16th Periodic Plan to have dedicated chapter for SDGs

Published On: August 17, 2023 07:30 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

Kathmandu, Aug 17: The 16th Periodic Plan of the government will have a separate chapter to deal with issues concerning the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The National Planning Commission (NPC), which is responsible for preparing the periodic plan, informed this during a meeting of the Sustainable Development and Good Governance Committee of the National Assembly on Thursday.

The NPC has already drafted the approach paper of the 16th Periodic Plan. The document is currently under discussion. As a part of the discussion, the committee called officials of the NPC to take stock of the issue.

During the meeting, the committee chair Prakash Panth said that the work procedures related to grants of the governments at various levels were based on a distributive approach, and urged the National Planning Commission (NPC) to take a lead for making such endeavors productive.

Lawmaker Kamala Pant was of the view that good governance, social justice and prosperity should be the priorities of the upcoming five-year periodic plan. "Our experiences so far highlight the need to consider the implementation aspect while drafting the plans."

Tul Prasad Bishwakarma underlined the need of ensuring the roles of experts concerned while drafting plans while Mahesh Kumar Mahara was of the opinion of localization of SDGs through the 16th Plan.

Bhuwan Bahadur Sunar advocated for the inclusion of a dedicated chapter addressing Dalit issues in the Plan while Bamdev Gautam argued that development endeavors reliant on bulldozing operations would ultimately end with catastrophic results.

Sharada Devi Bhatta, Singha Bahadur Bishwakarm and Committee Secretary Dr Rojnath Pandey, among others stressed that the drafting of the Plan should be in line with the spirit of the SDGs.

NPC vice chairman Min Bahadur Shrestha stated that prosperity is unattainable in the absence of social justice and good governance and these issues should be incorporated with special priorities in the 16th Plan. He pledged to incorporate the voices of the committee members in the Plan.

(RSS)