With a growing population and increasing resource demand, sustainable development has become essential to ensure that future generations can meet their needs. India, with a population of over 1.4 billion, is already on a journey to become a $5 trillion economy by 2025.  

By adopting sustainable practices such as climate change, India is protecting its natural resources, empowering its people, and building long-term economic stability. 

With guidance from NITI Aayog, India is committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focusing on ‘putting people first.

This article will discuss India’s journey towards sustainable development and the approaches and challenges to achieving the SDG goals.

Need For Sustainable Development Goals In India

The concept of sustainable development was established by the 2012 United Nations Conference, also known as Rio+20, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Sustainable development in India has 17 goals that target major issues like poverty, safe water, inequality, and environmental sustainability by 2030. 

These 17 sustainable development goals have improved the physical and social environment and helped people lead active lifestyles.

Here are the 17 SDGs to fulfil the 2030 agenda:

Goal 1: No Poverty

To achieve equal access to basic services, economic resources, and new technology, India has successfully lifted more than 271 million people from multidimensional poverty through sustainable development.

Goal 2: Zero Hunger

Zero Hunger aims to end hunger, enhance nutrition, achieve food security, and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030.

Goal 3: Good Health And Well-Being

This aims to improve the health and well-being of the country’s population, which is essential for India to build a sustainable and equitable society.

Goal 4: Quality Education

Quality education focuses on providing quality education and improving all education facilities. It promotes lifelong education, which helps maintain social and economic balance.

Goal 5: Gender Equality

It focuses on gender equality and empowering women and girls. Over the years, 32% of women’s labour force participation has increased from that of men.

Goal 6: Clean Water And Sanitation

Clean water and sanitation aim to provide everyone with access to safe and affordable drinking water, sanitation facilities, and hygiene.

To promote water conservation and save water, the Indian government has launched initiatives such as the Jal Jeevan Mission, Swachh Bharat Mission, and various water conservation schemes to ensure clean and affordable water for all.

Goal 7: Affordable And Clean Energy

This goal of sustainable development in India ensures everyone can access modern, reliable, affordable and sustainable energy. The country has set an ambitious target of installing 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.

Goal 8: Decent Work And Economic Growth

This goal aims to create sustainable economic growth, employment, and decent work. India must focus on this sustainable goal of increasing youth employment and ease of business.

Goal 9: Industry, Innovation And Infrastructure

It focuses on building resilient infrastructure, promoting sustainable industrialization, and fostering innovation.

In India, 80 million people are employed in small and medium enterprises, which produce 45% of manufacturing output. It also focuses on affordable and equitable access for all to improve the quality of life for many. 

Goal 10: Reduce Inequalities

This goal aims to reduce inequality within and among countries. In India, inequality can limit opportunities based on gender, race, disability, and more.  

Goal 11: Sustainable Cities And Communities 

This aims to make cities and human settlements more inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable by providing opportunities for all while reducing environmental impact and resource use. 

Goal 12: Responsible Consumption And Production

It is also known as the sustainable development goal to ensure sustainable consumption and production (SCP). It encourages businesses and governments to adopt more sustainable practices to reduce wastage. In 2022, 91.5% of biomedical waste was treated in India under this goal. 

Goal 13: Climate Action

This aims to combat climate change and its effects by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change. It recorded the highest improvement score in India, 67, in 2023-24. 

Goal 14: Life Below Water

This aims to protect and manage the marine ecosystem and address ocean acidification. Reducing marine pollution and ensuring regular harvesting can make life better below water. 

Goal 15: Life On Land 

It is about conserving life by protecting and restoring terrestrial ecosystems. And managing forest land, halting and reserving land degradation, and halting biodiversity loss.

Goal 16: Peace, Justice And Strong Intuition 

This aims to promote peaceful and inclusive societies, provide access to justice, and build accountable institutions at all levels. This way, children can be prevented from violence and abuse and are treated properly. 

Goal 17: Partnership

This aims to enhance cooperation among countries by exchanging technologies and building capacity. India has been an important part of global partnerships and has been strengthening its efforts to build a network. 

India’s Progress Towards SDGs

According to the SDG India index report, significant progress has been made. India’s improvement in sustainable development score was 71 in 2023-2024, which is higher than in previous years.  

Progress has been made on several SDG goals, particularly in Goal 1 (No Poverty), Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-being), Goal 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), Goal 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), Goal 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), and Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities).

Goal 13 of sustainable development in India has seen the highest progress, from 54 in 2021 to 67 in 2023-24. This growth score is followed by Goal 1, with a score from 60 to 72. 

The Indian government has also taken several initiatives, such as Nanami Gange, Swachh Bharat Mission, Pradhan Mantri Ujala Youjna, and many more, which have improved sustainable development in India.

• Under MGNREGA, 99.7% of people are employed in 2023-24.
• 11 crore Toilets & 2.23 lakh Community Sanitary Complexes in rural areas under the Swachh Bharat mission. 
• Under PM Awas Yojana, over 4 crore homes have been built.
• 28.4 crore people are moved out of multidimensional poverty between 2013-14 and 2022- 2023.
• 10 crore households now have access to LPG connections under PM Ujjwala Yojana.
• Over 14.9 crore households have received tap water connections.
• More than 1.4 crore youth have been trained and upskilled, with an additional 54 lakh reskilled.
• ₹34 lakh crore has been directly transferred to beneficiaries via PM-Jan Dhan accounts.
• Good health and well-being improved from 53 to 77 in 2023-24. 
• 88.65% of schools have access to electricity and drinking water. 
• Between 2017 and 2023, India added around 100 GW of electric capacity, 80% of which came from non-fossil fuel resources. 
• Ensure the availability of clean cooking fuel to 80 million poor households and install renewable energy.  
• India now has 150,000 Ayushman Arogya Mandirs that provide basic medical care and affordable generic medicines to people
• Internet data costs have dropped by 97%, fostering financial inclusion and improving digital access across the nation.

Challenges Faced By India

1) Poverty in India is an indicator that highlights the country’s performance in education, standard of life, infrastructure, and the environment. 

2) The Union government has started a policy of ensuring that the state devotes significant resources to the social sector. Otherwise, the funding gap for the sustainable development goal will remain. 

3) Because of incomplete coverage and data availability, the government can sometimes not measure progress on the SDG goals. 

4) In India, half of the available water bodies are polluted and unusable even for agriculture due to severe water pollution. This makes the country suffer more than any other nation in terms of access to clean water and sanitation

5)- Building infrastructure that can meet current needs, anticipate future needs, and reduce negative environmental effects is quite challenging.  

6) The healthcare structure here is poor, with a shortage of healthcare professionals.   

7) In India, rural areas already have uneven access to quality healthcare, and COVID-19 has worsened this situation.

Conclusion

The government of India has implemented several schemes and aims to meet sustainable development goals. These schemes use advanced technologies to work better. 

Advances in clean energy, smart farming, and waste management systems are helping develop smart cities, improve energy use, manage resources efficiently, and reduce pollution.

Working with other countries and international organizations is also important. These collaborations promote sustainable development in India, bring invaluable expertise, and offer financial and technical support in renewable energy, agriculture, smart water management and healthcare.

India is advancing in SDG Goals by combining the latest technology with strong international partnerships. This approach helps the country work towards a future where economic growth, environmental care, and social equality are all balanced.