SDGs aims at eradicating poverty, protecting planet & ensuring peace and prosperity: Chief Secretary
Port Blair, Sept. 7: The Ministry of Statistics and Programme (MoSPI) in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) organized a one-day workshop on ‘Development of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)-UT Indicator Framework at Hotel Sea Shell Coral Cove, Minnie Bay here today. SDGs which have been adopted by UN w.e.f September, 2015 are a collection of 17 global goals and 169 time bound targets set by UN, encompassing all the key development sectors including education, health, sanitation, employment, infrastructure, energy and environment. The Chief Secretary, A&N Administration, Shri Keshav Chandra, IAS inaugurated the workshop as the chief guest.
In his keynote address, the Chief Secretary stated that far from mainland with its unique diversity and unique geographical setting, A&N Islands requires a different approach altogether in the development framework. He said, the National Indicator Framework (NIF) has already been established which also endeavors to guide State Framework on the lines of NIF. Local conditions and local uniqueness has to be taken into consideration to achieve desired goals, the Chief Secretary remarked.
Sustainable Development Goals are a global call to eradicate poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity, said the Chief Secretary adding that to achieve the SDGs, the universality of SDGs i.e. 'No one is left behind' is to be ensured in the implementation of all the schemes/goals. Mentioning about the advantage in A&N Islands, the Chief Secretary said with around 5 lakh population it is easy to reach out to every household/individual in order to achieve SDGs providing all kinds of benefits which are absolutely unthinkable in other parts of the country, the Chief Secretary said.
The Chief Secretary thanked the MoSPI & UNDP for organizing this workshop in A&N Islands, which, he said, has given tremendous opportunity to look at things in a holistic manner and quantify our efforts in a systematic manner to achieve desired goals. This workshop will also help us towards aligning the efforts in achieving the SDG/targets set up by the A&N Administration, he added.
In his address, the Secretary Planning, A&N Administration, Shri Arjun Sharma, IAS said, SDGs are set of goals which have to be achieved in a time bound manner. The UT of A&N Islands has also adopted an Indicator Framework to measure Isles performance against these SDG goals, he said. A&N Islands have adopted 232 Indicators in SIF, out of which, 34 are UT specific Indictors and198 indicators are taken from National Indicator Framework (NIF), the Secretary added. He further stated that A&N Administration is fully committed towards improving the performance against each of these Indicators so as to achieve the goals in time. The Administration is developing a separate ‘Dashboard’ with the help of IT Department for monitoring SDGs with ‘Public View Option’ so that all the Indicators are available in the Public platform, the Secretary said adding that this enable the public to gauge the efforts, improvement being made towards achieving this Indicators/targets. Andaman Nicobar Islands has improved its position of performer with score 58 in 2018-19 to the position of front runner with score of 67 in 2020-21 as per SDG India Index & dashboard 202-21 released by NITI Aayog, the Secretary informed.
Speaking on the occasion, the Deputy Director General, MoSPI, Dr. Ashutosh Ojha said that the Ministry of Statistics and Programme(MoSPI) in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is organizing a series of workshop to help State/UTs towards developing/refining/monitoring their Indicator Framework. Referring about the role of MoSPI, he said, the Ministry is committed towards development of Indicator Framework and refinement and monitoring of Framework for SDGs. For this purpose, the Ministry has also developed a National Indicator Framework for SDGs in line with the global Indicator Framework, he said.
In his welcome address, Policy Specialist, UNDP, Shri Jaimon C Uthup said this is the third UT Indicator Framework (UTIF) consultation which is being held in Port Blair. The UTIF is aligned to SDG goals and we are now in the process of aligning it with most revised National Indicator Framework. Highlighting the relevance of such consultations, he said our Hon’ble Prime Minister wants us to focus more on Blue Economy. In this regard, A&N Islands, Lakshadweep & Puducherry, have to focus on SDG Goal 14 which primarily focuses on ‘Ocean Management’ and related aspects, he added.
The inaugural session concluded with the vote of thanks proposed by the SDG Associate, UNDP, Ms. Prayashi Bora.
Earlier, technical sessions were held in which Shri Soumya Guha, SDG Officer, UNDP gave an overview of SDG Architecture in India. Dr. Sanjay Kumar, Director, MoSPI enlightened the gathering on monitoring mechanism of SDGs in India – National Indicator Framework(NIF) and Sub National level Indicator Framework for SDGs. During the panel discussion, the Director, Planning Department Puducherry, Shri Ashokan and the Director, Directorate of Economic & Statistic, A&N Islands, Shri Gaurang Mishra shared their experiences in developing of indicator framework for SDGs.