Economic Survey: India makes progress in sustainable development despite COVID 19

Despite the setback posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, India has made progress in achieving the social, economic and environmental goals covered under its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is part of its 2015 UN resolution, the Economic Survey 2021-22 said.

The pandemic, which has caused considerable human and economic costs, resulted in slow progress of the attainment of the SDGs.

India’s Progress on SDGs

According to the SDG India Index Report of NITI Aayog, India’s overall score improved from 60 in 2019-20 and 57 in 2018-19 to 66 in 2020-21, the Economic Survey said. The NITI Aayog’s SDG India Index has been tracking the progress of the states and Union Territories across the country towards achieving the SDGs since 2018.

The country performed well on eight of the 15 SDGs measured by the index, including good health and well-being, clean water and sanitation as well as affordable and clean energy among others.

State of the environment

India, which is the 10th largest country by forest area in the world, has increased its forest area significantly over the past decade. Between 2010 and 2020, the country added an average of 2,66,000 hectares of additional forest area every year. In 2021, Madhya Pradesh had the largest forest cover in India, with 11 percent of India’s total forest cover, followed by Arunachal Pradesh (9 percent) and Chhattisgarh (8 percent).

The government has taken a number of regulatory actions to mitigate pollution caused by plastics. In August 2021, the government banned the use of plastic items, which have low utility and high littering potential, by 2022. It also increased the thickness of plastic bags from 50 microns to 75 microns with effect from September 30, 2021 and to 120 microns from December 31, 2022. The government has asked states and UTs to constitute a special task force to eliminate single-use plastics.

Involving various stakeholders, the government has taken a number of steps for cleaner technology, upgradation of treatment facilities and adaptation of waste minimisation practices in the major industrial sectors such as pulp and paper, distilleries, sugar and textiles. As a result of these efforts, the wastewater discharge and pollution load have decreased in India.

To minimise air pollution, the government has introduced BS-VI norms for fuel and vehicles since April 2020. It has approved phase II of the FAME Scheme to boost demand for electric vehicles with an outlay of Rs 10,000 crore for a period of five years starting April 1, 2019.

Finance for sustainable development

As financial risks related to climate change are a concern at the micro and macro levels, the Reserve Bank of India in May 2021 set up a new ‘Sustainable Finance Group’ to suggest strategies and drive a regulatory framework in the areas of sustainable finance and climate risk. A task force on sustainable finance was also set up by the finance ministry to define a framework for sustainable finance in India.

To attract investments in the Indian renewable energy sector, the government liberalised external commercial borrowing (ECB) norms of the RBI to enable firms to raise finance through green bonds and sustainable bonds.