Nations should jointly exploit COVID-19 situation: NITI Ayog Vice-Chairman

All countries must come together to convert the COVID-19 situation into an opportunity for accelerating the progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals’ targets, according to NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Dr. Rajeev Kumar said. He said that the role of international cooperation is more critical than ever before.

Presenting India’s second Voluntary National Review at the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development-2020, Mr. Kumar highlighted India’s response towards COVID-19 pandemic under the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign. He said, India has achieved remarkable progress in reducing multi-dimensional poverty, providing food safety and clean cooking fuel and ensuring education for all. He said that India operationalised the world’s largest health insurance programme by covering 500 million citizens. He highlighted the leading role India has been playing in promoting global engagement platforms such as International Solar Alliance, Sendai Framework and the Paris Climate Agreement.

NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant said that the government is committed to undertake new initiatives to accelerate progress on the SDG’s targets for long-term transformation. He said, in this endeavour, peer learning and knowledge sharing will play a key role which the government is actively fostering among States and Union Territories.

The India Voluntary National Review-2020 report was also unveiled during this event. The report is a comprehensive account of the adoption and implementation of the 2030 agenda in India. 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. NITI Aayog prepared and presented India’s first Voluntary National Review in 2017. The High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development 2020 is an international platform for follow-up and review of progress on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Leveraging science, technology and innovation for SDGs, and costing and financing of SDGs are the two levers of strengthening means of implementation which have been introduced this year.

In line with the theme of Taking SDGs from Global to Local, the goal-wise account of progress on the SDGs has been appended with examples of a range of diverse good practices and success stories of interventions from the States, especially Aspirational Districts.

NITI Aayog has the mandate of overseeing the adoption and monitoring of SDGs at the national and sub-national level. The India VNR 2020 represents NITI Aayog’s efforts in embodying the whole-of-society approach and its commitment towards localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals.