Sustainability Development Goals : An in-depth analysis of SDG 11 in the Indian context

9 min readOct 30, 2019

Introduction

India is home to one sixth of humanity and holds a significant share in the developmental challenges of the world and opportunities. It has some of the largest and very ambitious developmental schemes and programmes making it a useful study for the localization of Sustainable Development Goals. With it being the sixth largest economy, 271 million people moved out of poverty and halved the multidimensional poverty between 2005–06 and 2015–16. Recognizing the challenges ahead, the Government of India has brought out the “Strategy for New India @75” which aligns with the SDG along with the aim to propel India to a US$ 5 trillion economy.

SDGs are a collection of 17 goals by the UN for 2030 to promote sustainable practices globally. In this article we focus on the relevance and implications of SDG 11 on the Indian businesses and governance. As per UN sustainable cities are described as “Making cities sustainable means creating career and business opportunities, safe and affordable housing, and building resilient societies and economies. It involves investment in public transport, creating green public spaces, and improving urban planning and management in participatory and inclusive ways.”. It is through this definition that we’ll explore the impact of SDG 11 in India.

Relevance of SDG in India

As per the mid UN report, Indian population stands today at 136.6 crores and represents 17.7% of the world population. This phenomenal growth is a big concern as the population growth is inorganic and concentrated in urban pockets. Being the second fastest growing economy, bringing about an equitable distribution of resources is very critical. Being a society divided on caste and social lines, achieving holistic development remains elusive. With sprawling slums accommodating about one third of Urban Indian population, coming up in these areas owing to job and livelihood availabilities, sustainability becomes a point of concern. The concentration of business centres into small areas leads to frequent traffic jams and issues with the transport in these areas. The public transport system of the cities is also mostly overburdened and is not able to serve the entire population safely and efficiently. The cities are not bicycle and pedestrian friendly and many casualties are noticed across cities. This needs to change in terms of creating a safe environment for its citizens in reducing the usage of private vehicles as well as their carbon footprint.

Smart city mission of 2015 is Indian government’s dream proposal to achieve sustainable development and growth. The initiatives are aimed at city improvement(retrofitting), city renewal (redevelopment) and city extension (Greenfield development) plus an initiative to apply smart solutions to larger cities.

Business implications and responses

With increasing population in urban areas, businesses have largely based themselves close to or in cities. India, being a developing nation, is still in the process of infrastructural developments. Hence, a large amount of challenges faced by businesses are a result of the infrastructural gaps and increase in costs due to inefficient use of resources.

One of the most pressing challenges faced by businesses is due to a lack of clarity in the development rates rising from the unpredictable growth in the urban population. This has led to a mismatch in the levels of development causing businesses difficulty in forecasting their demand. Also, due to unsustainable practices and asymmetric distribution of resources and population many areas such as slums have become disaster prone.

Businesses also face additional costs due to congestion and pollution. Poor air quality, lack of affordable and easily available public transport systems, inefficient waste disposal programs translate into low productivity and health amongst employees and the labour markets

Many of these initiatives may be driven by Government policies but businesses must also update their practices in favour of sustainable goals to stay ahead of the competition in the long term.

Companies have ample opportunities with respect to SDG 11 which are multifaceted and have obvious benefits in the long run.

· Target 11.1- Safe and Affordable Housing

· Target 11.2- Affordable and Sustainable Transport Systems

· Target 11.3- Inclusive and Sustainable Urbanization

· Target 11.4- Protect the World’s Cultural and Natural Heritage

· Target 11.5- Reduce the Adverse Effects of Natural Disasters

· Target 11.6- Reduce the Environmental Impact of Cities

· Target 11.7- Provide Access to Safe and Inclusive Green and Public Spaces

· Target 11.A-Strong National and Regional Development Planning

· Target 11.B- Implement Policies for Inclusion, Resource Efficiency and Disaster Risk Reduction

· Target 11.C-Support Least Developed Countries in Sustainable and Resilient Building

Development of sustainable cities are linked with several other SDGs such as SDG 6 which ensure Clean Water and Sanitation, SDG 12 for Responsible Consumption and Production. Businesses working towards these goals also help in increasing productivity of workforce.

Going forward, a greater adoption of the Sendai Framework will be of critical importance for companies which will increase their resilience in case of disasters.

Companies like ITC create internal demand for sanitation infrastructure and support sustainable livelihoods for rag pickers and waste workers. Their integrated water management approach helps achieve water security for all stakeholders in defined catchment areas with high water stress.

Samsung has ventures for smart cities as part of Samsung NEXT in which they have invested in connected devices to help monitor every aspect of urban life, such as traffic, parking spaces, water quality, power usage and safety. Major cities are thus becoming technological innovations with schemes such as smart streetlights.

Mahindra has taken smart city initiatives such as Mahindra World City in Chennai and Jaipur which can sustainably house over 2500 households and many businesses.

A key target of a smart city is to make a city which provides ample employment opportunity, a high quality of life and is sustainable in the long run. This is in line with what sustainable cities aim for. There are 4 pillars that will help take a holistic approach towards these goals:

1. Social Infrastructure — This is targeted towards development of human and social capital. Developing education and healthcare infrastructure is critical towards a sustainable city.

2. Physical infrastructure — It involves providing basic facilities like good roads, water supply system, sewage and waste management system.

3. Institution infrastructure — It deals with governance and management of a city. Information and communication technology (ICT) systems provide for efficient traffic and crime management in a city.

4. Economic infrastructure — A city that generates employment and attract investments is a city that can thrive and provide for its citizens as well.

A great example of a city that is meant to achieve the above is Gujarat international finance Tech-city. A city planned with district cooling system which reduces carbon emissions and reduce power consumption, an integrated ICT system, power management to provide 99.99% power and a waste management system that sucks waste at a speed of 90 km/hr. This all provides for a city that can provide a better quality of life to its citizens.

Also, the special economic zone in GIFT city provides businesses with an opportunity to setup offices and facilities where they can avail financial benefits as well as have access to great infrastructure and a population that can be efficient due to low pollution levels, better infrastructure and high standards of living. The utility tunnel provides for efficient management of the various facilities being provided by the city. Any issues in the water supply, waste management and electricity supply, it can be managed efficiently with the underground tunnel and no disruption to traffic or day to day life takes place.

Analysis and Path ahead

On July 4th,2019, the union minister for finance and corporate affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey 2018–19 in the parliament which emphasized the continued focus of India on introducing and implementing the various measures related to sustainable development goals. Following a holistic approach towards the 2030 SDGs, India has launched various schemes and has managed to score between 42 and 69 (on a scale of 0–100) on the SDG index for States and UTs. But it particularly lags in SDGs: SDG 2, SDG 5, SDG 9 and SDG 11.

India has been urbanizing rapidly. Presently, 32% of the population of India lives in urban cities. The urban population grew by 91 million between 2001 and 2011 and it is projected that it’ll increase by 416 million between 2018 and 2050. By 2030, it is expected that India will have seven mega-cities having a population of 10 million each. To cater to the housing needs of this rising population, the government has introduced several schemes like Smart Cities Mission, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and the Atal Mission for rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana plans on achieving housing for all by 2022.

According to a report by Technology and Action for Rural Advancement, India would require a total sum of INR 131 lakh crores to make cities sustainable. The allocated amount is minuscule in comparison to this requirement, with a gap of INR 76 lakh crores in 2015. The AMRUT and smart cities programme has an allocation of 98000 crores for a 5-year period. The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana has a central allocation of Rs 5625 crores. The financing is not sufficient for the required sustainable urbanization.

Moving forward, a robust framework is required to successfully implement the SDGs. The policies should be supported by the right mix of financial resources and skills. India needs to use emerging technologies like data driven analytics to strategize course correction. Therefore, the path ahead towards achieving the 2030 agenda should acknowledge the interdependence among the goals, and the complexities involved.

India has been lauded by UN for its success stories like the successful implementation of JAM trinity-Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhar and Mobile Penetration. Also, the Indian leadership in manufacturing of generic drugs and production and distribution of LED bulbs has been a success story worth noticing. The implementation of these schemes has overcome scalability problems by using the low cost innovative methods, along with increasing involvement of the government in sustainable development. Instead of emulating success models from other countries, India should focus on its people’s knack for creativity and innovation.

Globally, higher education institutes are expected to the hubs of innovation and critical thinking. Higher education institutes constitute the future generation who can find new and relevant ways of progressing towards the SDGs. They also influence the communities to develop the skills and attitude towards sustainability. Thus it is important for Indian higher education institutes to focus on sustainability. Globally universities like Monash university, Stanford and MIT have integrated SDG as a core part of their curriculum and have several multi-sectoral programmes and projects to drive these goals. Times Higher Education (THE), a UK based world university ranking agency, released the first ever Impact rankings 2019 by SDGs. This report ranks universities across the world based on Sustainable Development Goals. According to this report, for SDG 11, the universities are ranked based on “research on sustainability, their role as custodians of arts and heritage and their internal approaches to sustainability”. On this note, it is rather disappointing to notice that Indian institutions have not been able to score enough to make it to this list. This implies that a higher focus on these aspects is required by the Indian institutes.

On analyzing the SDGs in the Indian context, we have found out that Indian government has been actively designing and planning measures to achieve the sustainable goals. It has also been able to successfully implement some of the initiatives which have brought about change in the society. Moving ahead, it needs to gather more resources in terms of human skills as well as capital to further progress towards these goals.

References

1. https://www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/sustainable-development-goals/why-do-sustainable-development-goals-matter/goal-11

2. https://www.livemint.com/news/india/delhi-air-quality-breaches-danger-mark-aqi-crosses-500-11572247107971.html

3. https://www.globalgoals.org/11-sustainable-cities-and-communities

4. https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=191192

5. https://sdg.iisd.org/news/india-index-report-provides-baseline-for-performance-across-sdgs/

6. https://niti.gov.in/writereaddata/files/SDGMapping-Document-NITI_0.pdf

7. https://in.one.un.org/page/sustainable-development-goals/sdg-11/

8. https://www.devalt.org/images/L3_ProjectPdfs/AchievingSDGsinIndia_DA_21Sept.pdf

9. https://www.orfonline.org/research/accelerating-growth-and-development-in-the-sdg-era/

10. https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/sdg-rankings-lessons-for-indian-higher-education-institutes-49917/

11. https://images.samsung.com/is/content/samsung/p5/global/ir/docs/sustainability_report_2019_en.pdf