Department of Public Administration

The IIPA Punjab and Chandigarh (UT) Regional Branch organized a regional conference on the theme ‘Good Governance and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals’ in collaboration with the Department of Public Administration, Panjab University Chandigarh on October 09, 2019.

The Conference was chaired by Shri B.S. Ojha IAS (Retd.), chairman of the Regional Branch.  Prof. B.S. Ghuman, Honorary Secretary, IIPA Punjab and Chandigarh (UT) Regional Branch and Vice-Chancellor, Punjabi University, Patiala while welcoming the participants and introducing the theme opined that well formulated public policies fail to deliver at the implementation stage. Same is likely to happen, in case, SDGs are not properly linked with quality of governance. The 17 SDGs having 169 concrete targets and 230 indicators are guiding factors for achieving sustainable development. The focus must be on reaching a situation meeting the overarching philosophy behind conceptualization of SDGs, ‘No One is Left Behind’. This can be achieved if and only if the quality of governance improves through surgical routes.

Dr Bhawna Gupta, Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, Panjab University, Chandigarh and Ms Chtanpreet Kaur, Research Scholar presented the theme paper written by Professor C. Sheela Reddy. During theirt presentation they opined that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an ambitious commitment by world leaders which set out a universal and an unprecedented agenda which embraces economic, environmental and social aspects of the wellbeing of societies. Good governance holds the key for achieving these goals. Thus the theme paper is a timely publication in this regard dwelling inter-linkages between good governance and SDGs. Bringing together the right stakeholders, measuring progress, optimal use of information technology, regional cooperation and the north-south divide are major challenges before governance in achieving SDGs. The major policy prescriptions in this regard include developing capacities of the stakeholders implementing SDGs, sharing of best practices, continuous dialogues between the stakeholders, reforming governance structures and formulating policies based on knowledge generated from peer reviewed research which is conceptually sound, contextually sensitive, quality driven and trustworthy.

The presentation was followed by a discussion in which participants included Prof. B.S. Ghuman, Prof. Balram Gupta, Prof. Ramanjit K Johal, Dr Ranjeet Singh, Mr Sandeep Kumar, Ms Harsimran Kaur and Mr Udaiveer Singh.

In his Presidential Remarks, Sh. B.S. Ojha, I.A.S. (Retd.), former Chief Secretary, Government of Haryana and Chairman, IIPA Punjab & Chandigarh Regional Branch said that ensuring credibility of the data and educating the masses are two key strategies to achieve SDGs by the end of the year 2030.

Dr Navreet, Department of Public Administration, Panjab University, Chandigarh proposed vote of thanks.