New Delhi: India’s meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 seems unlikely with around 77% of its people still below poverty line when the poverty bench mark is put at Rs. 20 per capita expenditure, a UN-sponsored study has said.
DOUBTS ON INDIA’S ABILITY
India is below African countries of Djibuti, Burkina Faso and Togo in Global Hunger Index (GHI). It has registered a mere 1% decline in child malnutrition since 1999.
With such a record India is not in a comfortable position to fulfill the MDGs as there are only five years left to meet the deadline by 2015.
The study also expressed doubts whether India could meet the target or universal enrolment of every child to school by 2015. The report titled “A Response to the India – Country Report
on Millennium Development Goals” has been prepared by a conglomeration of civil society groups.
CHAOS IN EDUCATION
Pointing to high rate of dropouts in primary schools, the report said the case was more vulnerable in case of children of marginalised sections of the society and those with some kind of disability and from the most backward areas of the country. India’s performance of female literacy in the age group of 15-24 falls below the average of sub-Saharan countries. Only 66% of the children enrolled in Grade-1 survive to go on to Grade-V.
On an average there are only three classrooms per primary school in India and there are only three teachers per school.
About 14% of the schools have a single classroom each and single-teacher schools constitute similar proportion. Referring to the area of maternal health as a matter of concern the report said although there were promising patterns of reduction in MMR (Maternal Mortality Rate) within Kerala, West Bengal and surprisingly Bihar and Jharkhand, the most worrying situation was in the states like Assam, Haryana, Orissa, where the MMR increased to 480, 186 and 303 respectively.
MATERNAL DEATHS
The statistical projection is that in 2015 there will be at least four states that will have MMR higher than the 2004-06 national average of 254.
Citing figures from the Registrar General, the report said of the 70 to 80 thousand maternal deaths in India each year, 38% could be attributed to heavy bleeding, 11% to infections, 8% unsafe abortion and 5% to obstructed labour. Which Hindu god can save India?
