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Sustainable Development and Climate Change 207

B. Handholding States/UTs through planning Departments

• SDG Vision
document/ • Coordinate with • Linking of
roadmap for the departments and Budget with • Capacity building
state (23 districts. SDGs (16 of state and
states/UTs) • SDG Cells / States/UTs) district level
• Mapping of Coordination • Periodic SDG officials (23
targets with centers reviews States/UTs)
relevant
departments (25
states/UTs)

Source: NITI Aayog

6.9 States and UTs have created discrete institutional structures for implementation of SDGs
in their own specific contexts. Several states have also created nodal mechanisms within every
department and at the district levels to make coordination, convergence and data management
more precise and predictable. Figure 2 (A and B) shows the institutional set up for SDG
localisation.

SDG related intervention of the Centre Governments during the pandemic
6.10 The COVID-19 pandemic has, further, underscored the need to keep sustainable
development at the very core of any development strategy. The pandemic has challenged
the health infrastructure, adversely impacted livelihoods and exacerbated the inequality in
the food and nutritional availability in the country. This has reemphasized the criticality of
having institutions and mechanisms that can facilitate the country to absorb exogenous shocks
well. The period of the pandemic has seen coordinated efforts of both the Centre and the
State Governments in preserving and creating livelihoods, ensuring that food and nutritional
requirements are met and that the health facilities are augmented to cope with the pressure
created by the contagion. Initiatives addressed the immediate impact of COVID-19 pandemic
and enabled the country to progress on its SDGs even in these very difficult times. In addition
several reforms measures have been brought in such as in agricultural labour and MSME reforms
which will directly or indirectly impact the SDGs. The State Governments also responded with
several measures to support those affected by the pandemic through various initiatives and
reliefs to fight this pandemic.

CLIMATE CHANGE

6.11 India has been taking several proactive climate actions to fulfil its obligations as per the
principles of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities and equity.
The Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) submitted by the country has been formulated
keeping in mind the developmental imperatives of the country and is on a “best effort basis”.
In its NDC, India has sought to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 per cent