UN report endorses Centre's programmes

If India fares well on the SDGs, 50% of the global goals will be achieved

The United Nations (UN) is presenting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as an attractive business opportunity for Indian companies and an employment generator for the government. 

Lise Kingo, chief executive officer and executive director of the UN Global Compact, said India can create about 72 million additional jobs by 2030 if it vigorously pursues the SDGs. These are big numbers for a country that is struggling to create even a million jobs per year. The UN estimates imply an additional six million jobs per year. 

The SDGs are a set of 17 goals meant to push all facets of human development to an acceptable standard across the world by 2030. 

The job estimates put out by the UN Global Compact underwrites government’s recent policies, in most cases. While on ground there has only been a limited rise in actual jobs from the pursuit of these policies the UN report ‘Better Business Better World’ is optimistic those numbers can rise soon.

Among the policies advocated by the UN Global Compact, which aims to encourage businesses globally to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies, have laid out for India are: Encouragement of modern retailing in the food business, deeper penetration of health insurance based on risk pooling, affordable housing and telemedicine. The report notes: “One market hot spot alone — low-income food markets — could create around 11 million of these jobs”. The report supports both the ‘Make in India’ initiative, describing it as “a timely response to address the emerging market bubble burst and India’s plummeting growth rate”, and labour market reforms. Appreciating the bringing of more workers into the formal sector, the report encourages trade unions to engage in “social dialogue with business….All parties need to follow up on the guarantee of social protection, and monitor labour market institutions to ensure a dignified future for societies and a fair competitive basis for business”. 

The tone of the report will strengthen the government’s hand to push for reforms in the factor markets as socially beneficial. Kingo said how India fares on the SDGs matters a lot for the UN because if it does well, 50 per cent of the global goals will be achieved.