Jaishankar participated in a discussion organised by Observer Research Foundation (ORF) titled Tiger's Tale: Crafting a New Development Paradigm
The UN General Assembly's yearly meeting of world leaders is here and with it, an array of acronyms, abbreviations, titles and terms that can be confounding to observers. Here is some key vocabulary, decoded. For starters ... UNGA: Acronym (yes, people do pronounce it UN'-gah) for the UN General Assembly's High-level Week". It's the international organization's biggest annual event, inviting presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and other top leaders of all 193 UN member countries to speak to the world and each other. Although New Yorkers sometimes just use General Assembly to describe what many experience mainly as a week of street closures and whizzing motorcades, the assembly actually isn't just this meeting. It's a body that convenes countries' ambassadors throughout the year to discuss a wide range of global issues and vote on resolutions. GENERAL DEBATE: The centrepiece of the week, it gives each country's leader (or a designee) the mic for a state-of-the-world speech from i
Given the current level of public debt and deficit, India's public finances will need deft management both at the Union and state levels
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said that inadequate access to developmental finance is hindering developing economies from achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and underscored the urgent need to address this USD 4 trillion annual financing gap. Addressing the third Voice of Global South Summit virtually, Sitharaman said that recent reports reveal that the implementation of many SDGs in developing economies is stagnating, with some indicators even regressing. The SDG financing gap is estimated to be USD 4 trillion annually for developing countries, she said. Observing that the global South is affected by global uncertainties, she said one in four developing countries will be poorer by the end of this year than they were before the pandemic as per a recent World Bank report. "Growth thus remains insufficient to drive progress in development and poverty reduction. To accelerate progress on SDGs, there is an urgent need to address the USD 4 trillion financing
In its ESG report 2023-24, ICICI Bank says it has allocated Rs 5.19 billion for corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in financial year 2024, up from Rs 4.63 billion the previous year
Strengthening of local governments is crucial in realizing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), fostering grassroot engagement, and nurturing citizen ownership and accountability, Comptroller and Auditor General of India Girish Chandra Murmu said on Thursday. Local governments are key allies in global development efforts, essential for crafting and executing policies effectively, he said after inauguration of the International Centre for Audit of Local Governance (iCAL) here. They (local governments) operate at the grassroot level, promoting economic growth while addressing global challenges, such as climate change and the preservation of the blue economy, Murmu said. The iCAL is thus envisioned as a collaborative platform uniting policymakers, administrators, and auditors involved in local governments. This centre is committed to engaging with elected representatives, executive officials and auditors of local governments across India and from Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) and
India, through its efforts, has been an important contributor to progress across the Sustainable Development Goals, Vice Chair of the NITI Aayog Suman Bery said. These remarks by Bery were made on Monday. He is representing India at the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), taking place at the UN headquarters from July 8 to July 17, under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council. The theme is Reinforcing the 2030 Agenda and eradicating poverty in times of multiple crises: the effective delivery of sustainable, resilient and innovative solutions'. Through its efforts, India has been an important contributor to progress across these SDGs and it has succeeded through successful delivery of physical and digital infrastructure at scale, targeted social national safety net programmes with digital delivery to minimise fraud, improved women's agency, attention to program delivery in the least developed administrative jurisdictions, and strengthened local and .
Bihar government ministers claimed that the latest report of NITI Aayog's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) India Index 2023-24 vindicated the state's long-standing demand for greater central financial assistance. NITI Aayog on July 12 released SDG India Index 2023-24. Bihar has figured at the bottom, despite improvements on some parameters, in the SDG Index India that makes an assessment of sustainable development. Commenting on NITI Aayog's latest SDG Index, senior JD (U) leader and Bihar Water Resources Minister, Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, told PTI, "The latest report of Aayog has vindicated our long-standing demand for greater central financial assistance..this is the reason that we have been asking for special category status (SCS) or special package for Bihar which is managing its finances on its own. But Bihar comes among the poorest states in the country." He said "Bihar is the most deserving state that needs special financial assistance from the Centre. The economy of Bihar i
NITI Aayog index suggests progress but also raises questions
India has said it has fully integrated the Sustainable Development Goals into its national development strategies and is proud of its SDG localisation model that is built on the pillars of institutional ownership, collaborative competition, capacity building, and a whole-of-society approach. The remarks by India's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Yojna Patel came here on Monday while addressing the High-Level Political Forum panel on From the SDG Summit to the effective delivery of sustainable, resilient and innovative solutions' at the UN General Assembly. The High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) opened July 8 and will run through July 17 with the theme of "Reinforcing the 2030 Agenda and eradicating poverty in times of multiple crises: the effective delivery of sustainable, resilient and innovative solutions. India is proud of its SDG localisation model, which is built on four pillars: institutional ownership, collaborative competition,
Even as premature deaths due to cancer have come down across three-fourths of the world, only eight countries are likely to meet the related United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Target 3.4, pointed out a recent study. The target is concerned with slashing premature deaths from non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including cancer, by a third by 2030 through prevention and treatment. For the study, researchers, including those from the World Health Organization (WHO), Switzerland, calculated the risk of dying prematurely for people aged 30-69 years to discern how the pattern of yearly premature deaths due to cancer changed from 2000-2019 across 183 countries. Data from the WHO Global Health Estimates were used. The research team found that while overall early deaths due to all cancers fell across South-East Asian countries, early deaths due to breast, colorectal and pancreatic cancer increased. The findings were published in The Lancet Oncology. However, "for most ...
The UN SDGs comprise 17 goals that span everything from the eradication of poverty to ensuring access to clean water. More than $4 trillion will be needed each year to meet the targets
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday chaired a day-long meeting of his Council of Ministers as they brainstormed over the vision document for "Viksit Bharat: 2047" and a detailed action plan for the next five years. Government sources said a 100-day agenda for immediate steps to be taken after a new government is formed in May was deliberated upon during the meeting for its quick implementation. They said the roadmap for "Viksit Bharat" is a result of more than two years of intensive preparation and involved a "whole of government" approach involving all ministries and wide-ranging consultations with state governments, academia, industry bodies, civil society, scientific organisations and mobilisation of youths for inputs. "More than 2,700 meetings, workshops and seminars were held at various levels. Suggestions of more than 20 lakh youths were received," one official said. The roadmap for "Viksit Bharat" has a comprehensive blueprint with clearly articulated national vision, ...
India will not accept any unjustified mandate on carbon emissions but will deliver more than the commitment it makes, a senior government official said on Friday. While speaking at the Aavaana-Startup India ClimateTech Challenge event, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said India's mandate is to become net zero by 2070. "We have accepted a stretched-out kind of goal because India believes we are not historically responsible for carbon emissions, even less in per capita terms, but the vision of the Hon'ble PM has always been that we will not accept unjustified mandates but we will deliver much more than we have promised," he said. Singh said India has already built the world's 4th largest renewable energy capacity of 180 gigawatts. "We are well ahead of our SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) goals," he said. He said that as India moves towards a greener future, start-ups will play a very important role through their innova
India's track record better than APAC peers on SDGs
Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh on Friday said panchayats should not depend on MGNREGA funds and have their own sources of revenue. Addressing representatives from Panchayati Raj Institutions who came to Delhi to attend the Republic Day parade, the Union minister also emphasised the role of panchayats in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Panchayats should become self-reliant and develop revenue models, Singh said. "Panchayats should not depend on NREGA funds. If a petrol pump opens on panchayat land, the state collects VAT. Can the panchayat not get a share out of it? If a factory is built on a panchayat's land, it should earn tax from it," he said, suggesting revenue models. He underlined that panchayats can play a huge role in achieving the SDGs and said that they should look at 'Jan Bhagidari' (people's participation) for meeting these targets. "When we talk of a 'shiksha yukt panchayat', I am told that there is a shortage of teachers... There should be .
India, home to the world's largest youth population, is actively shaping the future and its young minds are leveraging technology as a powerful tool to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, India's envoy to the UN has said. In her special address to the annual 1M1B Activate Impact Summit', India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj said that India truly believes in the transformative power of youth. We recognise that the path to achieving the SDGs by 2030 is through harnessing the energy, the creativity and the innovation of our young population, she said on Thursday. India is home to the world's largest youth population, which is very unique. So we are not just observing the future unfolding, we're actually actively shaping it, she said. Kamboj said that India's young minds are leveraging technology as a powerful tool to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She said that projects by the country's .
In a world where environmental concerns and sustainability have taken centre stage, the concept of the Blue Economy emerges as a captivating notion
The Principal Secretary also touched upon the forthcoming G20 Virtual Summit, a novel concept proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday urged the private sector to come forward and support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) saying it is the collective responsibility of all stakeholders to participate and contribute in this endeavour. Speaking at an event organised on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank Annual meetings at Marrakesh in Morocco, the minister exuded confidence that MDB reform process emanating from the G20 deliberations will prompt multilateral development banks (MDBs) to maximise investments into developing nations. The 17 SDGs adopted by United Nations member states in 2015 were aimed at addressing a wide range of social, economic, and environmental challenges by 2030, she said. "India under its Presidency has called upon all G20 members to collectively resolve to fully and effectively implement the 2030 Agenda and accelerate progress toward the SDGs, in a timely manner," Sitharaman said. Observing that the SDGs provide a shared blueprint for peac