Consider the following statements: 1. The Sustainable Development Goals were first proposed in 1972 by a global think tank called the ‘Club of Rome’. 2. The Sustainable Development Goals have to be achieved by 2030. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Statement 2 is correct and statement 1 is not, so the answer is B) 2 only.

• Statement 1 is wrong. The Club of Rome did publish The Limits to Growth in 1972, which is why the year gets attached to this question. But the SDGs did not originate there. They grew out of the Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015), were framed through the Rio+20 outcome document 'The Future We Want' (2012) and the open working group process, and were adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2015 as 'Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'.
• Statement 2 is correct. The 17 goals and 169 targets are meant to be achieved by 2030. The 2030 deadline is written into the adopting resolution itself.

Core concept: the SDGs are a UN framework under the 2030 Agenda, built on the three pillars of economic, social and environmental sustainability. For Mains GS-II and GS-III, link them to India's own SDG India Index, NITI Aayog's monitoring, and the 'leave no one behind' principle.

Trap: aspirants see 1972 and a familiar think tank name and assume the statement is true. Remember that the Club of Rome's report was an influential precursor, not the origin of the SDGs.