Millennium Development Goals India Country Report 2010

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), made during the UN Millennium Summit on 8 September 2000, stand for solidarity and determination of the world leaders to rid the world of poverty  and improve the lot of humanity. The goals inter alia call for reducing by half the proportion of people  living below the poverty line; reducing by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger between  1990 and 2015; ensuring that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete  a full course of primary schooling; eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education,  preferably by 2005 and at all levels by 2015; reducing by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the underfive mortality rate; reducing by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio;  halting and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS and incidence of malaria and other major diseases by 2015. It also emphasized on integrating the principles of sustainable development into country policies  and programmes and reversing loss of environmental resources; reducing by half the proportion of people  without sustainable access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation; achieving significant  improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers, by 2020.

It also stressed on developing further  an open trading and financial system that is rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory, with a  commitment to good governance at both national and international levels, development and poverty  reduction – nationally and internationally; dealing comprehensively with developing countries debt  problems through national and international measures to make debt sustainable in the long term; in cooperation with the developing countries, developing decent and productive work for youth; providing access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries in cooperation with pharmaceutical companies; and making available the benefits of new technologies – especially information and  communication technologies in cooperation with the private sector.  Eighteen (18) targets describe these objectives under the 8 goals (MDGs) in the United Nations  MDG framework of 2003. In the Indian context, 12 of the 18 targets are relevant.

The UN framework had  53 statistical indicators to measure the progress towards the 18 targets. India adopted 35 of the 53 indicators for the 12 targets concerning India. A revised indicator-framework drawn up by the InterAgency and Expert Group (IAEG) on MDGs in keeping with the recommendations made by the  Secretary-General in his report to the 61st Session of the UN General Assembly for inclusion of four new  targets came into being in 2008. India has not endorsed this revised framework. Deeper decomposition of the measures of MDG indicators down below State levels could be  more revealing of the micro-dimensions of the outcomes, which could help demonstrating precise locales  of the problems when spatially mapped. At the sub-national levels, data in respect of most of the MDG  indicators are not available below States. In some cases only national estimates are available. State-level  estimates as available for a number of indicators however, provide a broader cross-section of the  inequalities in progress in different parts of the country including their rural-urban and male-female dimensions, wherever possible.

Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality
Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB
Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Goal 8: Develop Global Partnership for Development
Appendix-1: India’s MDG Framework: Goals, Targets And Indicators
Appendix-2: Methodology Note on MDG Tracking

Click Here to Download Millennium Development Goals India Country Report 2010

Courtesy: mospi.nic.in