Abstract

Good health is essential for a high quality of life, as it impacts our ability to enjoy life and engage in daily activities. However, as climate change becomes more pervasive in our daily lives, the implementation of resilience and mitigation measures to address its repercussions on health significantly influences India’s commitment of 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which, inter-alia, includes SDG 3 of ‘Good Health and Well-Being’. Government at the Central and State level are taking necessary interventions towards this objective, however, local governments can always play a significant role in governance at grassroots levels. In this context, Elinor Ostrom’s Nobel Prize winning analysis is instrumental which puts significant importance to community actions which can solve problems in the absence of national and State level programmes through trust factor which can be durably built at local level. Within this context, rural local governance units termed as Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in India, have emerged as pivotal agents of change in facilitating the realization of SDGs. India is predominantly a rural country with about 60% of people residing in more than 6 lakh villages with 70 per cent of its workforce living in rural areas that contribute to about 46 per cent of the economy. These villages are amalgamated into around 2.6 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) with 31.65 lakh elected representatives. These are institutions of local self-governance at grassroots levels having key role in planning, implementation and monitoring of large number of flagship programmes. By virtue of the Constitutional mandate, Panchayats provide enabling platform for planning and implementation of activities on key subjects such as Health, Nutrition, Education, Drinking Water and Sanitation etc. having direct and indirect bearing on public health. This Paper presents the facts that in both global and Indian contexts, there has been progress in key health indicators with the interventions of government and stakeholders. However, the progress can be further catalyzed through empowerment and enablement of Panchayats across six critical pillars namely, Framework, Functions, Finances, Functionaries, Capacity Building, and Accountability for overall development of women.