scope. Several targets are aspirational and unachievable, for
example, target 3.2 to “end preventable deaths of newborns and
under-five children”.
4. A significant challenge in implementing SDGs would be with
respect to ownership. Though NITI Aayog is expected to play the
lead role in tracking the progress of SDGs, its members have
expressed reservations on being able to take on this mammoth
task.
5. The last challenge is how to measure the progress or achievement
of SDGs. The Indian government has admitted that non-availability
of data. Too many of the goals and targets are vague and
immeasurable, for example, SDG3- how will the progress toward
“well-being for all” be measured.

Measures to Overcome Challenges

The challenges discussed above can be overcome by developing an exclusive

model for implementing, monitoring, measuring and reporting SDG related
course of action. Though India has well established organizations such as the
CSO to provide statistical data many times they are general and do not match
specific requirements. Even in case of MDGs, India was not able to measure its
achievement accurately because of lack of data. Therefore developing suitable
indicators to assess the progress of SDGs and also simultaneously developing a
system that can support this exercise by supplying the required data is of
paramount importance.

Conclusion

India is a country with the second largest population in the world. The steps
taken by India for the achievement of SDGs matter a lot to the world. If India
succeeds in attaining the SDGs it would mean a larger section of the world has
achieved it. Therefore, it is imperative for India to develop effective methods for
implementing, monitoring and measuring the progress of SDGs. The biggest
challenge for India seems to be the development of suitable indicators. This can
be handled by developing an Indian Index for Sustainable Development (IISD) by
taking the Ibrahim index as a base.

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