NITI Aayog presented India’s second Voluntary National Review (VNR) at the United Nations High-level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development, 2020. HLPF is an international platform for follow-up and review of progress on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The review report released by NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, Chairman Dr VK Paul and SDG Advisor Samyukta Samadar titled ‘Decade of Action: Taking SDG from Global to Local’ was presented by the Deputy Chairman of the Commission, Dr Rajeev Kumar, before the UN forum.

At the HLPF 2020, hosted virtually amid the COVID-19, 47 member states presented their VNRs. The HLPF meets in July every year for eight days, under the support of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the UN. NITI Aayog had prepared and presented India’s first VNR in 2017. Apart from India, Bangladesh, Georgia, Kenya, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria and Uganda introduced VNR for the second time. It aims to facilitate the sharing of experiences gained, including the successes, challenges and lessons found in implementing the agenda. The process of preparing a country’s VNR provides a platform for partnership through the participation of various relevant stakeholders.

NITI Aayog Deputy Chairman Dr Rajeev Kumar expressed his solidarity with all countries which were grappling with challenges brought about by the pandemic while highlighting the key features of India’s response to the pandemic under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat campaign. “We should obliterate all divisions and distinctions amongst us and come together to try and convert the prevailing situation into an opportunity for accelerating our progress towards achieving the SDG targets”, said the Vice-Chairman in his statement.

The India VNR 2020 report was unveiled during this event. The report is a comprehensive account of the adoption and implementation of the 2030 Agenda in India. Apart from presenting a review of progress on the 17 SDGs, the report discusses at length the policy and enabling environment, India’s approach to localising SDGs and strengthening means of implementation.