Abstract

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development obliges every tier of governance, national, State, and local, to translate seventeen global goals into locally meaningful outcomes. This article examines the trajectory of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) implementation in the State of Nagaland, a constitutionally distinctive frontier State in India’s North-East governed under the special protections of Article 371A of the Constitution of India. Combining doctrinal analysis of the constitutional, statutory, and policy architecture with an original empirical survey of eighty respondents drawn from across the State, the study evaluates Nagaland’s progress using the United Nations’ five-pillar (5 Ps) framework: People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, and Partnership. The article argues that Nagaland’s record is best described as institutionally promising but unevenly realised: government schemes and constitutional protections have produced measurable gains in education, health infrastructure, and gender indicators, yet unemployment, unreliable infrastructure, corruption perceptions, and weak inter-departmental coordination continue to constrain outcomes. The article further contends that the customary governance institutions protected under Article 371A, Village Councils, Village Development Boards, and indigenous ecological knowledge, are not peripheral to the SDG project but central to its success in a State where land, forests, and natural resources remain substantially outside direct State control. The article concludes with a set of legal and policy recommendations, including a dedicated State SDG statute, for reconciling formal and customary governance in pursuit of the 2030 Agenda.

Keywords: Sustainable Development Goals, Nagaland, Article 371A, Customary Governance, 5 Ps Framework, SDG Localisation, Indigenous Knowledge