The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) invited inputs/comments/suggestions to the Draft National Indicators Framework for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in March this year. Responding to the opportunity of partaking in the framing of national indicators, Caritas India submitted a host of indicators to various Goals and targets of the SDGs, on 7 April 2017.

The world embraced global SDGs in 2015, which have 17 Goals and 169 Targets covering a broad range of sustainable development issues. The SDGs besides being ambitious, take forward the unfinished agenda of its predecessor, the millennium development goals. Caritas India’s interventions on six strategic goals are aligned with sustainable development issues, and strive to achieve pro-poor, equitable and holistic development. These are­ – Emergencies and DRR; Climate Change Adaptive Sustainable Agriculture and Livelihood; Women and Child Development; Dalit and Tribal Development; Health; and Urban Poverty. Within these strategic goals, it prioritises the most marginalised and socially excluded communities, and acts to narrow the gaps between them and public systems through realisation of entitlements as a matter of right.

Caritas India reviewed the draft framework shared by the ministry and suggested indicators to set benchmarks for measuring and monitoring India’s progress to the SDGs. It is important to note that the MDGs lacked national indicators which made monitoring of the targets difficult and accountability to people weak. With national indicators to the SGDs coming up, the citizens of the country will be able to track where the country stands in its commitment to eradicating poverty and hunger (Goals 1 & 2), gender equality (Goal 5), reducing inequality within and among nations (Goal 10), sustainable cities and communities (Goal 11), and peace, justice and strong institutions (Goal 16), among others.

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