Transforming India Towards Nation-Building and Global Citizenship: Through the Lens of National Education Policy and Sustainable Development Goals

India, the world’s largest democracy and fastest growing economy, is interwoven with a rich heritage, diverse languages, traditions and customs. It is the youngest nation in the world where more than 55% people are below 25 years of age, and around 60% of the population is in the working-age in between 15 to 60 years. To protect the rich cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and to invest in the youth of India, National Education Policy (NEP) unfurled in 2020 by the government to improve and strengthen its education system strongly aligned with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) envisioned by the United Nations (UN) in 2015. The NEP 2020 initiated by the Government of India in convergence with SDGs heavily emphasize on Skill Development, Community Development, Environmental Protection, propitiation of Indian Knowledge System (IKS) eventually skilling India and empowering the youth by promoting inclusivity, helping them nurture their own skills which make them unique. The NEP serves as a framework to harness the transformative power of education to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals especially the SDG 4 (quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all) by 2030 as adopted by the United Nations. Through the NEP framework, India is nurturing a generation of socially conscious and environmentally responsible youth eventually turning into globally accountable citizens. In this background, the paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the NEP 2020 and its implications for sustainable development and nation-building in India. It highlights the significance of going back to our roots by including the IKS as the core of pedagogy along with enveloping the emerging global practices in the curriculum of education system. Finally, the paper examines how NEP is going to play a crucial role in future for a sustainable path of development and global citizenship.