The UNSDF outlines the development cooperation strategy between the Government of India and the United Nations Country Team in India, in support of the achievement of India’s key national development priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UNSDF was framed following a highly participative process, in consultation with government entities, civil society representatives, academia, and the private sector. The focus areas include poverty and urbanization; health, water, and sanitation; education; nutrition and food security; climate change, clean energy, and disaster resilience; skilling, entrepreneurship, and job creation; and gender equality and youth development. Across outcome areas, the UN will support the Government of India on south-south cooperation, in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs. The total planned budget outlay for the implementation of the UNSDF 2018-2022 is approximately INR 11000 crore, of which 47 percent is planned to be mobilized through the course of implementation from multiple sources, including the private sector and the government. CEO, NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant, highlighted the need to promote innovation in meeting India’s development challenges and bringing on board the power of social entrepreneurs and the private sector to act on scale. The UNSDF is underpinned by the overarching principle of the SDGs to leave no one behind, echoing the Government of India’s message of SabkaSaathSabkaVikas (development for all). The programmatic work outlined in the UNSDF targets the seven low-income states (Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, MP, Odisha, Rajasthan, UP), the North-East region, and the aspirational districts identified earlier this year by the NITI Aayog. Work will focus on improving the lives of the most marginalized, poor, and vulnerable communities and people in the country, especially women and girls. UN Resident Coordinator, Mr. Yuri Afanasiev, said that “The United Nations in India is committed to provide full support to the Government of India’s development priorities, ensuring that the UNSDF outcomes are achieved. The solutions we find together can catalyze action across the global south- just as solutions from elsewhere in the world will be adapted to India. He added that together, the India-UN team will ensure that poor, vulnerable, and marginalized communities participate in and benefit from the country’s robust growth trajectory.” The UNSDF also includes a set of UN flagship programs that are aligned with major government schemes. The flagship programs will be scalable innovative, multi-sectoral solutions to some of the most pressing development challenges that India faces, while also serving as catalysts for increased investment of development finance. The programmes range from affordable housing for the poor to increasing access to clean energy in rural off-grid areas; from protecting all children from vaccine-preventable diseases to quality education for all children and skilling for young people, especially young girls; and from ending stunting to improving the child sex ratio.

The World Economic and Social Survey 2018 reviews the advances in frontier technologies – automation, robotics, electric vehicles, renewable energy technologies, biotechnologies and artificial intelligence – and analyses their economic, social and environmental impact. These technologies possess immense potential for fostering growth, prosperity and environmental sustainability and accelerating the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Advances in frontier technologies also present new and unique challenges. While promising prosperity, they also present risks of growing unemployment, underemployment and inequality, and raise new ethical and moral challenges.

The Political and Social Economy of Sex Selection: This is a study of the adverse child sex ratio (CSR) conducted during 2015–17, and builds on existing research on the subject, especially the study conducted by John et al. (2008) which investigated the adverse child sex ratio in five districts of north west India in the wake of the Census 2001 findings on CSRs. The sites of the study are entirely urban, in the towns of Rohtak and Jhajjar in Haryana, and Shirur and Beed in Maharashtra. Haryana is known for its long history of adverse CSRs while Maharashtra has received renewed attention after Census 2011 showed further declines.

This brief argues that a reduction in food loss and waste, particularly in high nutrient foods, has the potential to yield substantial nutritional benefits, contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, and the advancement of the Decade of Action on Nutrition. It also argues why addressing food waste and loss should be a new priority for improving nutrition.

The Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. Goal11, one of the 17 SDGs, is about all of these dimensions, with a specific focus on urban areas and settings. This synthesis report is the first publication showing the progress, challenges and opportunities of global monitoring of this Sustainable Development Goal. This report complements the 2018 Secretary-General’s Progress Report on SDGs which shows progress in the form of story lines, and the 2018 Secretary-General’s first quadrennial report on progress made in the implementation of the New Urban Agenda.