In 2015, 193 nations all around the world agreed to work towards achieving 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but as per Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers Report 2022, the world is collectively on track to achieve almost none of those goals.
These 17 sustainable objectives include no poverty, zero hunger, good health and wellbeing, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, building resilient industries, innovation and infrastructure, reduced inequalities, building sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, conserve life below water, protect life on land, peace justice and strong institutions, as well as strengthening the means of implementation and revitalising the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.
Forecasts of this report show that India, along with other countries, will not meet several SDG targets that it signed up to achieve by 2030. It will miss the goals for stunting, maternal deaths, neonatal mortality, child mortality and tuberculosis.
Living in poverty
The NITI Aayog’s National Multidimensional Poverty Index approximates that one-fourth of the Indian population was facing poverty across various parameters like income, education and health.
Maternal and child mortality
In 2021, India had 125 deaths per 100,000 live births and in 2017, it accounted for 12 per cent of the world’s maternal deaths. India had set a target of reducing its deaths to 70 per 100,000 by 2030 but if projections are to be believed, it will only be able to bring them down to 82 deaths per 100,000.
Similarly, India will be able to bring down under-five mortality to 27 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2030 from 33 in 2021. The SDG target was to put an end to preventable deaths and bring down mortality to at least 25 per 1,000 live births.
Malnutrition
The goal was to end malnutrition altogether and achieve the targets on stunting and wasting in children under five years. Up until 2021, 35 per cent of children under five in India were reported to be stunted and by 2030, it is projected that the rate will fall by two points only compared to the target of 15 per cent.
Tuberculosis
India has the world’s most TB cases, that is 27 per cent of them and between January 1 and September 1, it recorded 1.63 million more cases. There is an increase in the number compared to last year’s 1.4 million recorded last year.
According to the targets set, India was to bring down the cases to 20 per 100,000 but it seems like it will end up reporting about 155 cases per 100,000.
Gender equality
In India, it is reported that women spend almost eight times as many hours as men on domestic and care work. The report also showed that Indian women do the most unpaid labour of any country in the world.