Port Blair, May 11: The Directorate of RD, PRIs and ULBs, A&N Administration conducted a one-day “State Level Virtual Orientation Workshop on Localization of Sustainable Development Goals (LSDGs)” on 10th May 2022 for the District and Block level Inter-Departmental Coordination Committee across the Islands.
The workshop was inaugurated by Mr. Vinay Kumar Jindal, Director (RD/Panchayat). The objective of the programme was to handhold the members of the District and Block Level Inter-Departmental Coordination Committee consisting of District and Block level Officers of its Department and different developmental line Departments on the 09 identified thematic areas under LSDGs.
Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI emphasized localizing the SDGs and has identified 09 thematic areas, cutting across the 17 SDG Goals, wherein the Gram Panchayat has a direct/indirect role of implementation and falls under the 29 subjects enshrined in the 11th schedule of the Constitution. These nine themes are Poverty free and enhanced livelihood village; Healthy village; Child-Friendly village; Water Sufficient village; Clean and Green Village; Self-Sufficient village; Socially Secured village; Village with Good Governance and Engendered Development in the village.
Article 243 B of the Constitution empowers the Gram Panchayats to prepare the plan for its social and economic development. The 17 SDGs are aligned with the three dimensions of Sustainable Development- Environmental, Social and economic and therefore the role of Gram Panchayats in the achievement of the SDGs is of greater significance.
As part of the initiative, the Gram Panchayats during the Special Gram Sabhas held on 24th April 2022 have adopted three themes and passed a resolution in the Gram Sabha to work towards saturation in the respective themes. The Gram Panchayat with the support of frontline officials of the line department, monitoring, guidance and handholding support from the Block and District Committees will focussed work on the attainment of the respective theme.
The Director (RD/Panchayat) in his inaugural address emphasized that to achieve the SDGs, the universality of SDGs i.e. No-one Left Behind is to be ensured in the implementation of all the Govt. of India schemes implemented in rural areas. He remarked that, for India to achieve SDGs, its Gram Panchayats and Villages need to correspondingly achieve SDGs. He exhorted that this will become possible only with coordinated efforts taken up by all line departments at the field level.
He further requested the Districts and Blocks Inter-departmental coordination committee to closely monitor the baseline data assessment and also to actively support the Gram Panchayats in the timely achievements of the targets in the UT.
During the programme, the Director (RD/Panchayat) also released the theme-wise Local Indicator Framework (LIF) prepared by the Department and also launched the Baseline Data Assessment in the UT. The baseline data assessment shall be carried out by the frontline workers and Village Nodal Officers have been identified for each Gram Panchayat. Video presentations were made on the official logo of Localization of Sustainable Development Goals released by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI.
The State Nodal Officer (RGSA) through PowerPoint Presentation presented the overall overview of SDGs and the need to localize the SDGs into local indicators that are practicable and realizable at the ground level. He outlined that as part of the initiative for Localization of SDGs, the Directorate of RD, PRIs and ULBs has formulated and shared the Local Indicator Framework for each of nine thematic areas containing more than 300 indicators with the concern line departments, Gram Panchayats and Blocks for collecting baseline data.
The Local Indicator Framework has been prepared in line with the National and State Indicator Frameworks. The LIF will help the Gram Panchayats to build baseline GP-wise data, that will ascertainthe actual GP level status and enable the GPs to identify the gaps. The Localization of Sustainable Development Goals broadly calls for a Whole of Government and a Whole of Society approach involving all line departments, NGOs and Civil Society members at the State, District, Block and GP level.
Thereafter, the Domain Experts of the State Panchayat Resource Centre (SPRC) held a technical session detailing the nine thematic areas focusing on the Local Indicator Framework and the State-wise status against each status. Video documentation of Best Gram Panchayats across the country in the respective theme were also showcased during the event. They also explicated the role and responsibility of village nodal officers towards Localization of Sustainable Development Goals for data collection and authentication in respect of the theme adopted by Gram Panchayats.