61st Session of the Commission for Social Development

‘Creating full and productive employment and decent work for all as a way of overcoming inequalities to accelerate the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’

[7 February 2023]

Statement by Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj

Permanent Representative of India to the UN

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Thank you Chair.

At the outset our deepest condolences to the Government and people of Türkiye and Syria for the recent devastating earthquakes that have sadly caused such immense damage and loss of human lives.

I will also take this opportunity on behalf of my delegation to felicitate you Chair and other Bureau members on your election.

Needless to say, my delegation aligns itself with the statement delivered by the G77 earlier today.

The world continues to face complex challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, armed conflicts, adverse impacts of climate change and the economic downturn, among others.

These challenges have severely affected our development journey and impacted our efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Thus, the need of the hour is to reenergize our efforts, collectively focus on building back better and to sustain socio-economic progress.

India sees the world as one large inter-connected family. We believe that national good and global good can be entirely in harmony. The motto of our G-20 Presidency “One Earth, One Family, One Future” reflects an inter-dependence amongst member states to achieve our collective developmental goals.

Thus, India’s social development agenda focuses, inter alia, on alleviation of poverty, providing better health services, promoting agricultural reforms, ensuring targeted subsidies, providing time-bound delivery of government services and deployment of citizen-centric technology.

And we are indeed proud of progress made in the implementation of the SDGs back home. May I add that India’s SDG success is crucial for the rest of the world, as my country is home to about 17% of the world population or one-sixth of humanity.

I will add that India’s model of SDG implementation or localisation, has successfully integrated the 2030 Agenda from national to local governance, all the way to individual households. The evidence of the success of our localisation efforts lies in achievements and outcomes in the past nine years back home. Driven by a rights-based approach, India has adopted social safety and other measures for economic well being and ensuring livelihoods.

Today in India, 331 million more people have gained access to improved sanitation; 233 million more people have obtained access to clean cooking fuel; Electricity coverage has improved from 88 to 97 percent, benefiting 183 million more people; Health coverage programmes cover over 500 million people; Vaccination of children under two years of age has improved by 23 percent; Institutional births have risen by 10 percent, and now stand at 88 percent. The Infant Mortality Rate has reduced by 14 percent, whereas the Under-five Mortality Rate has declined by 16 percent.

As a step towards Universal Health Coverage, India is implementing the world’s largest digitally operated cashless and paperless need-based comprehensive healthcare programme or the “National Health Protection Scheme” (Ayushman Bharat).

There is also a critical focus on the deployment of digital technologies in India’s social development agenda so as to improve the service delivery of government programmes.

To cite one example, India’s biometric-based unique identification system - ‘Aadhaar’, now covers more than 95% of the country’s population, facilitating access to a range of social protection services.

More than 460 million people, over 55% of whom are women, who previously did not have bank accounts, today have bank accounts. During the COVID-19 pandemic especially, this initiative helped direct benefit transfers to 200 million women.

India has also laid a particular emphasis on ensuring nutrition for women and children. Our Mid-day Meal Programme, which has now been replicated worldwide, is aimed at increasing school enrolment and retention while improving the nutritional status of children, and covers 120 million children.

India is also implementing the world’s largest affordable housing programme for the poor, over 23.5 million houses have been built under this programme. Meantime, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is aimed to guarantee the right to work and enhance livelihood security in rural areas.

The Water To Every Household scheme launched by the Government in 2019 aims to provide tap water to every rural household by 2024. In the last three years, over 100 million additional rural households have been connected to the facility of clean water through pipes. To protect women and children from indoor air pollution, 94 million free cooking gas connections have been issued under a new scheme: the Prime Minister’s Ujjwala Scheme.

Chair,

An educated society is a crucial pivot of dynamic economies and sustainable development. Our National Education Policy 2020 is centered around the four pillars of Access, Equity, Quality, and Accountability. The Policy also emphasizes a roadmap to build a strong foundation for innovation.

In a spirit of cooperation, India is stepping up development partnerships with fellow countries through a model of South-South and triangular cooperation, including through the India-UN Development Partnership Fund located at UN Headquarters, New York.

One of the critical emphases of the Indian G20 Presidency in 2023 will be to voice the needs and perspectives of the Global South in the G20. Given the fact that till 2025, the Presidency of G20 will be with an emerging market economy (Brazil in 2024 and South Africa in 2025), we see this as an opportunity to reflect the aspirations of the large number of countries who are not members of the G20 but are considerably affected by the decisions emanating from the forum. Development financing, macroeconomic vulnerabilities and maximizing the full potential of digital public infrastructure for achieving inclusive growth are the fundamental tenets on which India’s priorities have been hoisted.

I will close by stating, Chair, that even as India endeavors to build a more prosperous and inclusive society, we remain unflinchingly committed to engage with Member States and the UN system for achievement of the SDGs by 2030. Our Presidency of the G-20 will be an important effort in that direction.

Thank you.

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