New Delhi, Feb 25: The North East Sustainable Development Goals Conclave 2020 is currently underway in Guwahati. On Day 2 of the Conclave, four technical sessions were held which saw active participation from senior officials of the governments of all 8 North Eastern states as well as the central government, academia, civil society organisations, think tanks and financial institutions.
The first session on SDGs in the North Eastern Region: Pathways for Localisation and Achievementwas chaired by Dr. Inderjit Singh, Secretary Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Govt of Assam. Chief Secretaries, Additional Chief Secretaries and other senior officials from the state governments of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura were panellists at the session.
Against the backdrop of the existing reality of SDG localisation in the country, efforts and achievements of each North Eastern State were set forth. The session concluded with a shared perspective of future course of action with respect to achieving SDGs and associated targets in the context of the North Eastern region.
The second session on Drivers of Economic Prosperity and Sustainable Livelihoods waschaired by Shri Rajiv Bora, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, Govt of Assam. The panelincluded representation from the central and state government, academia, financial institutions and the private sector.
The session focused on the potential of MSMEs, agro-processing and handicrafts sectors so as to align with India’s export ambitions as articulated in the Act East Policy.
The Third Session on Climate Adaptive Agriculturewas chaired by Prof Ramesh Chand, Member NITI Aayog.The session brought out the challenges of the environmental impact of high-external- input-driven agriculture and sustained agricultural productivity. Technology based interventions in climate adaptive agriculture were analysed with a view to appraising their wider adaptability or replicability in the region. Prospects of knowledge development, capacity building and institutional partnerships were assessed in order to explore actionable possibilities.
The final technical session for Day 1 on Nutrition Security & Health and Wellbeing for All was chaired by Dr VK Paul, Member NITI Aayog. The session broadly purveyed the health situation in the region and the issues faced by various vulnerable groups, such as, women and children, people living with disabilities, people living with HIV/AIDS. Dr VK Paul urged the states to focus on developing a robust primary healthcare system and identify strategies to involve the private sector in secondary and tertiary care.
On the day 3 of the North East Sustainable Development Conclave 2020 will have technical sessions on ‘Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship’,‘Communication, Connectivity and Infrastructure Development,‘Addressing Inequality and Exclusion in the North East’ and the final session on‘Way Forward and Valedictory’.
North East Sustainable Development Goals Conclave 2020 commenced on 24th February 2020, at the Assam Administrative Staff College, Guwahati with the goal of identifying solutions as well as accelerators for the implementation of SDGs in the North Eastern Region (NER). The 3-day Conclave is being organized by NITI Aayog, in partnership with the North Eastern Council, Govt. of Assam and Tata Trust, the conclave is supported by UNDP and RIS.
NITI Aayog has the mandate of overseeing the adoption and monitoring of SDGs at the national and sub-national level. Progress in the northeast region is crucial in this decade of action for the country to achieve the SDGs by 2030 and this conclave is part of NITI Aayog’s continuous efforts towards fostering partnerships at the sub-national level.
In terms of SDG localisation, the states in the region have taken major strides in integrating the Agenda 2030 framework in their developmental planning and vision documents.
