23 June 2023

MAINS DAILY QUESTIONS & MODEL ANSWERS

Q1. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) appear to be being achieved less quickly in India. Think about the difficulties the country is having in reaching its SDG goals.

Paper & Topic: GS II – Social Issues

Model Answer:

• To be accomplished by 2030, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework sets targets for 231 different indicators, dispersed throughout 17 goals related to social welfare, environmental sustainability, and economic development. India is on track to meet several criteria for neonatal and under-five mortality, full immunisation, and access to electricity, according to a study that looked at nine SDGs. But other SDG measurements on issues like women’s health, gender inequality, and other issues provide a worrying picture. Furthermore, not every district in the country has made the same amount of progress towards these objectives.

SDG targets are being obstructed by the following factors:

• The process of developing policies and budgets, planning for them, and putting them into action at the level of State and local governments does not clearly reflect the SDGs. This is a barrier to the localization of the SDGs. Furthermore, the majority of States have not yet finished transferring the 3Fs (finance, functions, and functionaries) to local governments. As a result, both rural and urban local governments are unable to create local budgets and plans for the residents of their respective areas.
• To oversee the process of implementing the SDGs at the State level, similar to NITI Aayog, the State Planning Departments/Boards in the States have been identified as nodal agencies. Many governments are now unprepared for the implementation of the SDGs given their capacities in terms of the appropriateness of their financial and human resources and the decentralised planning processes they use.
• Between 2015 and 2030, India will require 170 billion dollars per year to achieve the SDG objectives. To accomplish SDGs 3 and 4, which call for high-quality education and decent health, investments are especially necessary.
• Obstacles to achieving gender equality: SDG 5, or gender equality, has proven to be the most challenging to achieve in India. The SDG for gender equality, according to a research, won’t be achieved in India until 2090. Achieving gender equality is more difficult when laws and plans are put into action and the patriarchal and cultural web of the country is broken.
• Challenges brought on by the pandemic: Due to their interconnectedness, the impact on one of the 17 SDGs may make it more difficult to achieve the others. The pandemic has harmed the health and well-being of millions of people, reduced their incomes, and widened inequality. Additionally, Covid has led to a worsening of educational inequality.
• Monitoring SDG outcomes has proven to be one of the most challenging undertakings due to the lack of development indicators at the State, district, and block levels. Even if one of the three SDG pillars is social inclusion, the framework for tracking and evaluating development progress implemented at the national level does not give marginalised people enough credit.

How to Proceed:

• Increasing financial resources: The focus should be on increasing the budgetary allotment for SDGs like gender equality, health, and education that have low performance rates.
• A flexible administrative framework should support successful political leadership at all levels, from the federal to the municipal, as part of the development of political will.
• India must create a single, integrated digital resource for district administration, State and federal authorities, and the general public by integrating all of its different, fragmented platforms using a data-driven strategy.
• Creating a decadal plan: To establish a new policy direction, a time-driven methodology is required. Making a decadal strategy can help with adequate monitoring and targeting for SDG indicators.
• Current policy environments have frameworks and programmes in place that can be linked to the indicators of the SDGs. This allows current government programmes to be linked to the SDGs. For instance, the Jal Jeevan Mission, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, and the Ujjwala Yojana 2.0 are all important for attaining SDG 1, which is to end poverty worldwide in all of its forms.
• India’s commitment to the SDGs is evidenced by its alignment with the national development policy, as expressed in the motto Sabka Saath Sabka Vikaas. SDG targets, particularly those relating to population health and well-being, basic high-quality infrastructure, and gender equality, would require a global effort to be effective.

Q2. provide some clarification on the infrastructural upgrades that the Smart Cities Mission has produced. What challenges prevent the operation from achieving its objectives?

Paper & Topic: GS II – Government Policies and Interventions

Model Answer:

• The Smart Cities Mission (SCM), a programme for urban renewal and modernization, was introduced in 2015. Around the country, it aims to build 100 smart cities that are sustainable and welcoming to citizens. As the urban population increases, the government is looking for more clever ways to manage complexity, increase efficiency, and improve quality of life. Cities now need to monitor and integrate its infrastructure in order to efficiently use resources and expand services for inhabitants.

The Smart City Mission has advanced infrastructure development:

• The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs reports that the mission has given the go-ahead for 7,804 projects across 100 cities. Compared to 66% in smaller cities, the completion rate for projects in major cities is over 80%.
• The goal is to improve municipal services and establish integrated command and control centres in each of the 100 cities.
• With around 768 completed projects, Karnataka led the way, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.
• The completion date was moved back to June 2023 in 2021 from the original target date of five years after the city was selected for the enhancements.
• In 50 of the 100 cities, 75% of the projects have already been completed. They would need more time to finish documenting, disseminating, and institutionalising the best practises and innovations created as part of the mission for replication in other communities around the country. The SCM deadline has been extended to June 2024 as a result.
• In comparison to other cities, Shillong has the fewest completed projects—just one—while Indore has the most. In addition, the latter was the only project that had been completed in Meghalaya as a whole, giving it the lowest score.

The following are some challenges that the mission must overcome in order to succeed:

• Management: The special-purpose vehicles (SPVs) for the mission aren’t working effectively. For instance, a director of Ludhiana Smart City Company Ltd (LSCL) expressed dissatisfaction with how projects were handled, alleging that problems were caused by a lack of coordination between various government organisations.
• Finance: An examination of the financial data reveals that the centre, along with the majority of state and local governments, are having difficulty obtaining funding, moving it to SPVs, and using it efficiently. For instance, the CEO of Faridabad Smart City Ltd (FSCL) admitted that selling land and locating money had been major challenges.
• Issues with the SPV public-private partnership (PPP) model: The SPV PPP model, which serves as the foundation for the entire mission execution strategy, has been a major contributor to project completion delays. The situation is made worse by SPVs frequently encountering administrative, technological, and financial difficulties as well as inadequate training in data processing and analysis.
• The purpose of the smart city is to use smart technologies to make the city smart, yet there are technical constraints and out-of-date technology. However, the bulk of urban local bodies lack the technical capabilities required to ensure the development of smart cities. These technological limitations make it difficult to apply intelligent measures in a timely and economical manner.
• Urbanising public transit: Having a smart, dependable, sustainable, and affordable transportation infrastructure is essential for creating a smart city. However, difficulties with urbanising public transit are presented by zoning, subpar urban design, and excessive population density.
• Coordinated three-tier governance: Effective horizontal and vertical coordination between the various institutions is crucial for the implementation of smart city solutions. Lack of coordination between federal, state, and local governments results in duplication of effort, delays, and cost overruns.
• There has been advancement on a wide range of smart initiatives in the 100 cities and towns chosen for the Smart Cities Mission. Particularly, the poor people of these areas gain social and financial advantages from the completed initiatives. By taking further steps, such as planning training sessions, doing empirical research on SPVs that are lagging behind, facilitating rapid and simple funding disbursements, and enhancing cooperation at all levels, the mission can achieve its intended aims.