Abstract
The mission statement of the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) states that
the SDGs are “A shared blueprint for peace and
prosperity for people and the planet, now and into
the future” (www.sdgs.un.org Retrieved on Aug. 10,
2022). Based on the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable
Development Goals – Agenda 2030 (which was
adopted by 192 member nations), India’s rank was 120
in 2016 – a drop from 117 a year ago (www.businessstandard.
com. Retrieved on Aug. 19, 2022). India had
an overall SDG score of 60.32/100. This makes India
fall behind all nations in South Asia, barring Pakistan –
which at rank 125 is four notches below India. Notably,
Maldives (score of 71), Bhutan (score of 70), Sri Lanka
(score of 70), Nepal (score of 66), and Bangladesh
(score of 64) are all above India (https://dashboards.
sdgindex.org/rankings. Retrieved on Aug. 19, 2022).
As per the State of India’s environment report 2022
(Centre for Science and Environment. https://csestore.
cse.org.in/. Retrieved on Aug. 21, 2022), this drop in
rank is primarily because of 11 of the 17 sustainable
development goals (Yadav, 2022). One of the prime
lookouts of the National Institute of Transforming
India (NITI Aayog), India’s apex economic policy think
tank, is the attainment of the sustainable development
goals (SDGs) for 2030, and measuring and monitoring
each of the 28 states’ and eight union territories’
progress towards the same. No wonder, NITI Aayog
painstakingly firmed up the structural edifice of the first
SDG India Index and its Baseline Report (https://www.
niti.gov.in. Retrieved on Aug. 11, 2022). This paper is
an attempt to trace the history of the UN SDGs and an
attempt to understand and review India’s progress on
them.
Keywords: Sustainability, Development, United Nations, NITI Aayog, SDG India Index
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