Statement by India

on the theme Eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions through promoting sustainable development, expanding opportunities and addressing related challenges at the 20th Annual Session of UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development, delivered by Shri Ashok Kumar Jain, Adviser, NITI Aayog on 8 May 2017.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you very much for giving an opportunity to the Delegation of India on behalf of our country. Most of the India’s development agenda is mirrored in the SDGs. The guiding principle for India’s development policy is Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas, which means Collective Efforts Inclusive Growth. The issue of poverty poses multifaceted challenges like hunger, poor health, unemployment, lack of social assistance, basic infrastructure, and financial inclusion among others.

I would like to narrate some of the key initiatives by Government of India to eradicate poverty in all its forms and dimensions through promoting sustainable development, expanding opportunities and addressing related challenges.

• To end hunger and achieve food security, the Government of India has implemented National Food Security Act (NFSA) which covers more than 800 million people (67% of the country’s population). India used to be food deficient at the time of Independence – is now food sufficient due to Green Revolution.
• To tackle the problem of unemployment, India has the world’s largest cash transfer scheme called Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). It is an entitlement-based programme which legally guarantees at least 100 days of wage employment per household per year.
• The National Livelihoods Mission provides skilled employment to marginalized and excluded people with focus on women and builds up their thrift-credit-marketing-business institutions.
• To ensure access to basic services like health, India is implementing the National Health Mission (NHM) which strives to provide universal access to primary health care. Towards achieving, universal health coverage, Government of India provides a health cover of INR 100,000 (USD 1563 approximately) to poor families.
• Towards ensuring Housing for All by 2022, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana which means the Prime Minister Housing Scheme provides direct financial assistance to poor households and facilitates access to additional resources through convergence with other programmes and credit linked interest subsidy on housing loans.
• To ensure safe drinking water and sanitation for all, the Government of India has implemented the National Rural Drinking Water Programme, through which 77% rural habitations have been fully covered with 40 litres of drinking water per capita per day. The Swachh Bharat Mission i.e. Clean India Mission aims to achieve Open Defecation Free India by 2019. In the last couple of years, over 39.5 million household toilets have been built and 193,000 villages and 531 cities made open-defecation-free.
• To ensure education for all, the National Education Mission aims at universal access to quality primary education and bridging of gender and social category gaps
• To meet the cooking fuel needs of the poor, the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), launched in 2016, provides Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to poor families in the name of the women with initial financial support for taking a connection.
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• Towards ensuring financial inclusion, The Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana offers access to bank accounts, remittance, credit, insurance including accident insurance and social security benefits like Pensions to 280 million people, with deposits amounting to INR 639 billion (USD 10 billion).

I would also like to highlight some strategies which are being deployed to address the issue of poverty:

• Data from the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011 is used to identify beneficiaries for various development programmes based on deprivation. This enables addressing the needs of the deprived in line with the policy that ‘no one is left behind’.
• The Government of India has planned to undertake a Mission Antyodaya to bring 10 Million households out of poverty and to make 50,000 gram panchayats which means Village Councils poverty free by 2019.
• The passage of Goods and Service Tax bill through Constitutional Amendment is going to be very effective in spurring economic growth, competitiveness and greater transparency.
• The 14th Finance Commission award has been implemented to substantially enhance fiscal devolution to the States and Local Governments as a result of which a significant spurt in development interventions is taking place in the States as well as local levels.

Thank you, Madam Chair