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United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Department of Rural Development (DoRD) has adopted multi-pronged strategies to improve the economic well-being of people in rural areas with the main focus on increasing livelihood opportunities, empowering rural women, providing social safety net skilling of rural youth, infrastructure development etc through its Programmes.
In this regard, the Government is implementing a number of targeted programmes such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY NRLM), Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) and National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP).
The Department of Land Resources (DoLR) is implementing Watershed Development Component (WDC) of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (WDC-PMKSY) with the primary objective to develop rainfed/ degraded lands.
The Resolution of the United Nations General Assembly on 25th September, 2015 established the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDG target 1.2 specifically aims at reducing at least half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all dimensions. NITI Aayog has released the National Multidimensional Poverty Index: A Progress Review 2023. As per this report, 13.5 crore people escaped “Multidimensional Poverty” between 2015-16 and 2019-20.
A steep decline has been reported in the number of multi dimensionally poor from 24.85% to 14.96% between 2015-16 and 2019-22. This indicates that India is well on course to achieve the SDG target 1.2 much ahead of 2030.
The proportion of multidimensional poor in 2019-21 being 19.28% in rural areas compared to 5.27% in urban areas. The estimates indicate that rural areas saw a faster reduction in their Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) value, compared to urban areas.
The incidence of poverty fell from 32.59% to 19.28% in rural areas compared to a decline from 8.65% to 5.27% in urban areas between 2015-16 and 2019-21. The report is available in the public domain and can be accessed at the following website:
Apart from this, an evaluation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes in Rural Development Sector, including Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana was carried out by NITI Aayog in 2020 which found, inter-alia, that the scheme is well aligned with India’s international goals and is seen to contribute to SDGs 2 & 9 as it addressed the issues of poverty, hunger and infrastructure for growth. Further, the goal of WDC-PMKSY is to ensure sustainable improvement in productivity and livelihood / income potential of land, in particular rainfed cultivated areas and culturable wastelands.
This information was given by the Union Minister of State for Rural Development, Niranjan Jyoti in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.