The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the blueprint for achieving a better and sustainable future for all. The United Nations (UN) General Assembly in its 70th Session held on 25th September 2015, with the aim of taking forward the success of Millennium Development Goals, adopted the document titled “Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” consisting of 17 Sustainable Development Goals and associated 169 targets. The SDGs came into force with effect from 1st January, 2016. The SDGs are a comprehensive list of global goals integrating social, economic and environmental dimensions of development. Moreover, the SDGs are universal (for all nations – developed, developing and least developed), interconnected and indivisible and hence necessitate comprehensive and participatory approaches in bringing everybody together so that no one is left behind. Countries are primarily responsible for following up and reviewing the progress made in implementing the goals and targets at the national level till 2030.
The Sustainable Development Goals provide an international framework to move by 2030 towards more equitable, peaceful, resilient, and prosperous societies – while living within sustainable planetary boundaries. The SDGs are not legally binding, but have become de-facto international obligations and have potential to reorient domestic spending priorities of the countries up till 2030. Countries are expected to take ownership and establish a national framework for achieving these goals. Implementation and success will depend on countries’ own sustainable development policies, plans and programmes. The 2030 Agenda also underscored the fact that quality, reliable and disaggregated data would be needed for measurement of progress on the targets and for ensuring that “No One is Left Behind”.
The United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) in March 2015, created the Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs), composed of Member States and including regional and international agencies as observers with a task to develop and implement the Global Indicator Framework (GIF) for monitoring the Goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda. India represented South Asia in the IAEG-SDGs during 2015-2019. The GIF was developed by the IAEG-SDGs and agreed upon, by United Nations Statistical Commission in March 2017 which was subsequently adopted by the UN General Assembly in July 2017.
Initially, a total of 244 indicators were identified in the GIF for monitoring the progress of Global SDGs and associated target out of which some indicators were repeated under two or three different targets making the distinct global indicators as 232. The GIF was comprehensively reviewed by IAEG-SDGs in 2020, following detailed discussions with various stakeholders and accordingly the GIF was revised and refined. At present, the GIF includes 247 indicators, with 231 unique indicators.
India is committed to implement the SDGs based on the nationally defined indicators responding to national priorities and needs. In this effort, towards integrating SDGs into country’s on-going national and sub-national policies and programs, at national level, NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog has mapped the SDGs with centrally sponsored programs of different Central Ministries/Departments. The integrated nature of the 2030 Agenda requires governments to work across policy silos and set ambitious and interrelated economic, social and environmental objectives that go beyond short- term political cycles. Government of India is working with the approach to strategic visioning, priority setting, and implementation. The Government of India is strongly committed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Following its commitment towards achieving the SDGs, Government has also initiated a series of nation-wide welfare and developmental programs. The Government is committed to ensuring “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas” in the spirit of the Sustainable Development Goals’ motto of “Leaving No One Behind”.
National Indicator Framework
Monitoring and evaluation are essential for assessing the extent to which policies and resource allocations for implementing the SDGs result in meaningful outcomes. It is evident that reliable data is the backbone for better monitoring of SDGs and also require for data driven decision making policies. Taking into account the complex and interconnected nature of the SDGs, Government of India started working on a sound monitoring and evaluation framework. Stakeholders participation is critical to ensure that national priorities for SDG implementation are understood and accepted
Towards this endeavor, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Government of India developed a National Indicator Framework (NIF) in 2018 consisting of 306 national indictors along with identified data sources and periodicity following due consultation process with concerned Ministries/Departments, UN Agencies and other stakeholders. NIF is the backbone for facilitating monitoring of SDGs at the national level and provides appropriate direction to the policy makers and the implementing agencies of various schemes and programmes. Presently, at national level, data flow from National Statistical Office and nearly 30 data source Ministries/Departments are involved in the process of providing data on SDGs. MoSPI coordinates with these line Ministries for institutionalizing the data flow for SDG indicators. At present, there are 295 indicators in the NIF (Version 3.1)
High Level Steering Committee
Government of India has constituted a High Level Steering Committee (HLSC) under the Chairmanship of Chief Statistician of India (CSI) & Secretary, MoSPI with members from NITI Aayog, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Ministry of Finance and MoSPI to periodically review and refine the NIF. The line Ministries/Departments propose changes in the NIF keeping the relevancy of indicators and data availability in view. These proposals are placed before the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), constituted in pursuance of the Terms of References of HLSC under the chairpersonship of Director General (Statistics), MoSPI inter-alia to examine, review and recommend the proposal(s) of refinement/ deletion/addition of indicators in NIF for approval by HLSC.
Steps taken by MoSPI in bridging data gaps
MoSPI has taken several steps in bridging the data gaps relating to SDG indicators. Ministry hold regular consultations with line Ministries/Departments and the respective Custodian Agencies. To institutionalize such deliberations, MoSPI, NITI Aayog and the United Nations represented by United Nations Resident Coordinator Office (UNRCO), New Delhi, India have entered into a Tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) relating to support for Data, Indicators and Statistics for monitoring Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in India. The overall purpose of the MoU is to collaborate on issues related to support for statistical monitoring of Goals and Targets of SDGs, including the use of new technologies, capacity development to track SDG related outcomes and any other emerging requirements. Subsequently, in pursuance of the provision of MoU, MoSPI has set up a Data for Development Coordination Forum (DDCF) on SDGs, under the co-chairmanship of Director General (Statistics), NSO, MoSPI and UN Resident Coordinator for developing the data plan, assisting in the development of a sound measurement, improving the indicator framework after a thorough review with all stakeholders etc. This is a vital forum to discuss the SDGs related issues with all the stakeholders and UN Agencies at a unified platform.
Support for Data, Indicators and Statistics for monitoring Sustainable Development Goals
MoSPI has constituted six theme based Sectoral Committees on SDGs consisting of members from relevant data source Ministries, UN Agencies/Development Partners, Research Institutions etc. mainly to work together for evolving methodology for SDGs global indicators in Indian context and identifying data gaps in monitoring of SDGs. The deliberations held in such committees have been very useful in improvising the SDG monitoring framework. The theme of these six sectoral committees are under:
- Poverty, Agriculture and Food Security
- Labour & Employment and Education
- HealthandGenderrelatedissues
- EnvironmentandClimateChange
- Good Governance and Capacity Building
vi. BigData,AI,BlockChainandMachineLearningforSDGs
A nationwide Multiple Indicator Survey (MIS), as a part of 78th Round of National Sample Survey (NSS) to bridge data gaps on national as well as global SDG indicators, was conducted during January 2020 to March 2021. MIS was conducted for the first time by the MoSPI for providing estimates relating to some important indicators of SDGs from a single survey.
In addition, a few surveys of MoSPI like Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), Time Use Survey (TUS), Situational Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households etc. have been aligned with SDGs as per its data requirement mainly to bridge the data gaps.
Publicity and awareness on SDGs
The Agenda 2030 intends incorporating every aspects of society, taking everyone and leaving no one behind. In order to understand the important role of all stakeholders and stressing the need of localizing the SDGs, awareness programs assume added significance. MoSPI has taken several steps for enhancing awareness on SDGs. In this endeavor, MoSPI has developed a documentary film on SDGs in Hindi and has got it dubbed in English and 15 other regional languages namely Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannad, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu. These documentary films have been very helpful in creating awareness on SDGs at sub-national level. These documentary are in public domain and accessible to all at the given link (https://mospi.gov.in/web/mospi/ sustainable-development-goals-sdg).
To further publicize the goals and targets, MoSPI declared SDGs as the theme for National Statistics Day for the year 2019, which is celebrated on 29th June every year to mark the birth anniversary of Late Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis and in recognition of his valuable contribution in the field of Economic Planning and Statistics. The central theme of Annual Conference of Central and State Statistical Organizations (COCSSO), 2019 was SDGs. The theme for the Statistics Day for the year 2020 is ‘Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Ensure healthy and promote well-being for all at all ages) & Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls)’. SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) was chosen as the theme for the Statistics Day 2021.
Localization of SDGs
Any statement on the SDGs at the national level is incomplete without the associated annotation on the status prevailing in the States. MoSPI is providing adequate technical support to the States, in development of comprehensive and inclusive SDG Monitoring Framework. The Ministry has developed and circulated Guidelines for development of State Indicator Framework (SIF) to facilitate and assist States/UTs for development of a State Level Monitoring Framework in respective State/UTs. The guidelines provide step by step guidance for development of a State Level Monitoring Framework including institutional arrangements to track the progress on the SDGs by building on the existing National Indicator Framework. MoSPI conducts various Training/Workshop/Seminars on SDGs with State/UTs for developing indicators in the SIF, enhancing capacity development, creating awareness on SDGs etc.
Publications on SDGs
To measure the progress of SDGs at national level during 2015-2030, base year 2015-16 values on different indicators were very crucial as reference points to measure performance and progress in subsequent years. MoSPI, therefore, released the baseline report on NIF of SDGs, namely, “Sustainable Development Goals – National Indicator Framework Baseline Report 2015-16” on the National Statistics Day 2019 i.e., on 29th June 2019. The base year data related to 2015-16 or the year close to it for which data was available.
In continuation to Baseline Report, the “Sustainable Development Goals – National Indicator Framework Progress Report 2020 (version 2.0), the first formal progress report of India on SGD-NIF (covering all 17 SDGs) with the time series data from 2015-16 (or the baseline) to the 2018- 19 (or latest available) was released on 31st March 2020. The report was further updated with latest data in the next version of the Progress Report namely, SDG-NIF Progress Report (version 2.1) which was released on 29th June 2020. The Ministry released “Sustainable Development Goals- National Indicator Framework Progress Report 2021 (version 3.0) on 31st March 2021.
Continuing the practice of yearly updating and reporting, the Sustainable Development Goals – National Indicator Framework Progress Report 2021 (version 3.1) has been prepared after taking inputs from all the data source Ministries/Departments. The report is culmination of a series of interaction with data source Ministries/Departments together with UN organizations for adopting more global indicators along with some existing national indicators into global indicators in modifying a few national indicators. This Report may be helpful in monitoring the progress made by the country towards achieving SDGs till date. This report contains four parts – Executive Summary, Data Snapshot, Metadata and Data Tables in addition to a brief overview. The ‘Overview’ covers the background of SDG-NIF in the country along with the role and steps taken by MoSPI for facilitating the monitoring of SDGs at national level, ‘Executive Summary’ includes goal wise summary highlights/progress made during the period under reference, whereas, ‘Data-Snapshot’ presents the data summary of the indicators. ‘Metadata’ contains information on each indicator describing goal, target, reference year, unit of measurement, latest availability, link/ source(s) of data availability etc. and the ‘Data Tables’ have been given in MS excel format containing the time series data on the indicators, wherever available.
The MoSPI has released the following major reports on SDGs which are in the public domain and may be accessed from the website of the MoSPI (www.mospi.gov.in):
India SDG Dashboard
The India SDG Dashboard is a unified data repository on SDG Indicators and has the provision of providing data at disaggregated level. The Dashboard was developed with the help of UNRCO India and launched on the 29th June 2019. The content and visualization of India SDG Dashboard was updated as per latest SDGs NIF Progress Report 2020 (Version 2.1) and the updated version of the Dashboard has been deployed on MoSPI Website on 29th June 2020. The Dashboard is updated on the basis of latest data published in the SDG Progress Reports. The dashboard can be accessed at the Ministry’s website (www.mospi.gov.in) through the link: http://www.sdgindia2030.mospi.gov.in/dashboard/
