Government has come out with the Voluntary National Review (VNR) report on progress in achievement of SDGs to be presented at the ongoing UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF).
India’s report is prepared by the NITI Aayog.
Does the report reflect the ground reality?
This report provides an assessment of progress on issues like poverty, hunger, health and gender inequality.
But the claims made in the report are in contrast to the ground reality in many factors.
On poverty the report claims a sharp reduction in the last two decades attributing it to economic growth after liberalisation.
However an independent civil society organisation report highlights increase in inequality and poverty over the same period.
The report claims that MGNREGA has created employment opportunities and significantly reduced poverty.
Ground reality however reflects that budgetary allocation has come down and resulted in a huge sum of pending payments.
National Food Security Act was introduced with an aim to reduce hunger and malnutrition.
The measure of mandatory linkage of ration cards with Aadhaar to ensure transparency has actually excluded the most-needy in interior tribal areas.
The claims on National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture falls short with the reality of farmers committing suicide.
Provision of soil health cards and crop insurance has failed to benefit small and marginal farmers.
Dispensing with the procurement system to replace PDS by cash transfer is said to affect small scale farmers.
India has for sure made progress in basic health indicators like Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), institutional deliveries and vaccination coverage.
However out of pocket expenditure for health is a still a huge burden on poor and the middle class.
Quick Facts
SDGs
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are global goals with aims to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
SDGs are an outcome of the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit.
