More effort needed

India's track record better than APAC peers on SDGs

As the global economy recovers from the pandemic and confronts ongoing geopolitical crises and increasingly severe natural disasters, there is no better time to evaluate the progress on achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) goals across countries. Alarmingly, not a single SDG is on track to be achieved by the 2030 deadline. In fact, only one-third of the necessary progress may be made by then. The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) recently released the “SDG Progress Report” for the Asia and the Pacific region. The report suggests a 32-year delay in attaining the goals, given the current rate of progress. Despite the need for universal implementation of these goals, differences across various segments of population, based on gender, region, education level, and other demographic factors remain.
Overall, in the Asia-Pacific region, maximum progress has been made on goals 1 and 9, ie “no poverty” and “sustainable industry, innovation and infrastructure”, respectively. At the same time, the report mentions, climate action (goal 13) has continued to regress, rendering the region a major victim of climate change and extreme weather events. At a disaggregated level, of the 116 measurable targets, only 11 per cent are set to be achieved by 2030.
 

Despite uneven and inadequate progress, the report has lauded the efforts of certain countries. For instance, Vietnam’s efforts to prioritise technical and vocational education and digitally empower its migrant workers, or Bangladesh’s improved maternal and perinatal-death surveillance and response systems find special mention in the report. Interestingly, India’s track record is better than that of many of its peers in the region.
 

Country-wise analysis, as seen in the data tables of the report, portrays India’s performance across all 17 goals and all targets. India performed well on 85 indicators, stagnated on 27, and saw deterioration on 36. In contrast Vietnam and China improved in 84 and 79 counts, respectively. Bangladesh’s progress was slightly lower on 78 indicators, and Sri Lanka performed well on only 76. Some of the targets where India’s progress reversed include investment in agriculture; suicide rates; treatment of waste water; international agreements on hazardous waste; fiscal, wage, and social-protection policies; expenditure on research and development; expenditure on biodiversity and ecosystems; land degradation; and employment in manufacturing. Overall, India’s performance remains mixed. The country made no real progress for “life below water” (goal 14). There was either stagnation or reversal in targets under this goal. India endured maximum reversal in progress in zero hunger (goal 2), decent work and economic growth (goal 8), and life on land (goal 15). In contrast, remarkable improvements were seen in access to affordable and clean energy (goal 7), industry, innovation and infrastructure (goal 9), and good health and wellbeing (goal 3). For goal 4, ie provision of quality education, the country saw tremendous positive strides and no reversal in progress.
 

At the same time, data unavailability is a major hindrance in accurately measuring countries’ advancement on various SDGs. Progress for 32 per cent of the indicators could not be calculated for India due to insufficient or lack of data. While India’s commitment to the SDGs is evident through policy initiatives, partnerships, and data-driven approaches, there is work that remains to be done to achieve all SDG goals by 2030.