Need for equi-focus on agri industry

Jubilee Hills: To achieve sustainable development, an equi-focus on both agriculture and industry is a sine qua non. “Developing only one sector, at the cost of other equally important sectors, is not the right strategy as all sectors is inter-connected,” said Sanjeev Chopra, Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie. He was speaking at the valedictory function of the training programme on Implementation and Monitoring of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the MCR HRD Institute on Saturday. 

He went on to add that planning, strategy formulation and decision-making for overall development should be evidence-based with a broader focus. “Had there been scientific planning in farming, Punjab would not have encountered the problems of huge surplus of wheat and rice, which brought in its wake multiple problems for farmers”, he stated and added that the model of development with a singular focus on rice and wheat, at the cost of other crops, does not fit into the framework of sustainable development.

“While Allopathic system of medicine has got its own merits, a singular focus on its development is not the right approach in addressing the health issues of India,” he opined. Citing the example of China, which earmarks a huge budget for the development of its traditional systems of medicine, he called for the need for the development of home grown systems of medicine, namely, Ayurveda, Homeopathy, and Unani.

B P Acharya, Spl chief secretary & DG, Dr MCRHRD Institute, said that the training program on SDGs for senior IAS & AIS officers is a first-of-its-kind initiative in India. “Enlightening and empowering the leadership at top rungs of administrative hierarchy will be greatly instrumental in giving a big boost to successful implementation of SDGs.”