Sustainable Development at the Grassroots: An Evaluation of SDG Themes in Pragpur and Garli Heritage Villages, Himachal Pradesh

Sustainable Development Goals are comprehensive goals that provide a comprehensive framework that integrates social inclusion, economic growth and environmental preservation. However, for effective implementation, it became important to localise these sustainable development goals, as different regions have distinct potential and limitations; hence, context-specific solutions are required to achieve holistic development. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj Institutions has identified nine themes addressing localised sustainable development goals. Therefore, the present study aims to assess the performance of the Pragpur-Garli heritage villages across nine themes. The study is based on primary data, and all households in both villages were contacted to obtain information across all nine themes. Data was collected for more than 290 indicators in both villages, and the percentage and mean methods were used for the analysis. The study reveals that the performance of both villages is quite good, but still there are certain themes that need attention. Improvisation and addressing of issues pertaining to themes where the performance of villages is not well can further enhance the welfare of people and the development of villages.