Events & Issues

New Delhi, 13 October 2015

From MDG To SDG

MARCH OF DEVELOPMENT

By Dr S Saraswathi

(Former Director, ICSSR, New Delhi)

At the UN headquarters in New York, world leaders from over 150 countries including India quietly adopted a consensual agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for 2015-30. This will replace or rather transform the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) formally completing its period (2000-15) this year.

It is an occasion for every developing country to take stock of the progress it has made in the MDG and identify areas requiring more intensive or targeted action. The global goals are common, but individual nations may have their own priorities. The pace of development in the chosen spheres is not uniform between countries. Within countries also, results vary from place to place.

Several reports suggest that India has recorded high economic growth, but falling behind in reaching the set development goals. Particularly in health related goals, India’s performance is far from satisfactory.

The SDG is the outcome of combined work of renowned experts from the UN, teams of economists, private sector players, and NGOs to determine targets for the next 15 years, i.e. for post- MDG era to continue the work of MDG further.

Sustainable Development is a concept adopted in 1992 at Rio Conference and refers to development that is environment friendly. It is defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

It refers to economic growth that is environmentally sound.      Since then, environmental protection is considered as an integral part of all development projects.

SDG, built on the MDG, is to a great extent re-affirmation of the concerns of the MDG and continues the same method of global mobilization to work for a common set of developmental priorities. The concerns include poverty, hunger, ill health, unmet schooling, gender inequality, and environmental degradation. The goals are designed to promote global awareness, political accountability, periodical    assessment, social feedback, and public involvement that are necessary for any targeted approach.

Eight goals and 21 targets were set by the MDG. These have been expanded and sub-divided for better attention, and new ones are added to make up 17 goals and 169 targets in the SDG. The aim is to meet the shortcomings of the MDG and also refine the strategy in the light of experience.

The goals set are so comprehensive and variegated that nothing of importance required for minimum standard of life seems to have been left out. The problem will be to integrate these and avoid conflicts between the goals that trespass into one another’s space. 

Unlike the MDG, the SDG is devised to adopt an integrated approach covering economic, social, and environmental aspects of sustainable development as envisaged in the Millennium Declaration of 2000.  In the absence of integrated approach, the MDG faced many hurdles in resolving contradictory interests among the three aspects which are in the domain of different set of experts, stakeholders, and common people. Some bitter experiences have given rise to certain beliefs that development and environmental protection cannot go together, and that global development concepts benefit only the rich and are bound to widen the gap between the haves and have-nots.

The 17 goals of the SDG  include ending poverty in all forms and hunger; achieving food security, improved nutrition and sustainable agriculture; ensuring equitable, inclusive and quality education; gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls; ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation, and access to  modern energy for all; promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable  economic growth and industrialization, and productive and full employment for all, and fostering innovations; building resilient  infrastructure, reducing inequalities within and among countries; making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable; ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns; taking urgent action to combat climate change; conserving and sustainably using marine resources; protecting and promoting industrial eco systems, managing forests, combating desertification and land degradation, and halting bio-diversity loss; promoting peaceful and inclusive societies, providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels; strengthening the means of implementation; and re-vitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development.

The list, even the one presented here in shortened form, is long and ambitious and indeed baffling and enough to build a heaven on earth. Perhaps, the proverbial advice “Aim at the star, you will shoot the apple” is in operation. Noteworthy is the use of certain terms like inclusive, accessible, and equitable besides the prime term of sustainability.

The idea is to move forward beyond the MDGs. Towards this, SDG addresses the root causes of poverty and want, and ill-health going deeper into problems.

The development strategy seems to follow the beliefs of some great reformists that reforms should continue without waiting for total acceptance and achievement. Development planning and vision documents must go on building their aims and goals without waiting for fulfillment of earlier targets in entirety. That seems to be the way to progress and kindle interest even where actual growth is sluggish.

But the document reads like a political document resembling an election manifesto and not a technical paper that can be confidently adopted and acted upon by one and all.  

The SDG is for developed as well as developing countries.  The race is among un-equals, but raises global spirit for concerted action that is becoming more and more necessary to combat many global problems like terrorism, climate change, and violent conflicts.

India has started in right earnest with three major nationwide projects – building 100 smart cities, Swatchh Bharat Abhiyan for clean India, and Make in India campaign to become the land for manufacturers. All the three are in consonance with the SDG. India is also stressing the importance of inclusive governance, wide consultations, transparent actions, and citizen participation.

But, the kind of political and non-political obstructions faced in this country in taking up any project are discouraging signs.  There is practically no development project without encountering people’s protest and environmentalists’ objections. These have to be sorted out by means of wide consultative machinery and coordinated approach.

Development, after all, must be human-centred and not merely economic. It should never increase the gaps and rifts in societies. Development exclusively focused on GNP and bestowing entire attention on inventing growth strategies can produce pernicious effects termed as “anti-development”. 

Ethics of development is as important as economics. India has to adopt sound methods of participatory decision-making so as to cover all aspects of development and promote a desire to find comprehensive solutions in the place of compartmentalized thinking. India has to take part in the global march of development. It has to develop policies for adjustments, adaptations, and coordination among economic, social, and environmental interests. In this endeavour, political parties have a major role to play and first of all, shed their narrow obstructionist thinking. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)