Srinagar: On the concluding day of the workshop organised by the J&K Planning, Development & Monitoring Department for administration, Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta today remarked that J&K is well on track to achieve the milestones of ‘Zero Poverty’ and ‘Housing for All’ by the year 2024.
Dr Mehta was speaking about the theme of ‘Systems, Processes & Use of Technology for SDG Implementation’ also attended by Anurag Goel, former Secretary, Corporate Affairs, GoI and SDG Advisor, UNDP; various administrative secretaries and other UNDP experts.
In his address, according to an official press release, the Chief Secretary made out that the accomplishment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a global framework for making the required all-round progress. He stated that as discussed the process of budgeting in line with the SDGs has proved beneficial for many of the States/UTs here and J&K too is alive to this practice for achieving the desired goals.
He recalled that the UT intends to cover about 1.9 lakh houses under PMAY and these are enough to saturate the housing needs of all the houseless persons. He stated that J&K has moved towards top ranking States /UTs in Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen and each of its villages is ODF+ now but a lot more needs to be accomplished to reach the desired outcome and move to the model category.
He also said that in many of the parameters the UT is well ahead of the National average and in future is going to be one among the model States/UTs in the country. He emphasized on enhancing the capacity of individuals and institutions so that they are able to reorient their thinking to meet SDG targets.
He stated that J&K aims at implementing SDG 2.0 as its objective with a defined roadmap and optimal timelines. He advised for having a clear idea about where to see ourselves after 6 months, 1 year or a decade from here. He also directed for making the SDG portal live by next month for the UT which would give real time data for targeted interventions.
On the occasion he thanked Mr Goel for sharing his ideas and expertise with the officers to sensitize them about the future challenges to be faced by the Government. He asked him to help J&K in drawing way forward in light of its strengths and opportunities.
In his address, Mr Goel called SDG a vehicle for attaining future-ready governance. He remarked that building institutional capacity should be the focus of the administration. He observed that the partnership with UNDP can be valuable in creating future-ready J&K.
In his presentation, he dwelt upon effective systems, processes and technologies that can help in faster implementation of SDGs. He asked for creating awareness about technology which he said is not based on IT tools alone but future technologies in sync with changing times.
He exuded hope that J&K has the right direction and leadership to steer its way forward in smoothly implementing all the policies for achieving SDGs. He made out that its brisk movement of going up the ladder on different parameters in the last few years as showcased here is reinforcing it further. He asked for the establishment of an SDG coordination centre for accelerating and monitoring the implementation at the highest level.
A number of presentations were made by the UNDP experts, Administrative Secretaries of Planning, Education, Health, Industries and other Departments about their achievements and the roadmaps for the future. All of them also discussed further strengthening of implementation of SDGs in the UT.
