The latest SDGs related United Nations’ report has painted a grim picture of how things are taking shape globally, forcing crores of people into extreme poverty caused by Covid-19 pandemic. Assessing the progress of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN has said that the pandemic has pushed 9.3 crore more people worldwide into extreme poverty in just 2020. A good number of more people might have been pressed into the same situation in 2021 and during the first half of 2022 also, however their figures are not available. The problems have been compounded because of the climate crisis and increased number of geo-political conflicts including the one between Russia and Ukraine, creating serious supply chain crisis and putting all the 17 sustainable development goals of 2030 set by the UN into jeopardy.
According to the UN report, geo-political conflicts have forcibly displaced over 10 crore people as of May 2022. The skyrocketing prices of food, fuel, fertilizers and several other essential items, caused by the international conflicts, have further aggravated the situations, cutting the projected global economic growth for 2022 by 0.9%. It becomes a priority for developing states across the globe to begin thinking of strategic welfare programs to support their bottom lot, find innovative solutions to strengthen the existing logistics structure within their economies and become more vigilant on financial matters and spending.
Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) is one such welfare programme launched to alleviate the pain and sufferings caused by Covid-19 pandemic and to feed the country’s poorest citizens by providing grains through the PDS system. The government has spent Rs. 2.60 lakh crore so far and another Rs. 80,000 crore will be spent over the coming months till September 2022. According to a report by the dept. of Food and Public Distribution, the initiative stands out as the largest food assistance program anywhere in the world during the pandemic in terms of the number of people covered, which is more than 10% of the world population. Along with food assurance, financial benefits and healthcare expenditure are also being taken care of by the government, and continuous efforts are leading to positive results as far as poverty-reduction is concerned. Due to many inter-connected new steps & initiatives, India has seen a sharp decline in extreme poverty in recent years, prompting even the top multilateral organizations like World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) appreciating India’s efforts towards reducing extreme poverty. A World Bank working paper says that extreme poverty fell by 12.3% points to 10.2% in 2019, from 22.5% in 2011.
Health, hygiene and mental health, especially in the post-COVID world, have become imperative to take care of for the entire globe. Deaths from Tuberculosis and malaria have increased. The global prevalence of depression and anxiety has increased by around 25% in 2020 with women and young people being the most affected ones. The burgeoning crisis has also caused an increase in dropouts and it is expected that around 2.4 crore students from pre-primary standard to university level, may not be able to return to their educational institutions because of these crisis and conflicts.
Hence, setting the world on a new trajectory appears much more essential than ever before. Governments across the globe must take the necessary measure to mitigate the situation by taking the UN report seriously and take the required measures to achieve 2030 SDGs targets because the worsening situations are threatening human survival. The report is also a reality check on the devastating impacts of the multiple crisis on the lives and livelihood of crores of people with equally focusing on the solution part.
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