SRINAGAR, AUGUST 16: Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo on Wednesday chaired a meeting to assess the strategy proposed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for aligning the annual budget of Jammu & Kashmir with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with emphasis on outcome-based planning, convergence of schemes and evidence-based allocation of public resources.
The meeting, as per an official statement, was attended by Additional Chief Secretary, Finance; Commissioner Secretary, Information Technology; Commissioner Secretary, Social Welfare; Secretary, Agriculture; Director Planning, besides senior officers and representatives of various departments.
The UNDP team made a detailed presentation to provide a preliminary roadmap for aligningpublic expenditure with the Sustainable Development Goals, outlining a structured approach for integrating SDGs into the budgeting and public financial management architecture of the Union Territory.
Taking note of the strategy presented by UNDP, the Chief Secretary directed the Planning Department to constitute a dedicated team to work in close coordination with the UNDP team and formulate a comprehensive roadmap identifying the interventions required under each SDG for achieving the desired targets over the coming years.
He emphasised the need to undertake a comprehensive mapping of Centrally Sponsored Schemes and UT Government schemes against the respective SDGs so that the contribution of each scheme towards individual goals and targets is clearly established. He further called for identifying the additional interventions and resource requirements that may be necessary to bridge existing gaps and accelerate progress towards the identified targets.
The Chief Secretary stressed that achievement of the SDGs cannot be confined to individual departments or isolated schemes, as several goals require cross-cutting interventions and coordinated action across multiple sectors. He called for leveraging existing schemes and programmes while simultaneously assessing the requirement for additional funding under appropriate budgetary provisions.
He further directed that the exercise should identify the targeted population and beneficiaries for various interventions so as to facilitate focused implementation and measurable outcomes. He laid emphasis on convergence of schemes, coordinated implementation and outcome-based monitoring over a defined period of time.
The Chief Secretary’s directions are aimed at moving the exercise beyond a simple tagging of budgetary allocations and towards preparation of a practical, time-bound and results-oriented action plan for achieving SDG targets in Jammu & Kashmir.
On this occasion the Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, Shailendra Kumar, emphasised the need for assigning a clear role to every scheme in achieving the respective SDG targets.
He called for mapping each scheme against the relevant SDG and assessing its contribution towards the concerned goal, including the extent of contribution that can reasonably be achieved on the ground. Such an exercise, he observed, would provide greater clarity on what needs to be done, where the intervention is required and within what timeframe.
He also stressed the importance of capacity building of officers and departmental functionaries alongside preparation of the SDG-aligned budgeting framework to ensure that the proposed system is implemented effectively at the operational level.
The ACS Finance further called for initiating the exercise immediately so that its early benefits could be realised and the necessary framework incorporated into the next year’s budgetary exercise by the concerned departments.
The UNDP proposal envisages a three-year programme aimed at integrating SDGs into the budgeting and public financial management systems of Jammu & Kashmir. The proposed framework seeks to establish a direct linkage between budgetary inputs, departmental outputs, measurable outcomes and SDG targets, thereby enabling more informed decisions on allocation and utilisation of public resources.
The strategy involves three principal components including SDG Budget Tagging Framework; an integrated digital platform linked with IFMIS; and institutional capacity building through an Output–Outcome Monitoring Framework (OOMF).
Under the proposed SDG Budget Tagging Framework, departmental schemes and expenditure heads would be mapped against specific SDG goals and targets, with expenditure proposed to be classified as Directly Contributing, Indirectly Contributing or Neutral. The framework envisages coverage of all 20 departments as well as district budgets.
A web-based SDG-IFMIS portal has also been proposed for tracking, analysing and visualising budgetary allocations and expenditure against SDGs. The portal would be integrated with the existing IFMIS architecture and SDG dashboard and would provide a department-, goal- and district-wise view of SDG expenditure.
The proposed framework would also facilitate quarterly reporting of SDG expenditure vis-à-vis outcomes, enabling departments to assess the effectiveness of spending and helping policymakers redirect resources towards areas where development gaps are more pronounced.
The UNDP team also highlighted the progress made by Jammu & Kashmir in its SDG journey. As per the NITI Aayog SDG India Index 2023-24, it was revealed that J&K’s composite SDG score improved from 53 in 2018 to 74 in 2023-24, a gain of 21 points, making J&K the second fastest-improving Union Territory nationally and ranking it second among all Union Territories.
The presentation noted that J&K has already established important institutional foundations for SDG localisation. The SDG Coordination Centre (SDGCC) was established with technical support from NITI Aayog and UNDP, while State and District Indicator Frameworks have been finalised and progress reports prepared for all 20 districts with a live monitoring dashboard also operational here.
The proposed intervention is expected to strengthen the shift from input-based to outcome-based governance, enabling departments to assess the actual contribution of public expenditure towards development goals.
The framework would also help identify underfunded SDG areas, improve convergence among schemes, avoid duplication and support evidence-based rationalisation of schemes and allocations. District-level SDG budget tracking is expected to provide greater visibility of regional disparities and help ensure that development priorities of remote and underserved areas receive appropriate attention.
The Chief Secretary’s directions are expected to provide the next step towards developing a J&K-specific, department-wise and outcome-oriented roadmap for SDG achievement, with budgetary resources, existing schemes, additional interventions and measurable outcomes brought together within a common planning framework.
The exercise, once developed and operationalised, would seek to strengthen the linkage between public expenditure and development outcomes, enabling Jammu & Kashmir to move towards a more integrated, evidence-based and results-oriented system of planning, budgeting and SDG implementation.
