Day 66 – Q 4.How do Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) address the social sector? Examine. What is the proposed roadmap to achieve the targets related to the social sector? Discuss.

4. How do Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) address the social sector? Examine. What is the proposed roadmap to achieve the targets related to the social sector? Discuss.    

सतत विकास लक्ष्य (SDG) सामाजिक क्षेत्र को कैसे संबोधित करते हैं? जांच करें। सामाजिक क्षेत्र से संबंधित लक्ष्यों को प्राप्त करने के लिए प्रस्तावित रोडमैप क्या है? चर्चा करें।

Introduction:

SDGs are 17 set of goals as a blueprint to achieve an inclusive sustainable development for all set up in 2015 as part of UN general assembly resolution 2030. These goals are targeted in systematic sustainable development for all with indicators including health, livelihood, women empowerment, poverty elimination, zero hunger etc. These indicators are one of the key indicators in the social sector development. 

SDG sets the focus on attainment of these goals through a worldwide agenda and support including those of international organisations and bodies. The focus of the countries to achieve these goals in the set manner also becomes the priority. For eg. In India, Niti Aayog (Government’s think tank) is dedicated to achieve the SDGS.

Social sector deals with the rights of citizens to education, land rights, food security, health and sanitation, gender equality, women’s empowerment, livelihood and employment guarantee.

Body

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) address the social sector 

• Poverty- Eliminating poverty (SDG 1) eliminating hunger (SDG 2) 
• Education (SDG 4)
• Health (SDG 3) 
• Gender equality (SDG 5)
• Infrastructure (SDG 9)

Proposed roadmap to achieve the targets related to the social sector

• Poverty

• • Several large-scale anti-poverty programmes have been implemented. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, for instance.
  • In order to achieve the goal of housing for all by 2022, direct financial assistance is being extended to poor households. Additionally, initiatives have been launched for providing pension and insurance to workers in the unorganized sector, widows and the differently abled. Over 130 million people have accessed life and accident insurance under these programmes.
  • With respect to clean sources of cooking fuel, over 22 million families have been provided with Liquefied Petroleum Gas connections under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.

• Education 

• • Stunting among children less than 5 years has declined from 48% to 38.4% between 2005-06 and 2015-16. During the same period, the percentage of underweight children has declined from 42.5% to 35.7%.
  • More than 800 million people are covered in India by providing the food grains at affordable prices through the Public Distribution System. The Mid-Day-Meal Programme is providing nutritious cooked meals to 100 million children in primary schools. Additionally, food distribution governance is being strengthened through the digitization of ration cards and an online grievance redressal mechanism.
  • Further, sustainable and climate-adaptive agriculture has been boosted by, inter alia, promoting organic farming and issuing of 62 million Soil Health Cards to farmers. A comprehensive plan is also being implemented for doubling farmers’ income by 2022.

• Health 

• • The National Health Policy, 2017 has specified targets for universalizing primary health care, achieving further reductions in infant and under-5 mortality, preventing premature deaths due to non-communicable diseases as well as increasing government expenditure on health. 
  • A composite index is being used to monitor and incentivise improvements in health services delivery across states in the country. 
  • The government is aiming to immunize all unimmunized and partially immunized children against vaccine-preventable diseases by 2020. 
  • Towards achieving universal health coverage, a health insurance cover of INR 100,000 is being extended to all poor families.

• Gender equality 

• • While much more progress remains to be made, a number of indicators pertaining to the status of women in India have moved in the right direction over the years. For instance, 68.4% of women were literate in 2015-16, as compared to 55.1% in 2005-06. Additionally, 53% of women were independently using a bank or savings account in 2015-16, which is a significant improvement from 15.1% in 2005-06.
  • Numerous measures have been put in place for promoting gender equality. For example, the Beti Bachao Beti Padao (Save the Girl Child, Educate the Girl Child) initiative focuses on a comprehensive package of interventions for the girl child including those pertaining to education and protection. 
  • The Maternity Benefit Programme protects women from wage loss during the first six months after childbirth. 
  • Further, several programmes are being implemented for enabling greater participation of women in the work force.

• Resilient Infrastructure

• • All forms of transportation – roads, railways, civil aviation and waterways are being rapidly expanded. Road connectivity and electricity are being brought to all villages. 
  • The Bharat Broadband Network Ltd. initiative is aiming to provide high-speed broadband connectivity to all village councils in the country.
  • Over the last five years, there has been a consistent growth in installed electricity generation capacity. The installed capacity in non-fossil-fuel sectors has grown by 51.3% and more than doubled in the renewable energy sector (solar, wind, bio- and small hydro power).
  • India is making efforts to become an Information Technology and manufacturing hub through its ‘Make in India’ campaign. These efforts have greatly accelerated Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows and helped the country sustain an average growth of 7.5% during the last three financial years (2014-15 to 2016-17). 
  • Employment-intensive manufacturing segments are being boosted by providing easy credit to small-scale business entrepreneurs. Additionally, the ‘Start-up India’ programme promotes entrepreneurship and labour-intensive economic growth.

Conclusion

These goals reflect our evolving understanding of the social, economic and environmental linkages that define our lives.” India’s development mantra “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas” (Collective Effort, Inclusive Development) and the associated national programs closely track the SDGs.