‘Transformative In True Sense Of The Word’: UN Official Expresses Awe Over India’s Inclusive Progress, Lauds Aadhaar

A top United Nations official has expressed awe over India's progress in moving towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) without compromising on inclusivity and has lauded the transformative effect it has had on the country, reports Times of India.

Addressing the High-Level Political Forum 2019 at the UN headquarters, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar elaborated on India's roadmap for the next five years to achieve a major transformation while ensuring that no one is left behind towards the goal.

Lauding India's footsteps in the same regard, UN Development Programme(UNDP) Administrator Achim Steiner said, "I am simply in awe with where India today is setting new records in achieving what we aspire."

Calling the reforms like Aadhaar biometric programme and Jan Dhan as illustrious steps in realising inclusive growth, Steiner said, "India has come up with really breakthrough impacts. Exceeding anything that any country has ever done before.”

Commenting on Aadhaar, Steiner said that the programme has delivered more than everyone’s expectations. “I sometimes still wonder why the world has not studied this more because it is transformative in the true sense of the world" he said.

In the meantime, Steiner said that lifting a staggering 271 million people out of the poverty line between 2006-2016 was mind-boggling which has no parallels anywhere in the world.

Resident Coordinator of the UN in India Ranata Dessallien said that India's SDGs approach and Agenda 2030 are a complete policy framework, adding that India is an epicentre of innovative, advanced technological and digital-based solutions.