India stands behind South Asian nations to meet SDGs goal: CSE

New Delhi:   India is behind on at least 17 key government targets that have a deadline in 2022 and the slow progress made so far means that the deadlines are unlikely to be met, said a report (The Annual State of India’s Environment 2022 ),  published by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Tuesday.

“In meeting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), India has slipped three places since last year and stands now at 120th rank among 192 nations; behind all South Asian nations except Pakistan” the report stated.

The report was released by the Union minister for environment, forest and climate change, Bhupender Yadav at Anil Agarwal Dialogue 2022, a national conclave of mediapeople organised by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

Taking about the sector wise, the report said the target for the economy is to raise the GDP to nearly US $4 trillion by 2022-23. But by 2020, the economy has grown only to US $2.48 trillion. In fact, the economy has largely shrunk during the pandemic, making it even more difficult to meet the deadline.

On air pollution, the report said, thetarget is to bring down PM_2.5 levels in Indian cities to less than 50 microgramme per cubic metre (µg/m³). In 2020, when vehicular movement was restricted due to the pandemic, 23 of the 121 cities monitored for PM_2.5 exceeded 50 µg/m³.

Taking about the solid wast management the report said, the target is to achieve 100 per cent source segregation in all households. The overall progress is 78 per cent; and while states like Kerala and Union territories like Puducherry have achieved the target, others like West Bengal and Delhi are woefully behind. Manual scavenging is targeted for eradication, but India still has 66,692 manual scavengers.

On Forest cover, it said the target is to increase it to 33.3 per cent of the geographical area, as envisaged in the National Forest Policy, 1988. By 2019, 21.67 per cent of India was under forest cover.

“The target is to achieve 175 GW of renewable energy generation capacity by 2022. Only 56 per cent of this target has been achieved thus far,” it said.

On employment front, the report said, “The target is to increase the female labour force participation to at least 30 per cent by 2022-23; it stood at 17.3 per cent in January-March 2020.”

Commenting over the report , Executive director, research and advocacy, CSE Anumita Roychowdhury, said “Most of these targets are quite realistic, and while the pandemic can be blamed for some of the missed deadlines, for example, regarding the GDP growth, other deadlines, like the one on reduction in air pollution, should in fact have been achieved quicker because of the pandemic-induced lockdown.

“We must introspect on why we fail to achieve targets that are necessary to secure a sustainable future for this country.” She said.

On the performance of the state to meet the SDG goals , the report said,  With less than a decade left to realise the SDGs (2030 is the deadline), UttarPradesh and Bihar are below the national average in 11 and 14 SDGs, respectively. Kerala,Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh fared best.

With respect to SDG 1 (poverty eradication), six of the poorest performers include Bihar,Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.  

“All these states – along with Meghalaya, Assam, Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal — also feature in the list of worst performers as far as ending hunger and malnutrition is concerned (SDG 2)” the report said.

In climate action (SDG 13), the report said the 13 states and two Union territories score below the national average. Odisha tops the good performance chart, followed by Kerala; Jharkhand and Bihar.