Rio said the document provides state specific short, medium and long term targets with measurable indicators and strategies. The state should focus on meeting the aspirations of the people for sustainable livelihoods and living standards, he said.
By Imna Longchar, TFM Nagaland Special Correspondent
Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio on Tuesday launched the “Nagaland SDG Vision 2030: Leaving No One Behind” at the Capital Convention Hall, Kohima.
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, Rio 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.
Rio said that with Northeastern states, especially the hill states lagging in economic growth and Nagaland, being a resource-constrained state, there is hardly any elbow room for the state government to meet the large investments needed for capital and infrastructure development in the state.
He 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 later suggested that the Central Government recognizes 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, 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 would improve in the coming years.
She stated that Nagaland has done remarkably well in clean water and 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 with a collaborative project in developing SDG index for 120 districts in eight Northeastern States which would be launched on August 25.
The index would be used by the Ministry of DoNER as a tool for fund allocation, focusing on critical areas. Sanyukta Samadar also requested the State Government to make use of the new multidimensional poverty index by NITIAayog, which she said will help with policy planning and targeted intervention.
Minister for Planning and Coordination, Land Revenue, and Parliamentary Affairs, Nagaland, Neiba Kronu, said that it is important to sensitize, 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 is 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.
It may be mentioned that in SDG performance, Nagaland is ranked 19th in the country with a score of 61 and among Northeast, it occupies the 5th position. For the SDG performance of districts in Nagaland, Kohima is in the top-performing district with Kiphire at the last position.
In Goal 1 (No poverty) of SDG – 100% of districts are in the red category (aspirants, score of less than 50); in Goal 2 (zero hunger) – 81% in green (frontrunners with a 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 the green category.