Published Paper Details:

Since the beginning of Indian civilization, sustainable development has been considered the essence of human life, a system in which natural resources are used to improve human life in such a way so that future generations can get a good and healthy environment. India is definitely different from other countries of the world due to its geographical, social, economic and demographical diversity. India has surpassed China to become the world's most populous country with over 140 crores of people. Being World's highest populated country it has many obstacles in the pathways towards achieving sustainable development. Huge income inequality still persists in Indian economy. More than 40% of the wealth created in the country has gone to just top 1% of the population while bottom half of total population is owing only 3% of total national wealth. The other fundamental challenges include-11.28% people still live in multidimensional poverty, 750 million people without electricity, India has around 18% of world population but only 4% of its water resources making it amongst most water- stressed countries, it ranked second with approximately 18 million homeless people and millions of people without basic education and health facilities. India is a signatory to Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2015 summit and is strongly committed to the 2030 agenda. Despite these obstacles Indian economy has committed to control greenhouse gases emission and achieving fast and inclusive growth. Over last two decades, Indian Government has launched many programs to encourage small scale businesses using renewable energy, handcrafted products and e-commerce businesses to boast equal regional growth across the country. The present study is an attempt to analysis the major challenges faced by Indian economy towards achieving sustainable development, social equity and development in major areas of multidimensional poverty reduction, education and gender equality, availability of safe drinking water, access to electricity.