Realisation of Sustainable Development Goals Through Panchayati Raj Institutions
| Published date | 01 December 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00195561231196222 |
| Author | Chandra Shekhar Kumar,Manoj Sharma |
| Date | 01 December 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Realisation of
Sustainable
Development Goals
Through Panchayati
Raj Institutions
Chandra Shekhar Kumar1 and Manoj Sharma1
Abstract
Gram panchayats (GPs), being constitutionally mandated and closest to the peo-
ple, can anchor the responsibility of localising the implementation of the UN
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and achieving them by the year 2030.
In this article, published reports have been used for analysing state-wise sta-
tus of SDGs achievements and their correlations with attainments in areas of
poverty-reduction and other developmental indicators. Also, progress made by
GPs on various metrics related to SDGs has been corroborated with other
relevant metrics. For effective functioning and service-delivery capacity of pan-
chayats, it is necessary that they are sufficiently empowered with functions and
responsibilities as per aspirations of the provisions of the 73rd Constitutional
Amendment, 1993, strengthened with basic infrastructure and technical man-
power to harness the full potential of digitisation and also incentivised for
augmenting their own sources of revenue.
Keywords
Realisation of SDGs, SDGs and panchayats, localisation of SDGs, SDGs and rural
areas, Mission Antyodaya and SDGs, multidimensional poverty, panchayats
Introduction
Effectiveness of various developmental and social welfare programmes may
increase manifold by synergistic convergence in planning, implementation and
Article
Indian Journal of Public
Administration
69(4) 877–902, 2023
© 2023 IIPA
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/00195561231196222
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1 Ministry of Panchayati Raj, New Delhi, Delhi, India.
Corresponding author:
Chandra Shekhar Kumar, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, New Delhi, Delhi 110001, India.
E-mail: cs.kumar@nic.in
878 Indian Journal of Public Administration 69(4)
monitoring of such programmes at the panchayat level. Gram panchayats
(GPs), being constitutionally and legislatively mandated and closest to the people,
can ably anchor this responsibility through community participation. Localising
implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), at the pan-
chayat level, may substantially strengthen the prospect of achieving these goals
by the year 2030.
Nearly 68% of the population of India lives in rural areas. Rural economy
contributes about 46% of the national income (Research and Information Division,
2021). Provisions of basic physical and social infrastructural facilities in rural
areas as prevalent in urban areas are essential. India being a signatory to the
United Nations 2030 Agenda for Achieving Sustainable Development through
seventeen identied goals,1 achievement of these goals in villages by 2030 will
substantially help in realising this aspiration.
Assessing the present status on achievement of these seventeen goals at the
panchayat and state levels will facilitate in setting the goal-wise roadmap. Readily
available data sources which may full this requirement are: (a) SDG India Index
Score (SDG, 2020) published by NITI Aayog2 scoring states/UTs in achievement
of SDGs through respective targets, (b) Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI
2021) developed by NITI Aayog3 capturing deprivation levels of states/UTs
across three dimensions of health, education and standard of living and (c) Mission
Antyodaya 2020 Survey4 (MA, 2020) conducted by Department of Rural
Development which provides the status of villages across 137 parameters covering
twenty-nine subjects listed under the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution.
Accordingly, these published reports have been used here for analysing
SDG-wise prevailing status and their correlations with attainment in areas of
poverty-reduction and other developmental indicators. Besides this, for localisation
and achievement of SDGs at grassroots levels, Union Ministry of Panchayati
Raj (MoPR) has amalgamated seventeen SDGs into nine local target-based themes,
namely, (a) poverty-free and enhanced livelihoods village, (b) healthy village,
(c) child-friendly village, (d) water-sufcient village, (e) clean and green village, (f)
self-sufcient infrastructure in village, (g) socially-secured village, (h) village
with good governance, and (i) women-friendly village.
In the following sections, a brief discussion is presented on the state’s incre-
mental performance on SDGs during the year 2020 in comparison to the year
2019. For convergent planning and implementation of a large number of activities
with the involvement of communities at the panchayat level, it is critical that
panchayats are empowered with adequate powers and responsibilities as well
as resources as per constitutional provisions. In this context, the signicance of
panchayats in localising the implementation of SDGs at the grassroots levels has
been discussed.
Subsequently, saturation level of states/UTs on various parameters of MA 2020
Survey and its improvement over the year 2019 has been discussed, which
helps in projecting the likelihood of achieving saturation level by the year 2030.
Further, using the mapping of Localisation of SDGs (LSDGs) themes and MA
2020 sectors, an estimation of average percentage of facilities available in a
representative village under nine LSDG themes has also been made.
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