Last week, the United Nations adopted 17 ambitious goals, known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which aim to wipe out poverty, fight inequality and tackle climate change over the next 15 years. Tech magnate and philanthropist' has been on the forefront of the global fight against extreme poverty, thanks to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation which has an endowment of $ 41.3 billion. Gates has also lent his support to the Global Goals campaign, a brainchild of filmmaker Richard Curtis, which hopes to take popularise the 17 SDG goals with 7 billion people in 7 days. In an exclusive email interview with ET's T V Mahalingam, Gates spoke about the these 17 audacious goals, why they are important and what India needs to do to achieve them.When I first heard about the MDGs 15 years ago, I was cautiously optimistic that the eight specific targets with timelines, including goalsto reduceextreme poverty, improve maternalhealth, and cut child mortality, could catalyze global action on the issues that affect the most vulnerable communities. Over time, my optimism grew as they started to drive real progress.Today, it's clear that the MDGs have been instrumental infosteringglobal collaborationand accountability among wealthy and developing countries, the private sector, and NGOs. In particular, the targets for maternal and child mortality have been critical in focusing the world's attention on the most urgent problems.And the results are tangible. Child mortality has been cut in half since 1990 globally. Maternal mortality has been reduced by nearly as much. India is a great example of the progress that's been made. In 1990, 3.3 million children died before their fifth birthday. Last year, that number was down to just over 1.3 million. Keep in mind that over that time, the population of India has grown by 400 million people, which makes the achievement even more impressive. India's record on maternal health is just as strong. The maternal mortality rate is down 62 percent.All eyes have been on global leaders as they finalize a new global development agenda - the Sustainable Development Goals. Building on the progress the world has made over the last 15 years, the SDGs put forward a shared vision of a world where - by 2030 - we will eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, foster inclusive economic growth and combat climate change.It is a vision that challenges us to "leave no one behind." This is an extremely ambitious aspiration, but given what has been achieved over the last 15 years I am optimistic that the next fifteen will be even better.Unlike the MDGs, the SDGs are not a largely aid-driven agenda. There are three sources of finance for the SDGs: domestic in-country resources, traditional aid, and private finance. The main source of financing for the SDGs will be resources from developing countries themselves, through domestic revenues like taxes which should be applied towards development outcomes. Even assuming that they will grow, these resourceswill not be enough to self-finance poverty reduction for the foreseeable future in many countries. Aid therefore remains very important, especially for the poorest countries and for the poorest people. Unfortunately, we see aid plateauing and in fact current trends show aid to the poorest countries actually declining. This should be reversed, especially given that there has been so much progress. Finally, private finance is increasingly seen as a crucial source of financing the SDGs. The level of ambition is high and all sources need to be tapped.The SDGs are not purely aid driven and are meant to be a universal agenda that apply to all countries, and they cover a much broader range of issues. Clearly however, every country is in a different place and has different priorities. Ending extreme poverty remains the central pillar of the SDGs and is seen as the basis for sustainable development. This anti-poverty part of the agenda would focus on finishing the job the MDGs started, in areas like education, health, nutrition and sanitation which have already seen much progress.I never viewed the MDGs as a test the world was meant to pass or fail. To me,they were like a report card. Without the MDGs, we would not have theclear, measurable goals that have proven so helpful in focusing the world's attention on the biggest challenges. Not would we have an honest measure of where we are succeeding and where we are falling short.Despite all the progress, our work is far from complete. More than 6 million children under the age of five still die each year, and preventable causes such as diarrhoea, pneumonia, malaria, and pre-term birth complications account for 83 per cent of these deaths. Hundreds of millions of children are still chronically undernourished and much work remains to reduce maternal mortality.The most important thing with the SDGs is to keep the focus on what we know works, and to finish the job in eliminating extreme poverty and its related effects - hunger, malnutrition, women dying in childbirth, and children who die young or don't have a chance to grow up healthy.One thing the SDGs make explicit is the promise to "leave no one behind." This is a big change from the MDGs, where averages were measured and very often the most vulnerable including women, rural or marginalized populations were not reached.All eyes are on India. India is to the SDGs what China was to the MDGs: i.e., the world could not have achieved its poverty reduction targets without China coming through; the world will not achieve many of its SDGs targets without India coming through.The SDGs will require strong ownership by countries, robust implementation plans for each country, and enough financing. They will be effective only if they are incorporated into national plans. In India, for instance, an effective national plan, along with sub national plans, will be crucial to address the variation in maternal and child mortality rates from state to state.The Indian health care system will not only need to deliver on the unfinished agenda of health MDGs, but also be prepared to address the rapidly emerging burden of non-communicable diseases, and ensure better financial protection from health shocks, all this in the context of greater fiscal devolution.Do Indian businesses have a moral responsibility in helping in the process of achieving these goals? How can Indian businesses contribute? India has a deep-rooted and growing tradition of philanthropy. Increasingly, businesses are recognizing the need for partnering with various government and non-government organizations to work towards collective good. This sector has significant expertise that can be applied to addressing India's most challenging health and development challenges.At the Foundation, our mission will not change. Our focus has always centered on the needs of the poorest, and therefore our resource investments after September will continue to emphasize the "unfinished agenda" of the current MDGs: key manifestations of extreme poverty including health, agriculture and nutrition, and sanitation. There is still a long way to go on those.We are optimistic about the SDGs and think that they, like the MDGs, will also serve as a common global platform which allows us all to work together to create a world that offers equal opportunities to all.India has made significant progress in achieving some of the MDG targets, particularly in education and health, aided by clear, quantifiable targets and regular monitoring of progress.The SDGs present the Government of India with an opportunity to reaffirm its commitment to providing quality primary health care to all. What we have seen is that this requires setting robust national and sub-national level plans while targeting the most vulnerable.Investments must be made to develop strong, resilient primary healthcare systems which have the requisite infrastructure and are fully functional. I believe that India has the political commitment and intellect to draw robust plans and adapt measures that will aid in closing the gap on preventable deaths, which disproportionately affect the poorest.The MDGs included eight goals, with 21 measurable targets, which helped focus the world's attention on the most urgent problems. The SDGs have 17 goals and 169 targets. This reflects a more comprehensive set of aspirations and a broader consultative process. At the same time, a broader agenda carries the risk of a diminished focus on the highest-priority challenges. As developing countries start to think through the implementation of this agenda, the priorities of the poorest should remain central. On the plus side, the fact that the SDGs have such broad support from the beginning will help with the implementation of the agenda.