News Excerpt:

Recently, Data released by the UNESCAP as part of Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Report: Showcasing Transformative Actions 2024 report indicated that the country still had quite a few indicators where data availability was an issue. 

Key Points of the report:

• The report showed that India’s performance on 85 of Sustainable Development Goal parameters has improved, with progress stagnating on 27 counts and worsening on 36.
• While the country had two or more data points available for 156 or 68% of the 231 indicators under 17 SDGs, China had sufficient information on 58% of indicators, whereas Vietnam had sufficient information on 66% of indicators since 2000.
• The report also noted 25 emerging challenges for the Indian economy, which included rising obesity levels among children, higher annual inflation, and resources made available to strengthen statistical capabilities.

India and Asia’s challenges mentioned:

• While the report lauded the efforts of certain countries, it pointed out that most were likely to miss the SDG target for 2030, and in fact, the gap between reaching the target was now 32 years. 
  • So, the region would only be able to fulfill its SDG agenda by 2062.
• Efforts towards mitigating hunger (Goal 2), enhancing health and well-being (Goal 3), ensuring the availability of clean water and sanitation (Goal 6), expanding affordable and clean energy (Goal 7), and building sustainable cities and communities (Goal 11) have been less pronounced and require heightened attention.
• The report also highlighted women facing trouble in accessing education and employment opportunities across the region despite progress in school enrolment rates.
• UNESCAP also noted the regression caused by COVID-19 in achieving SDG targets.
  • In India, the All India Survey on Higher Education for 2021-22 found that female enrollment in higher education as a ratio of total enrollment has reduced post-pandemic.
• The latest periodic labour force survey shows high female unemployment despite a rising female labour force participation rate in urban areas. 
  • India’s overall female labour force participation is still lower than China, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
• India’s inflation is likely to average 5.4% in FY24, higher than the 4% target set by the central bank.

Improvements mentioned in the report:

• According to the report, the overall average progress towards achieving all 17 SDGs in Asia and the Pacific has increased slowly from 4.4 percent in 2017 to 17.0 percent in 2023.
• The report pointed out that positive steps have been taken towards eliminating poverty (Goal 1) and bolstering sustainable industry, innovation, and infrastructure (Goal 9).