States should compete on good governance: Kumar

Niti Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar said Friday that the government think tank wants states to compete on good governance.

Kumar further said the country has started deriving benefits of India's demographic dividend.

"There cannot be any modern civilisation based on market economy where we can't take care of people who are most disadvantaged in the society," the Niti Aayog vice chairman said while speaking at an event here.

Kumar also emphasised that 2018-2022 will be a crucial phase in India's development story since the year 2022 marks the 75 years of India's independence.

At the same event, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in India Yuri Afanasiev said India will continue to grow at 7-9 per cent in the coming decades.

 

Afanasiev also pointed out that India is progressing very quickly in reducing multi-dimensional poverty.

"We have witnessed that multi-dimensional poverty reduction in backward states like Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh is quicker than India's national average," he said.

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said India is growing at 7.5 per cent and the country's ambition is to grow at even higher rate in the next three decades.

"Our ambition is that in the next three decades, India must remain the fastest growing major economy," Kant said.

He also pointed out that India is among the top three countries which received the highest foreign direct investment (FDI) last year.

India and United Nations Friday signed India-United Nations Sustainable Development Framework (UNSDF) for 2018-2022 to work on poverty and urbanisation, health, water and sanitation and climate change.

The agreement was signed by Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant and United Nations Resident Coordinator in India Yuri Afanasiev.

According to an official statement, the UNSDF outlines the development cooperation strategy between the government of India and the United Nations Country Team in India, in support of the achievement of India's key national development priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The focus areas include poverty and urbanisation, health, water, and sanitation, education, nutrition and food security, climate change, clean energy, and disaster resilience, skilling, entrepreneurship, and job creation, and gender equality and youth development.

Across outcome areas, the UN will support the government of India on south-south cooperation, in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs, the statement said.

The total planned budget outlay for the implementation of the UNSDF 2018-2022 is approximately Rs 11,000 crore, of which 47 per cent is planned to be mobilized through the course of implementation from multiple sources, including the private sector and the government, it added.