Mapping Sustainable Development Goals for Children in India : Progress and Present Challenges

This book offers a comprehensive exploration of child well-being within the context of Indian states, focusing on the progress made in eight Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets. What sets this book apart is its unique perspective, as it delves into the well-being of children, examining their experiences across six key dimensions: child poverty and deprivation, anthropometric failure and undernutrition, child health and healthcare services, quality education, violence and gender equity, and overall child well-being.

The book relies on data from various data sources such as the National Family Health Survey, Unified District Information System, and National Crime Records Bureau statistics. The child well-being score is calculated following the UNDP methodology, enabling a ranking of states and districts in terms of their progress between 2015-16 and 2019-21.

In addition to rigorous quantitative analysis, the book delves into the implications of key policies like the National Education Policy, National Health Policy, social protection schemes, and Poshan Abhiyan on child development and their role in achieving SDG targets. It systematically compares the performance of Indian states in relation to SDG targets, using child-specific indicators, making this book truly unique. It incorporates more than 30 child-related indicators, spanning the eight child-specific SDGs selected for analysis. The child well-being achievement score from 2015-16 serves as a baseline for assessing the progress toward SDG goals. The indicators presented in this book serve as valuable tools for tracking SDG progress and sustainably monitoring child well-being at the state level. Ultimately, the book not only reveals the depth of deprivations but also provides a roadmap for region-specific priority areas, strongly advocating for child-centric policy interventions.

This book will be useful for the academicians, policy makers, government officials, civil bodies, NGOs and other research communities including doctoral researchers who are working in the field of child wellbeing.

Dr. Swati Dutta is Fellow at Institute for Human Development, New Delhi. She obtained her PhD from Institute for Financial Management and Research, the University of Madras with IFMR fellowship. Her research interests are child deprivation, multidimensional poverty, human development, financial inclusion, women empowerment, food and nutrition security, and financial inclusion. She has to her credit more than 25 papers published in international journals. She is assistant editor of Indian Journal of Human Development.

 Dr. Khanindra Ch. Das is assistant professor of economics at BIMTECH, Greater Noida (NCR), India. His teaching philosophy is to impart up-to-date knowledge drawn from relevant disciplines that can be applied in business and society. His research aims at generating new insights, through integration of disciplines and ideas, which can shape policy and practice in various spheres for improving economic and societal outcomes.He is editor of BIMTECH Business Perspectives.