How Does India Stand for Being Sustainable, Are We Prepared or Not?

The four forces of capital—human capital (SDGs 1–5), physical capital (SDGs 8–9), natural capital (SDGs 14–15), and social capital—form the basis of the SDG agenda (SDGs 10 and 16). In its research, Inclusive Wealth, the United Nations Environment Programme examines how the social values of three of these capital assets—natural, human, and generated or physical capital—have changed between 1990 and 2014.

However, India’s development cannot be in the direction of degrowth. ‘Degrowth’ is a clarion call that is emanating from a world that not only has already grown, but that is more equal in economic terms (income or wealth equality parameters), more equitable from the perspective of distributive justice, and where social security has helped evolve a welfare state.

Such a fall raises severe concerns about the sustainability of the development process if inclusive wealth is considered to be a factor or fundamental premise for development. However, after 2014, there have been significant policy changes in a number of areas related to physical and human capital that have aided in advancing India’s development objective. This compendium has a presentation of these policies.

Significant policy changes have been made in the development sector over the past eight years, particularly to increase the nation’s physical and people capital. The route to achieving the SDGs has been impacted by the epidemic, which served as a jolt to the world’s economic and development areas. There is no question that the SDGs will make it possible for India to realize its goal of US$5 trillion and US$10 trillion in growth.

This book highlights ten of the several policy initiatives that are expected to help India become more sustainable. These are 10 items listed below:

1. Poshan Abhiyan:  aims to reduce the rate of anemia, low birth weight, stunting, and under nutrition. With careful regard for the effects of socio-economic conditions and the pandemic, Shobha Suri describes the relevance of the program, its accomplishments thus far, and its imperatives in this chapter in the form of plot-structured, time-bound, and location-specific methods.
2. Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana: aims of giving the poor and vulnerable households a health cover of INR 5 lakh per family per year, Jan Arogya Yojana, the largest health assurance program in the world, was created. Oommen C. Kurian describes the program and offers a brief case study to illustrate its positive effects and how a similar program could be implemented in many other regions of the world.

• Jal Jeevan Mission: aims that every house must have access to safe and sufficient drinking water by 2024. Sayanangshu Modak discusses how this mission will affect the country’s overall progress and makes connections between it and other health and productivity-related results.

• Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan: is an all-encompassing program for the school education sector with the broad objective of enhancing school effectiveness as evaluated by fair learning results and equal access to educational opportunities. Malancha Chakrabarty makes the case that the program helps make the SDGs related to human capital more achievable while outlining the general framework of the program. She emphasizes how it is consistent with intellectuals in India.
• National Skill Development Mission: aims to close the critical “skill gap” in the Indian economy. The importance of the program is highlighted by Sunaina Kumar as she describes the vast disparity between the demand and supply of talented human capital to close the economic success and ambition gap in India. She explains what must be done to increase the program’s effectiveness in creating a sustainable India.
• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee: aims to improve livelihood stability in rural regions by giving at least one adult family member who volunteers to do manual labor at least 100 days of pay employment in a fiscal year. In her analysis of this, Soumya Bhowmick shows how it has helped vulnerable community’s weather crises like the influenza. He reiterates how it contributes to achieving the SDGs for eradicating poverty and ensuring food security.
• National Smart Cities Mission: is a program for urban regeneration and retrofitting with the goal of creating sustainable, smart cities throughout the nation. Aparna Roy assesses the mission’s potential to make urban areas economic and regional growth centers that are also robust to the impacts of climate change.
• Prime Minister Gati Shakti: calls for a radical change in mobility while keeping in mind sustainable development and economic progress. The mission which was introduced in October 2021, aims to offer multimodal connection infrastructure to diverse economic zones. Debosmita Sarkar discusses how this mission can assist solve the country’s connectivity problems, have the ability to reshape the connectivity landscape, and promote economic growth.
• Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: is a substantial campaign to improve solid waste management and end open defecation. Mona examines and emphasizes the accomplishments of the largest sanitation program in history.
• Aadhaar, is another success story, the biggest biometric system in the world. The initiative has promoted social, economic, and technical inclusion across the country thanks to the fact that practically every adult Indian is an Aadhaar holder and a carrier of a distinctive and secure identity. In their chapter, Anirban Sarma and Basu Chandola emphasize this. The importance of information and communication technology in fostering social and economic advancement is examined by the writers using Aadhaar as a case study. They emphasize how it can be replicated in other regions of the world where governments are making a concerted effort to address issues with distributive justice and equity.

The 10 selected initiatives focus on natural and human capital as important components of inclusive wealth. Future growth should be sparked by a more just and sustainable society driven by the SDGs, as inequality can stifle economic progress.

Therefore, for India to advance, it must focus on two key factors: first, a more equal India that advances distributive justice by reducing inequality; and second, a simultaneous increase in human and physical capital caused by health and education, without compromising the sustainability of natural capital.