The United Nations Resolution “Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” had been endorsed by all member nations of the UN in September 2015. The Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly had stated that much of India’s development agenda is reflected in the SDGs. The concept of sustainability – the holistic conception of the symbiotic relationship between man and nature – has been foregrounded in India’s Vedanta philosophy, including the Dasavatara chronicles.
In 1968, at the 14th General Conference of UNESCO, the Indian delegation, along with others, proposed a new and major programme entitled “a design for living”. Subsequently and until today, India has been at the forefront of global dialogue on sustainable development.
Today, the challenge of climate change, inequality, conflict and pandemic have combined to create a “polycrisis”. In order to tackle this, we must again learn to invoke the energy of growing things and to recognize, as did the ancients in India centuries ago, that one can take from the Earth and the atmosphere only as much as one puts back into them.
यत् ते भूमे विखनामि क्षिप्रं तदपि रोहनु।
मा ते विमृग्वरि या ते हृदयमर्पिपम्।।
“What of thee I dig out, let that quickly grow over,
Let me not hit thy vitals, or thy heart”.
(Atharva Veda, Kanda XII, Prithvi Sukta 1)
As India successfully straddles the intersection of modernity and tradition, poised to become a USD 5 trillion economy, the achievement of appropriately localized Sustainable Development Goals is of the essence.
As is amply clear not only in the UN resolutions, but in the continuous Indic tradition since the Vedic Age and the credo of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”, actions to preserve the planet and its people must be co-ordinated across the globe, bringing together practitioners and leaders – not only governments but also private and public sector, civil society, technical experts, and anyone who wishes to contribute and join a global network of doers, achievers – and learners.
Deendayal Research Institute (DRI), founded by the late Bharat Ratna Rashtrarishi Nanaji Deshmukh had found an articulation of this vision – renouncing political life – going beyond brave resolutions, and transforming a remote landscape in arid central India into a highly successful, globally recognised model of rural transformation.
At Chitrakoot, Nanaji translated into practice the “Integral Humanism” vision of late Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya – a society based on co-operation and integration of each human being, where each is responsible for the welfare of all others, where the distinction between self and society is obliterated and life is based upon interdependence and complementarity. In a series of talks that Pt. Deendayal Upadyhaya delivered in 1965, the concept of integral humanism with an internationalist perspective was well enunciated. The UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is consistent with this philosophy.
“Having taken note of the progress of the world, can we add to the common store of knowledge? As a member of the world community, we must discharge our responsibilities. If we possess something that may prove helpful to world progress, we should not hesitate in imparting it to the world. In this era of adulteration, instead of adulterating ideas, we must, on the contrary, scrutinise and improve upon them wherever possible before accepting them. Rather than being a burden to the world, we must attempt to resolve, if possible, the problems facing the world. We must also consider what contributions our tradition and civilisation can make to world culture.”
DRI is committed to continuing Nanaji’s experiment to translate concepts into actual practice. The discourse of Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya – which drew upon Lokmanya Tilak and Gandhiji’s precepts – inspires us to build a global alliance of changemakers and decision-takers in the pursuit of SDGs. DRI has been taking up the sustainable development agenda through its grassroots work since the 1990s, with the credo “Gramodaya se Sarvodaya” (Upliftment of All through Rural Upliftment).
The global pandemic has once again demonstrated how interconnected we are. Yet the Triangular model with which we dealt with the pandemic – with governments bearing the risk, businesses coping with the shockwave, and people facing death and destitution – is fundamentally unsustainable.
We require to harness the power of networks – the world community – to make this a four-way partnership and ensure social cohesion and a sense of the collective amongst all of us. The times require us to integrate all stakeholders into a global forum for a) sharing ideas and practices and b) identifying specific initiatives for collaboration and cooperation. We need to move away from governmental responsibility to stakeholder accountability.
We now propose to build a global network of SDG practitioners – a World SDG Forum, anchored by DRI but open and inclusive for all grassroots organisations, implementing agencies, private and public sector CSR initiatives, and also national and international development partners.
The central aim of the network is to support positive social and behavioural change with and for SDG interventions with specific emphasis on going beyond simply delivering messages, to engaging practitioners in self-reflection, dialogue, exchange and feedback in order to achieve lasting positive change on jointly agreed priorities.
To achieve its objectives, the World SDG Forum could take up the following strategies:
- High level advocacy at global, regional and country level including the G20 process and events currently underway in India.
- Generation and analysis of behavioural change and intervention-based evidence to inform action.
- Development, dissemination, and local customization of global guidance on key thematic issues, including process mapping validated interventions and sharing them on an open-source knowledge platform.
- Periodic meetings and webinars at the different levels for sharing of knowledge, issues and experiences.
- Digital engagement and capacity development.
- Tracking, monitoring and documentation of the results of the initiative.
The initiative is based on the highly successful SDG Workshop organised and hosted by DRI in April 2022, where participants from across India and globally made presentations on their SDG interventions and also articulated the demand for a sustained network on SDGs.
Moreover, India’s Presidency of G-20 offers an opportunity to evolve a proof-of-concept SDG Forum which would be of interest to G-20 leaders and their delegations as also associated civil society forums and think-tank dialogue.
The contours and modalities of the proposed World SDG Forum, will require more deliberation and continuous iteration and change, based on the general will of the participants, donors, critics, and other interlocutors.
This Forum is a clarion call for analysis, advocacy and action.
त्वं यत् तव गभीरा, चालककामना अस्ति।
यथा तव कामः, तथैव तव इच्छा।
यथा तव इच्छा, तथैव तव कर्म।
यथा तव कर्म तथा तव दैवम्।
You are what your deep, driving desire is.
As your desire is, so is your will.
As your will is, so is your deed.
As your deed is, so is your destiny.”
(From the Brhdaranyaka Upanisad (IV.4.5))
To read or download ‘The Chitrakoot Declaration’ adopted on 27th February 2023, Click here.
To participate and join us, click here.