Monday 7 January 2019




Information and Communications Technology
&
The Sustainable Development Goals


Nowadays we cannot think about any kind of development without technological involvement.  As we are facing so many problems like environmental change, poverty, weak education system and its reach, water crises and its purity etc. So the world is trying to overcome from these all the crises and now such all issues covered in sustainable development goals. In sustainable development goals, we are having 17 goals and under these 17 goals, we have 169 distinct targets. Now the question, Can we imagine to achieve these goals without any information technological involvement? 

And things are becoming more difficult when these sustainable development goals are the same for developing countries. For overall sustainable economic growth, technology would be an unavoidable aspect.  We see technology as a powerful enabler – an agent of change to help solve many of the challenges facing the world today as governments seek sustainable growth and development models and focus on the future of our planet and its people.Technology specially related to IT has amazing potential to help achieving the SDGs, but it can also be at the root of exclusion and inequality. We need to standardize the use of all technological benefits. There are list of new technologies those can have potential like artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, IOT and blockchain etc. These technologies are in use at every level like from home to research projects.

This year’s there are many platform those discussed about the many different ways in which digital technology provide the next level support in achieving SDGs. For example, technology might help minimize inequality by providing access to basic services, such as e-health or online education. Moreover government makes sure that the citizens are very much aware about the services and they feel connected through services like e-government tools and citizens must use the technological benefit. Information management and its privacy and security policy should be ensuring by the government to better connect to their citizens and to improve citizen’s participation. ICT has the potential to transform the manufacturing sector through advancements such as IOT, cloud and robotics – all of which reduce costs, increase efficiency and drive economic growth.

The deployment of new technologies could be essential for achieving the SDGs, considering the need for accelerated progress to fulfil the goals by 2030. At the same time, as new technologies are usually unavailable to marginalised populations, it will be a key challenge to ensure that no one is left behind in the fourth industrial revolution, as new innovations often exacerbate existing divides in society between those who can benefit and those who are left behind. In addition, with the current speed of innovation, there are many opportunities and risks that are still unknown but could rapidly crystallise, without regulators being able to respond in a timely manner. Therefore, it is imperative for decision-makers to be aware of, and to understand technological change as much as possible. In the words of the Ministerial Declaration, ‘the introduction of new technologies should never blind us from our pledge to leave no one behind’.


 Mr. Pramod Pandey

 Assistant Professor
Department of Management Studies

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