BHOPAL: A five-day workshop and research symposium on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) began on Monday at Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology under the theme “Accelerating the Sustainable Development Goals: Bridging Research, Policy, and Practice (ASDG 2026)”.
The programme, being held from May 18 to 22, is being organised by the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MANIT in collaboration with Madhya Pradesh Rajya NITI Aayog and GIZ India.
Workshop coordinators Dr Vilas Warudkar, Dr Mohammad Taufik and Dr Sudhanshu Kumar said 75 participants had registered for offline sessions, while 46 joined online. They said the initiative was among the first SDG-focused academic events organised by a National Institute of Technology.
The inaugural session began with a welcome address by Dr K R Aharwal, Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MANIT. Dr Anupama Sharma, Dean of Institute Development and International Relations, and Joyatri Ray, State Head and Policy Specialist at UN Women in Madhya Pradesh, also addressed participants.
The keynote address was delivered by Vineet Kapoor, Deputy Inspector General of Community Policing, Madhya Pradesh, who discussed sustainable development and community engagement through real-life case studies.
Among those present were Poornima Sharma and Himanshu Gupta.
Technical sessions focused on the evolution of SDGs from the Millennium Development Goals, India’s SDG progress, institutional mechanisms and data systems for monitoring development indicators. Experts from GIZ and MPRNA also discussed evidence-based policymaking, SDG dashboards and outcome budgeting.
