“National Institute for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog and Achieving Gender Equality in the Sustainable Development Framework by the year 2030”

Abstract

This research paper aims to study the role of the National Institute for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of Women in India with special focus on the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) number 5 – Gender Equality. The 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) formally adopted the resolution on “Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) comprises of 17 goals and 169 targets and came into force on 1st of January 2016. The Government of India (GOI) has appointed the NITI Aayog as the nodal agency for overseeing the implementation of the SDGs in India. (United Nations, 2015) In India only 59.3% women are literate when compared to 78.8% of men whereas there is 100% enrolment in primary education only 75.5% of girls progress for higher education. In the Indian Parliament only 11% of women hold seats in both houses namely Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. In the sub-national level women hold only 8.7% of seats across the State Legislative Assemblies in India. The sex-ratio at birth is 919 girls for every 100 boys as per the 2011 Census of India. In India 48.5% of the population are women but only 27.4% of women are in the workforce in the country. (Social Statistics Division MoSPI, GOI, 2017)