Sir: The first question to be answered here is that what is the purpose of formulating these global goals?
There are 17 goals suggested by United Nations Development Programme which are implemented or at least partially followed on a global scale by different countries to accomplish three important objectives.
The first one is end of poverty, the second being protection and security of every man on this planet and the last one is peace and prosperity around the globe without any discrimination of any kind. These goals are unified on the basic idea of establishing an environment of harmony not only on a global scale but also within the boundaries of a country.
Our country faces a lot of challenges majority of which are economic and social in nature. These goals touch all the domains of life ensuring that if a comprehensive plan is adapted to achieve these goals, a prosperous life could be assured to the coming generations.
Every country in the world prioritizes these goals according to their own needs and work on those issues which require utmost care and concern. The ultimate effect of these goals is the eradication of poverty from the society, tackling conflict which is the biggest hurdle in attaining world peace and finally a new but extremely important agenda of global climate change. The guidelines of UNDP, aimed to be accomplished by 2030 will make sure that the world is on the path of sustainable development.
A significant part of the country’s population is facing the problems of poverty which is directly linked to hunger. A major class of our society is earning below the poverty line which doesn’t allow them to have access to quality education. Moreover, the quality of life is further degraded by substandard health and wellbeing resources.
A lot of work is being done in all the provinces of the country to tackle this issue but in a capitalist system like that of our society, this is by far the most difficult task to accomplish. The first step required to be taken here is the development of a comprehensive resource distribution plan that ensures that the rich have a limit to how rich they can become and the poor get a fair share from a country’s resources.
BILAL KHAN
Islamabad
Published in Daily Times, April 17th 2018.