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Part I Can be read from here:- https://upsctree.com/must-read-sdg-index-2021-and-the-performance-of-india-states-part-i/
SDG 10 REDUCED INEQUALITIES Reduce inequality within and among countries
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The Goal calls for progressively reducing not only income inequalities but also inequalities-of-outcome by ensuring access to equal opportunities and promoting social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or any other status relevant within a society. It also aims at enhancing representation and voice for developing countries in decision making in international economic and financial institutions.
SDG 11 SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Goal 11 promotes inclusive and sustainable urbanisation. Making cities sustainable means creating career and business opportunities, safe and affordable housing, and building resilient societies and economies. It involves investment in public transport, creating green public spaces, and improving urban planning and management in participatory and inclusive ways.
SDG 12 RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
The Goal emphasises on “doing more with less” thus promoting resource efficiency, green economies and sustainable infrastructure. It also focusses on reducing degradation and pollution and minimising waste. The efficient management of our shared natural resources and the way we dispose of toxic waste and pollutants are important targets to achieve this Goal. It calls for awareness generation and dissemination on sustainable development, lifestyles and practices.
SDG 13 CLIMATE ACTION Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
The Goal is aimed at integrating climate change measures, disaster risk measures and sustainable natural resource management into national development strategies. To minimise the human impact of geophysical disasters, the Goal calls for strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity, including human and institutional capacity on mitigation, adaptation, and early warning. Efforts at the national level – for adopting green technologies, promoting the use of clean and modern source of energy, advocating for behavioural change for sustainable use of resources, have to be complemented by international cooperation on climate change since the causes and effects of climate change transcend national boundaries.
SDG 14 LIFE BELOW WATER Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
The world’s oceans – their temperature, chemistry, currents and life, drive global systems that make the earth habitable for humankind. Goal 14 commits countries to conserve and sustainably use oceans, seas and marine resources. It focuses on preventing marine pollution, ending illegal and destructive fishing practices, and sustainably managing and protecting marine and coastal ecosystems while increasing scientific knowledge, research, and transfer of marine technology to improve marine health.
SDG 15 LIFE ON LAND Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
The Goal is aimed at protecting, restoring and promoting sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems; sustainable management of forests; combating desertification; and halting and reversing land degradation in conjunction with integrating ecosystems and biodiversity into national and local planning. It also seeks to promote fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources, and prevent poaching and trafficking of protected species of flora and fauna.
SDG 16 PEACE, JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
Peace, stability and effective governance based on rule-of-law and upholding the principles of equality, human rights and justice are prerequisites for sustainable development. The 2030 Agenda aims to significantly reduce all forms of violence, and work with governments and communities to end conflict and insecurity. Promoting rule-of-law and human rights are key to this process, as are reducing the flow of illicit arms and strengthening the participation of developing countries in the institutions of global governance. Goal 16 also focuses on ending abuse, exploitation, trafficking, corruption and bribery, and in the development of accountable and transparent institutions.
SDG 17 PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development
In the last decade, India’s role in development cooperation and partnership, especially at the global level, has undergone notable transformation. India has actively contributed to crafting of policy coalitions that offer a forum and platform for countries of the Global South as well as the North for cooperation on multiple fronts, such as ISA (International Solar Alliance); CDRI (Coalition for Disaster Resilience Infrastructure); BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and its New Development Bank; IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa); India-Africa Forum Summit; India-PSIDS; India-CARICOM; the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) etc. Working towards global partnership has, therefore, assumed considerable importance as a policy imperative for the country.
Recent Posts
Petrol in India is cheaper than in countries like Hong Kong, Germany and the UK but costlier than in China, Brazil, Japan, the US, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report showed.
Rising fuel prices in India have led to considerable debate on which government, state or central, should be lowering their taxes to keep prices under control.
The rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the global price of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel) going up. Further, a stronger dollar has added to the cost of crude oil.
Amongst comparable countries (per capita wise), prices in India are higher than those in Vietnam, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. Countries that are major oil producers have much lower prices.
In the report, the Philippines has a comparable petrol price but has a per capita income higher than India by over 50 per cent.
Countries which have a lower per capita income like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Venezuela have much lower prices of petrol and hence are impacted less than India.
“Therefore there is still a strong case for the government to consider lowering the taxes on fuel to protect the interest of the people,” the report argued.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation. It imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and so prices retail fuel at import parity rates.
With the global surge in energy prices, the cost of producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products also went up for oil companies in India.
They raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 a litre in just over a fortnight beginning March 22 but hit a pause button soon after as the move faced criticism and the opposition parties asked the government to cut taxes instead.
India imports most of its oil from a group of countries called the ‘OPEC +’ (i.e, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, etc), which produces 40% of the world’s crude oil.
As they have the power to dictate fuel supply and prices, their decision of limiting the global supply reduces supply in India, thus raising prices
The government charges about 167% tax (excise) on petrol and 129% on diesel as compared to US (20%), UK (62%), Italy and Germany (65%).
The abominable excise duty is 2/3rd of the cost, and the base price, dealer commission and freight form the rest.
Here is an approximate break-up (in Rs):
a)Base Price | 39 |
b)Freight | 0.34 |
c) Price Charged to Dealers = (a+b) | 39.34 |
d) Excise Duty | 40.17 |
e) Dealer Commission | 4.68 |
f) VAT | 25.35 |
g) Retail Selling Price | 109.54 |
Looked closely, much of the cost of petrol and diesel is due to higher tax rate by govt, specifically excise duty.
So the question is why government is not reducing the prices ?
India, being a developing country, it does require gigantic amount of funding for its infrastructure projects as well as welfare schemes.
However, we as a society is yet to be tax-compliant. Many people evade the direct tax and that’s the reason why govt’s hands are tied. Govt. needs the money to fund various programs and at the same time it is not generating enough revenue from direct taxes.
That’s the reason why, govt is bumping up its revenue through higher indirect taxes such as GST or excise duty as in the case of petrol and diesel.
Direct taxes are progressive as it taxes according to an individuals’ income however indirect tax such as excise duty or GST are regressive in the sense that the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich have to pay the same amount.
Does not matter, if you are an auto-driver or owner of a Mercedes, end of the day both pay the same price for petrol/diesel-that’s why it is regressive in nature.
But unlike direct tax where tax evasion is rampant, indirect tax can not be evaded due to their very nature and as long as huge no of Indians keep evading direct taxes, indirect tax such as excise duty will be difficult for the govt to reduce, because it may reduce the revenue and hamper may programs of the govt.
Globally, around 80% of wastewater flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused, according to the United Nations.
This can pose a significant environmental and health threat.
In the absence of cost-effective, sustainable, disruptive water management solutions, about 70% of sewage is discharged untreated into India’s water bodies.
A staggering 21% of diseases are caused by contaminated water in India, according to the World Bank, and one in five children die before their fifth birthday because of poor sanitation and hygiene conditions, according to Startup India.
As we confront these public health challenges emerging out of environmental concerns, expanding the scope of public health/environmental engineering science becomes pivotal.
For India to achieve its sustainable development goals of clean water and sanitation and to address the growing demands for water consumption and preservation of both surface water bodies and groundwater resources, it is essential to find and implement innovative ways of treating wastewater.
It is in this context why the specialised cadre of public health engineers, also known as sanitation engineers or environmental engineers, is best suited to provide the growing urban and rural water supply and to manage solid waste and wastewater.
Traditionally, engineering and public health have been understood as different fields.
Currently in India, civil engineering incorporates a course or two on environmental engineering for students to learn about wastewater management as a part of their pre-service and in-service training.
Most often, civil engineers do not have adequate skills to address public health problems. And public health professionals do not have adequate engineering skills.
India aims to supply 55 litres of water per person per day by 2024 under its Jal Jeevan Mission to install functional household tap connections.
The goal of reaching every rural household with functional tap water can be achieved in a sustainable and resilient manner only if the cadre of public health engineers is expanded and strengthened.
In India, public health engineering is executed by the Public Works Department or by health officials.
This differs from international trends. To manage a wastewater treatment plant in Europe, for example, a candidate must specialise in wastewater engineering.
Furthermore, public health engineering should be developed as an interdisciplinary field. Engineers can significantly contribute to public health in defining what is possible, identifying limitations, and shaping workable solutions with a problem-solving approach.
Similarly, public health professionals can contribute to engineering through well-researched understanding of health issues, measured risks and how course correction can be initiated.
Once both meet, a public health engineer can identify a health risk, work on developing concrete solutions such as new health and safety practices or specialised equipment, in order to correct the safety concern..
There is no doubt that the majority of diseases are water-related, transmitted through consumption of contaminated water, vectors breeding in stagnated water, or lack of adequate quantity of good quality water for proper personal hygiene.
Diseases cannot be contained unless we provide good quality and adequate quantity of water. Most of the world’s diseases can be prevented by considering this.
Training our young minds towards creating sustainable water management systems would be the first step.
Currently, institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) are considering initiating public health engineering as a separate discipline.
To leverage this opportunity even further, India needs to scale up in the same direction.