Note:- The datasets and figures can be helpful in your GS answers, Essay and Optional Papers. Use it wisely. This is a two part series. This is Part I and covers 9 out of 17 goals of SDG. Rest will be published in Part II.
The composite score of SDG Index ranges from 0 to 100 and denotes the overall achievement of the State/UT in achieving the targets under the Goals. A score of 100 implies that the State/UT has achieved the targets set for 2030; a score of 0 implies that the particular State/UT is at the bottom of the table.
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Key Points:-
1) Kerala retained its rank as the top State with a score of 75. Chandigarh too maintained its top spot among the UTs with a score of 79.
2) Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh took the second spot while Goa, Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh shared the fourth spot on the table.
3) The composite score for India improved, from 60 in 2019-20 to 66 in 2020-21. This indicates that the country overall has progressed forward in its journey towards achieving the SDGs. Nine Goals drive the positive push – 3 (good health and well-being), 6 (clean water and sanitation), 7 (affordable and clean energy), 10 (reduced inequalities), 11 (sustainable cities and communities), 12 (responsible consumption and production), 13 (climate action), 15 (life on land), and 16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions), where India has scored between 65 and 99
4) Two goals – 2 (zero hunger) and 5 (gender equality) demand special attention, as the overall country score is below 50. However, 9 States in Goal 2 and 12 States in Goal 5 moved out of the Aspirant category this year as compared to 2019-20.
5) In the other five goals (excluding 14 – life below water, which applies only to 9 coastal States, and 17 – partnerships for the goals, which is qualitatively analysed), the overall score lies between 50 and 64, including both, indicating the scope for significant improvement in the coming years.
6) While in 2019-20, 10 States/UTs belonged to the category of Front Runners (score in the range 65-99), 12 more States/UTs find themselves in this category in 2020-21. Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Punjab, Haryana and Tripura graduated to the category of Front Runners (scores between 65 and 99).
7) Goal 6 has the highest number of Front Runners with 25 States in this category while Goals 5 and 9 have the highest Aspirants with 14 States each.
SDG GOAL 1 :- NO POVERTY- End poverty in all its forms everywhere
Goal 1 encompasses the aim of eradicating poverty – not only in monetary terms but in all forms and dimensions by 2030. This involves targeting the most vulnerable, increasing basic resources and services, and supporting communities affected by conflict and climate-related disasters.
SDG 2 ZERO HUNGER End hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
The SDGs aim to end all forms of hunger and malnutrition by 2030, making sure all people -especially children – have sufficient and nutritious food all year. This involves promoting sustainable agricultural, supporting small-scale farmers and equal access to land, technology and markets. It also requires international cooperation to ensure investment in infrastructure and technology to improve agricultural productivity. The goal also focuses at – doubling agricultural productivity, maintaining genetic diversity of seeds, plants and farmed animals, and strengthening capacity for climate change adaptive agriculture.
SDG 3 GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Good health is essential to sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda reflects the complexity and interconnectedness of the two. It takes into account widening economic and social inequalities, rapid urbanisation, threats to the climate and the environment, the continuing burden of HIV and other infectious diseases, and emerging challenges such as non-communicable diseases. It calls for a renewed focus on mental health issues as well. Universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health care services and access to safe, effective, quality, and affordable medicines are integral to this goal.
SDG 4 QUALITY EDUCATION Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
Achieving inclusive and quality education for all reaffirms the belief that education is one of the most powerful and proven vehicles for sustainable development. This goal is aimed at ensuring that all girls and boys complete primary and secondary schooling by 2030 and are provided equal access to affordable vocational training, to eliminate gender and wealth disparities, and achieve universal access to a quality higher education. Additionally, it emphasises on lifelong learning opportunities, so as to achieve substantial adult literacy and numeracy, and on building and upgrading existing education facilities that are child, disability and gender-sensitive.
SDG 5 GENDER EQUALITY Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Ending all discrimination against women and girls is a basic human right and is a prerequisite for sustainable development. Goal 5 calls for ending all forms of violence, trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and girls. Recognising and valuing unpaid care and domestic work is a key component of this goal, with emphasis on the importance of full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life for women.
SDG 6 CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Goal 6 calls for access to safe and affordable drinking water, sanitation facilities, and hygiene for all by 2030. Water resources are also critical for agriculture and industrial use, and therefore protecting and restoring water-related ecosystems is essential. The goal is aimed at -improving water quality by reducing pollution, substantially increasing water-use efficiency across all sectors, and strengthening the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management.
SDG 7 AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
Energy security is a prerequisite for socio-economic development. Access to energy enables people to augment their income and productivity, enhance access to healthcare, water and education, and improve their overall well-being. Goal 7 is aimed at ensuring universal access to affordable, reliable and efficient energy services by 2030. Expanding infrastructure and upgrading technology to provide clean and efficient energy is critical to this endeavour
SDG 8 DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
Goal 8 promotes sustained economic growth, higher levels of productivity and technological innovation. Encouraging entrepreneurship and job creation are crucial to this, as are effective measures to eradicate forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking. It also seeks to protect labour rights and promote policies which support decent job creation and safe and secure working environments. With these targets in mind, the goal is to achieve full and productive employment, and decent work, for all women and men by 2030.
SDG 9 INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation
This goal promotes investment in innovation; and reliable and resilient infrastructure which are crucial drivers of economic growth and development. It further aims at promoting increased resourceuse efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes. It recognises the importance of promoting sustainable industries and investing in scientific research and innovation, which are all important ways to facilitate sustainable development.
To be Continued in Part 2
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Steve Ovett, the famous British middle-distance athlete, won the 800-metres gold medal at the Moscow Olympics of 1980. Just a few days later, he was about to win a 5,000-metres race at London’s Crystal Palace. Known for his burst of acceleration on the home stretch, he had supreme confidence in his ability to out-sprint rivals. With the final 100 metres remaining,
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]Ovett waved to the crowd and raised a hand in triumph. But he had celebrated a bit too early. At the finishing line, Ireland’s John Treacy edged past Ovett. For those few moments, Ovett had lost his sense of reality and ignored the possibility of a negative event.
This analogy works well for the India story and our policy failures , including during the ongoing covid pandemic. While we have never been as well prepared or had significant successes in terms of growth stability as Ovett did in his illustrious running career, we tend to celebrate too early. Indeed, we have done so many times before.
It is as if we’re convinced that India is destined for greater heights, come what may, and so we never run through the finish line. Do we and our policymakers suffer from a collective optimism bias, which, as the Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman once wrote, “may well be the most significant of the cognitive biases”? The optimism bias arises from mistaken beliefs which form expectations that are better than the reality. It makes us underestimate chances of a negative outcome and ignore warnings repeatedly.
The Indian economy had a dream run for five years from 2003-04 to 2007-08, with an average annual growth rate of around 9%. Many believed that India was on its way to clocking consistent double-digit growth and comparisons with China were rife. It was conveniently overlooked that this output expansion had come mainly came from a few sectors: automobiles, telecom and business services.
Indians were made to believe that we could sprint without high-quality education, healthcare, infrastructure or banking sectors, which form the backbone of any stable economy. The plan was to build them as we went along, but then in the euphoria of short-term success, it got lost.
India’s exports of goods grew from $20 billion in 1990-91 to over $310 billion in 2019-20. Looking at these absolute figures it would seem as if India has arrived on the world stage. However, India’s share of global trade has moved up only marginally. Even now, the country accounts for less than 2% of the world’s goods exports.
More importantly, hidden behind this performance was the role played by one sector that should have never made it to India’s list of exports—refined petroleum. The share of refined petroleum exports in India’s goods exports increased from 1.4% in 1996-97 to over 18% in 2011-12.
An import-intensive sector with low labour intensity, exports of refined petroleum zoomed because of the then policy regime of a retail price ceiling on petroleum products in the domestic market. While we have done well in the export of services, our share is still less than 4% of world exports.
India seemed to emerge from the 2008 global financial crisis relatively unscathed. But, a temporary demand push had played a role in the revival—the incomes of many households, both rural and urban, had shot up. Fiscal stimulus to the rural economy and implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission scales had led to the salaries of around 20% of organized-sector employees jumping up. We celebrated, but once again, neither did we resolve the crisis brewing elsewhere in India’s banking sector, nor did we improve our capacity for healthcare or quality education.
Employment saw little economy-wide growth in our boom years. Manufacturing jobs, if anything, shrank. But we continued to celebrate. Youth flocked to low-productivity service-sector jobs, such as those in hotels and restaurants, security and other services. The dependence on such jobs on one hand and high-skilled services on the other was bound to make Indian society more unequal.
And then, there is agriculture, an elephant in the room. If and when farm-sector reforms get implemented, celebrations would once again be premature. The vast majority of India’s farmers have small plots of land, and though these farms are at least as productive as larger ones, net absolute incomes from small plots can only be meagre.
A further rise in farm productivity and consequent increase in supply, if not matched by a demand rise, especially with access to export markets, would result in downward pressure on market prices for farm produce and a further decline in the net incomes of small farmers.
We should learn from what John Treacy did right. He didn’t give up, and pushed for the finish line like it was his only chance at winning. Treacy had years of long-distance practice. The same goes for our economy. A long grind is required to build up its base before we can win and celebrate. And Ovett did not blame anyone for his loss. We play the blame game. Everyone else, right from China and the US to ‘greedy corporates’, seems to be responsible for our failures.
We have lowered absolute poverty levels and had technology-based successes like Aadhaar and digital access to public services. But there are no short cuts to good quality and adequate healthcare and education services. We must remain optimistic but stay firmly away from the optimism bias.
In the end, it is not about how we start, but how we finish. The disastrous second wave of covid and our inability to manage it is a ghastly reminder of this fact.