The UN General Assembly in September 2015 adopted a global development vision called Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The 2030 Agenda is “a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity”. As part of this agenda, 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets to stimulate global action over the next 15 years on issues critical to humanity and the planet have been identified by the global community. The concept of SDGs was born at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, in 2012. The SDGs seek to build on the progress of MDGs and complete what they did not achieve.
India has played a leadership role in the negotiations that represented the voices of developing countries; and defined the contours of the major global agreements, including the Sendai Framework; Addis Ababa Action Agenda; Agenda 2030 and Paris Climate Agreement.
In the September 2015 UN Summit, the Prime Minister of India pledged its commitment to the SDGs. The SDGs officially came into force from 1st January, 2016. The Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MoSPI) is the nodal ministry for representing and reporting on the SDGs. NITI Aayog has been assigned the role of developing national indicators, overseeing the implementation by ministries and coordinate with States for the achievement of development targets as enshrined in the SDGs.
Government of Assam has demonstrated leadership as the front runner in the country by preparing the Vision 2030 document in light of the SDGs. Government of Assam has taken concrete steps to move towards this vision and has followed the much recommended whole of the government approach in preparing for the implementation of the SDGs. The Transformation and Development department is the nodal department for SDGs in Assam, and in collaboration with Centre for SDGs, Assam Administrative Staff College and various lead departments, has organised workshops and conclaves by bringing in government officials, UN agencies, experts and members of academia, NGOs and civil society, corporates and other stakeholders, to brainstorm on key priorities for Assam in the context of SDGs.