UN Secretary-General’s statement has come in the form of a progress report and call of action on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He found that there had been very big talks in the past by country heads claiming to be working for the welfare of the people, but in reality at the “halfway to 2030, we are far off track,” as he has said. Now is the halfway mark because the SDG goals have been committed in 2015.

For any sensitive mind, such an observation, is an indirect criticism for all those heads of the countries who have been very big in words and very low in action, and it is a humiliation for such leaders and the countries they lead.

One cannot say with certainty what our PM Narendra Modi had been feeling about it, but for the nation it is a humiliation. Modi has always been speaking big words but very low in action, that resulted in great miseries for the people of the country, bringing down the SDG achievements of the world because of its being the largest populated country of the world. In the 2022 Global Index of SDG, India ranked 121 out of 163 countries, and was falling down from 117 in 2020 and 121 in 2021.

Obviously to conceal its failure, the Niti Aayog of India, which is chaired by PM Narendra Modi himself, which he had created after dismantling the erstwhile Yojna Aayog, has come out with its own data about achievement. Apart from the suspicion on the quality of data, it is surprising that it excluded the SDG 12, 13, 14 and 17, which amounts to not revealing the real achievement on the entire range of SDGs.

G20 presidency is thus caught between the pride and humiliation, not only for PM Modi but also for India as a whole and for all its citizens particularly the vulnerable ones. UN Secretary General’s statement is therefore of utmost importance for India. If G20 agrees to $500 billion yearly stimulus, Indian poor and vulnerable people will be benefited in largest number. It would be a test for the ability of India’s leadership to get all the members of G20 to agree to the UN call for the required fund, at a time when Indian leadership’s performance in his own country is dismal on almost all SDGs. Other members of G20 countries could not be driven by mere rhetoric of Modi, as he has been able to drive his vote bank within the country only through sloganeering and communal derailing of common mind to his own benefit. Other G20 countries would like to see to compare the too big words and too low actions.

India has other challenges too, because its presidency is not a sure recipe for a big leap forward. Fulfilling leadership role of G20 is not so easy as leading India as its premier when the entire country is highly communalized, BBC documentary showed PM Modi inciting for communal cleansing of Muslims, and is cutting a sorry figure in saving his friend Adani in alleged corporate malpractices. There are many other issues that would keep Modi uncomfortable during the G20 presidency.

G20 countries constitute 80 per cent of the world’s GDP and two thirds of the world’s population. India is also now the largest populated country in the world with largest number of youths. India is presently not able to provide either education or work to about 23 crore of youths under 30, and is not likely to derive the “demographic dividend” since it is unable to provide the required skill for the fast changing economy of the world.

Achieving SDG goals for India and the world would be the greatest challenge for India’s G20 presidency, when rhetoric of “Amrit Kaal” the next 25 years would not do, as the Union Budget 2022-23 tried to do for domestic audience. Budget failed to support enough new job generation and social security coverage on the one hand and effected big cuts into the allocations for the social sector, which would worsen the country’s performance in achieving the SDG goals.

India has been projected as the fastest growing economy of the world and therefore the world will be looking with great hope from its leadership. India is the biggest country in the world housing largest number of poor. SDG 1, 2 and 3, ie no poverty, no hunger, and ensuring good health to all, will be the major challenge not only for India but also for the world, because failure of India in this regard would be failure of the world in its SDG agenda.

Other items in the SDG are also important for India and the world. And UN Secretary General has rightly said that much more remains to be done, since we are far off the track. This must be the year when we lay the foundations for more effective global cooperation that can deal with today’s challenges as well as new risks and threats down the line. “Turning words into action is the key,” he said. Significant steps include the breakthrough on loss and damage, providing social protection, and generating jobs.

“We need to go further and deeper. On climate, on conflict, on inequality, on food insecurity, on nuclear weapons – we are closer to the edge than ever,” UN Secretary-General has said, while urging to “rescue the SDGs.” (IPA Service)