Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio launched the ‘Nagaland SDG Vision 2030: Leaving No One Behind,’ at Capital Convention Centre, Kohima on 17th August 2021. It is a document based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, while the ‘District SDG Localisation & Integration Manual’ was launched by Minister, Planning & Coordination, Land Revenue and Parliamentary Affairs, Neiba Kronu.
Launching the Nagaland SDG Vision 2030, the CM said the document provides with State specific short, medium and long term targets with measurable indicators and strategies that the State should focus on to meet the aspirations of the people for sustainable livelihoods and living standards.
With North Eastern States, especially the hill states lagging in economic growth and Nagaland, being a resource constrained State, Rio stated that there is hardly any elbow room for the State Government to meet the large investments needed for capital and infrastructure development in the State.
Rio also stated that the rigid implantation norms of most of the development interventions of centrally sponsored/central schemes coupled with the shorter working seasons due to the monsoons, the land ownership system of the State and the comparatively higher cost of transportation, etc. pose big challenges for the State in fulfilling the aspirations of the people.
Rio suggested that the Central Government recognises the required flexibility in the funding and implementation of schemes for the North East hilly states, and take note of the strategies and the challenges highlighted in the document and suitably customize the programmes of the centrally sponsored and central schemes to cater to the special needs of the State.
Adviser, NITI Aayog, Sanyukta Samadar, IAS addressing the event said that India can achieve the SDG only if States steer the entire process of SDG and become leaders in taking it down to the districts, blocks and village levels, and added that North East Region plays a crucial and strategic role in this.
Lauding the State Government for coming up with the document and manual, Samadar expressed hope that with the Steering Committee and coordination among departments headed by Planning Department, the State’s position will improve in the coming years. She stated that Nagaland has done remarkably well in clean water & sanitation, poverty eradication, clean energy, sustainable consumption and production, peace justice and strong institutions.
On fund mobilization and financing, Sanyukta Samadar said the Ministry of DoNER and NITI Aayog have come up a collaborative project in developing SDG index for 120 districts in eight NE States which will be launched on 25th August 2021. The index will be used by the Ministry of DoNER as a tool for fund allocation, focusing on critical areas. The Adviser also requested the State Government to make use of the new multidimensional poverty index by NITI Aayog, which she said will help with policy planning and targeted intervention.
In SDG performance, Nagaland is ranked 19th in the country with a score of 61 and among North East it in 5th position. For the SDG performance of districts in Nagaland, Kohima is the top performing district with Kiphire at the last position. In Goal 1 (No poverty) of SDG - 100% districts are in red category (aspirants, score of less than 50); in Goal 2 (zero hunger) – 81% in green (frontrunners with score of 65-99), 18% in yellow (score of 50 to 64); and in Goal 4 (quality education) – 9 % in red, 63% in yellow and 27% are in green category.
Minister, Neiba Kronu said that it is important to sensitise, share about the structure on how to work towards the goals with the District Administration and district level departments. He added that the manual contains the necessary information that are locally relevant in achieving the goals.
Resident Representative, UNDP also spoke on the occasion. Minister, Agriculture and Cooperation, G. Kaito Aye, Advisor, IT&C, Science & Technology and NRE, Mmhonlumo Kikon, Advisor, Horticulture and Border Affairs, MhathungYanthan, Chief Secretary, J Alam along with AHoDs and HoDs of concerned departments attended the inaugural programme.
(Nouneseno, IA)
