SRINAGAR: J&K is the first among many states and UTs in achieving Aspirational Districts, Aspirational Towns, Aspirational Blocks, and Aspirational Panchayats which has led to remarkable development across J&K from the grassroots level.
Apart from this, J&K is the only one in the entire country to tread this developmental path and establish Panchayat Development Index, Block Development Index, and City Development Index in parallel to these to achieve the pace of rapid development and growth.
More so, the J&K Administration has also created a third element in the shape of 1250 Deliverables through which achievement in the implementation of different government schemes and welfare measures is fast-tracked and checked.
Notably, Planning Development & Monitoring Department recently organized a UT-wide workshop on Sustainable Development Goals for Jammu Kashmir in collaboration with NITI Aayog, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, who spoke on the occasion, called the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) a very powerful tool to measure development in general and sustainable development in particular, and added that the governments have to measure development to improve further.
“If we do not measure development, we do not improve. If we do not measure with consistency, it is just anecdotal. The SDG tool will be a very powerful tool to measure development in general and sustainable development in particular,” he said and directed the departments to utilize the SDG mechanism to chart a plan till 2030.
The Sustainable Development Goals or the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development is a global consensus signed by India and 190 plus countries of the world in 2015.
It includes 17 Goals and 169 global targets, which cut across social, economic, and environmental dimensions.
In India, NITI Aayog, in close coordination with MoSPI, monitors the progress on the global goals at the national as well as at the level of States and Union Territories.
The SDGs have brought the focus on development-related outcomes and not just financial expenditure and physical progress.
An official said that the UT of Jammu and Kashmir and NITI Aayog, in technical partnership with UNDP, have entered into an agreement to establish a Sustainable Development Goals Coordination Centre (SDGCC) at the Planning, Development & Monitoring Department.
The partnership will seek to strengthen the monitoring system of J&K, derive actionable insights from data analytics, promote gap-based targeting and build capacities.
It is pertinent to mention that J&K has been a frontrunner UT scoring better than many States/UTs in the majority of sectors like health, agriculture production, education, renewable energy, providing civic amenities, enhancing forest cover, and ensuring gender equality, especially during the last two years.
