India needs additional spending of 6.2% of GDP to meet development goals: Report

NEW DELHI: A joint study by government think tank NITI Aayog and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has estimated that India needs to increase its sustainable development goals (SDG) spending by an additional 6.2% of its gross domestic product.
Presenting the second voluntary national review (VNR) at the UN’s high level political forum, the NITI Aayog report said the ambitious goals and targets set under the SDG framework must be supported with adequate financial resources.It also said the ways and means for this additional financing needs to be identified and it is crucial to make sure that the budget allocations align with SDG priorities.
The four crucial areas of action identified by the report are – improvement of the statistical system; monitoring at the local level; capacity building of all stakeholders; and SDG financing.
“What gets measured gets done – this cannot be truer in the case of SDGs. The realisation of the 2030 Agenda calls for state-of-the-art reporting and monitoring tools to measure progress under the framework and enable course-correction. Twentieth century approach and solutions cannot effectively address twenty-first century challenges. As SDGs is a time-bound framework, periodic monitoring of progress, covering all aspects of the nationally adopted SDG framework is critical. This calls for a major upgrade of the statistical systems, both at the national and subnational levels,” the report said.
The VNRs presented by member states at the UN forum are a critical component of the review of progress and implementation of the 2030 agenda and the SDGs. The reviews are voluntary and state-led and are aimed at facilitating the sharing of experiences, including successes, challenges and lessons learned, according to a government statement.
NITI Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar expressed his solidarity with all the countries which were grappling with challenges brought about by the pandemic, while highlighting the key features of India’s response to the pandemic under the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign. “We should obliterate all divisions and distinctions amongst us and come together to try and convert the prevailing situation into an opportunity for accelerating our progress towards achieving the SDG targets”, sad Kumar.
He also highlighted the progress India has achieved in reducing multidimensional poverty, providing food safety, ensuring education for all, universalising access to electricity, clean cooking fuel and sanitation, while also operationalising the world’s largest health insurance programme by covering 500 million citizens.
Apart from presenting a review of progress on the 17 SDGs, the report discusses at length the policy and enabling environment, India’s approach to localising SDGs, and strengthening means of implementation.
“We are deeply committed to building on existing efforts and undertake newer initiatives to accelerate progress on the SDG targets for long term transformation. In this endeavour, peer learning and knowledge sharing will play a key role -which we are actively fostering among states and Union Territories”, said Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog.