The Directorate of Economics & Statistics, J&K, under the guidance of Planning Development & Monitoring Department (PD&MD) conducted one day regional workshop on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) at Convention Centre here today regarding finalisation of District Indicator Framework.
A team of experts from UNDP and NITI Aayog also participated in the workshop and provided necessary guidance and inputs about preparation and finalisation of District Indicator Framework.
The workshop was attended by the designated district officers from all the districts of Jammu division including respective Chief Planning Officers and District Statistics & Evaluation officers who actively participated and helped in freezing the District Indicator Framework for the year 2023.
After freezing the DIF, a dashboard will be developed on these indicators to monitor and rank the districts on a periodic basis.
Delivering the keynote address, Secretary Planning, Development & Monitoring, Dr Raghav Langer, emphasised the importance of finalising the District Indicator Framework for creation of J&K SGD District Index and its future use besides linkage with budget earmarking.
Dr Langer stated that the UT administration is encouraging proactive disclosure of information and that monthly reports are submitted to the Lieutenant Governor for review. He iterated that in the information age, it is crucial to establish a sound framework for data collection and dissemination in order to provide accurate information to the public.
He highlighted that information would become publicly accessible and that it will be used as a basis for judging the government’s performance and functioning of departments.
Dr Langer underlined the significance of transparent data systems and emphasised that it would become difficult to fabricate information. He mentioned that a live dashboard of district indicators would be created enabling members of the public, media and other stakeholders to critically analyse the system. The dashboard would include various reports including sector, intra and inter district data and institutional delivery would be subject to scrutiny. The dashboard will help formulate outcome-based budget allocation, he said.
Dr Langer emphasized that the era of passive expenditures was coming to an end and that the new system would eventually be followed by all governments. He encouraged departments and district officers to thoroughly study the framework and respond with their inputs.
The UNDP India Policy Specialist, Jaimon Uthap, discussed introduction of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the SDG Project Implementation Plan in the UT of J&K. He shared valuable information including the localisation of district indicators and development of SDG Dashboard.
Director General Economics & Statistics, J&K, Satvir Kour Sudan, in her welcome address, informed the participants about importance of the workshop on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), commitment of GoI towards its achievement and role of UT of J&K in this endeavour.
A UT level workshop was previously held in December last year at Jammu wherein SDG Progress Report 2022 along with UT Indicator framework (UTIF) of J&K and District Indicator Framework (DIF) were shared with the Chief Planning Officers for their comments and suggestions for improving the SDG District Indicator Framework.
