This book explores the intersectional perspective of sustainable social development in key sectors, such as education and skill development, health and nutrition, gender concerns, and food security and agriculture in India. It delves into contemporary concerns of poverty, employment and inclusive growth, and social marginalisation and inequality. The volume brings together the contributions of various stakeholders from academia, research organisations, NGOs and policymakers to address social-sector issues and sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the Indian context. It reflects on policies, strategies and performance in the context of Constitutional goals and the commitment to global SDGs and examines the character and contours of social development in the country. Comprehensive and topical, this volume will be useful to scholars, researchers, policymakers and practitioners of development studies, political studies, sociology and development economics.

This volume examines the practicality of achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals in India, and includes policy analyses and statistical assessments of comparative data between India and different countries. With a focus on poverty and economics, the contributors offer sector and state specific performance analyses of each goal, determining the feasibility for different states and regions to implement a given goal under conditions of extreme poverty and economic distress. Readers will learn how to perform comprehensive economic performance analyses, and how to apply these methods at local and regional scales within the framework of sustainable development. The book will be of interest to students and researchers studying sustainable development, economics, and policy analysis, as well as NGOs and government agencies working towards achieving the SDGs in impoverished nations.

This volume is a collection of essays that provide a comprehensive coverage of multiple aspects of the discourse on environment, development and sustainability. It is designed to bring in a host of perspectives highlighting the synergies and the trade-offs in this debate, showcasing research along with policy implications of putting research into use. The global discussion on sustainability paints the broad canvas for this book. This volume aims to probe some contemporary issues that will help in understanding the sustainability narrative in India. The topics span over a host of questions on energy, environment, natural resources and related constituents of development. The discourse further extends to the role of economic modelling, public policy debates, political intervention, stakeholders’ response, community participation and so on. The discussions are often based on empirical support, review of existing literature as well as policy analysis. With an ultimate aim to understand the overall development narrative of the people of India, the discourse takes in its ambit the nuances of resource utilisation, economic growth, COVID-19 impacts, competitiveness and market structures, urbanization, sectoral reforms, environmental hazards, climate change, pollution, natural resource accounting and management to name a few. The book is divided into four sections, namely, The Big Picture: Evolving Perspectives; The Energy Scenario: Dilemmas and Opportunities; Sustainability Cross-Cuts: Developmental Aspects and Externality Empirics: Knowledge and Practice. The first section contains commentaries on the overarching themes of economic growth, development and sustainability. It presents some emerging perspectives on the developmental crisis that has emerged through the environmental lens with additional focus on the need for inclusion of creativity, knowhow, technology and financial resources to achieve the ambitious SDG targets. The second section brings out the dilemmas and opportunities in the energy sector, that has been a key player in discussions of sustainability, especially for India where significant technological advances in conventional forms of energy supply coexists with fairly low levels of per capita energy consumption and energy security is a key challenge. The section on sustainability crosscuts attempts to highlight the problems and processes of mainstreaming the sustainability question into conventional thinking through the concepts of a circular economy, green accounting techniques, institutional and governance structures, public policy and inclusive growth, amongst others. The last section presents some empirical studies on environmental externalities, the unaccounted environmental effects of economic production and consumption and finally the behavioural aspects of the stakeholders that are crucial in the larger narrative of sustainable development. This edited volume contains contributions of reputed scholars from various Indian universities, research institutions and professionals from outside academia, who are proven experts in their fields. The link between policy, practice, and well-being of the large vulnerable population of India is the major focus of enquiry that will help researchers, practitioners and policy planners in conducting further research in energy, environment, resource and linked areas of development economics. General readers with an active interest in energy, environment, and economic development are also likely to find this book an interesting read, especially in the times of several environmental challenges facing humankind.

How can governments support the private sector’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? This book investigates the contribution of firms to the SDGs, particularly through their core business, taking into account inter-sectoral linkages and global value chains, using novel techniques and data sources.

As education and health are two major areas of concern in the context of social sector development and human development achievements, this book explores their situation in India. The liberalisation of the Indian economy had a major impact on the growth rate of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with the economic growth of the country jumping from the so-called Hindu growth rate of 3.5% to 8–9% per annum. The literacy rate increased to 74.04% in 2011 from 12% in 1947, while the universalization of elementary education has been achieved to a great extent, and dropout rates have decreased. However, despite considerable progress, exclusions and wide disparities still exist. Combining access with affordability and ensuring quality with good governance and adequate finance are still of great concern. On the health front, significant achievements have also been made, with a number of diseases eradicated or on the verge of elimination. There has been a substantial drop in the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) and Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), and life expectancy has increased from 36.7 years in 1951 to 67.14 in 2011. The crude birth rate has been reduced from 40.8 in 1951 to 20.6 in 2012, and the crude death rate from 25.1 to 7.43 in the same period. These achievements are impressive, but at the same time our failures appear even more glaring. As such, this volume brings together contributions from eminent Indian scholars on a range of social issues, including linkages between growth, poverty and the social sector; the efficiency of social sector spending in India; disparity in health statuses; IPR protection in health innovations; pollution and health; the universalisation of elementary education; problems faced at the higher levels of education; and issues of child labour.

Looks at the underdevelopment of the private sector on American Indian reservations, with the goal of sustaining and growing Native nation communities.

A succinct examination of the concept of sustainable development: what it means; how it is impacted by globalisation, production and consumption; how it can be measured; and what can be done to promote it.