The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the setting up of a high-level steering committee chaired by the Chief Statistician of India and Secretary to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) to review if India was on track to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The panel would also decide if there was a need to “refine” indicators by reviewing the National Indicator Framework (NIF) periodically, according to a press release announcing the Cabinet decision.
The SDGs are a list of 17 goals, which include the elimination of poverty, ending hunger, ensuring provision of quality education, clean water and sanitation, that countries, including India, must achieve by 2030.
The steering committee would recommend measures to “mainstream” SDGs into ongoing national policies, programmes and strategic action plans to address the developmental challenges.
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Statistical indicators of the NIF would be the backbone for monitoring of SDGs at the national and State levels and would scientifically measure the outcomes of the policies to achieve the targets under different SDGs.
Based on statistical indicators, the MoSPI would produce national reports on implementation of the SDGs.
“Data source Ministries / Departments will be responsible for providing regular information to MoSPI on these indicators at required intervals and disaggregation for national and sub-national reporting of SDGs. Advanced IT tools will be used for close and effective monitoring,” the Centre said in the statement.
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At the Millennium Summit held in 2000 at the UN Headquarters in New York, eight development goals known as the ‘Millennium Development Goals’ (MDGs) were adopted, which formed the blueprint for countries to pursue their national development strategies from 2000 to 2015. The MDGs, which addressed various development issues, were unevenly achieved across the countries and the Centre wanted to start fresh discussions to assess the usefulness of the MDGs and to explore a possible successor to guide development cooperation in the world beyond 2015.
The UN General Assembly in its 70th Session, in 2015, considered and adopted the SDGs for the next 15 years. The 17 SDGs came into force with effect from January 1, 2016. Though not legally binding, the SDGs have become de facto international obligations and have the potential to reorient domestic spending priorities of the countries during the 15-year-period.