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NEWS ALERTS | India's MDG Score Card: Glass Half Full or Half Empty?
India's MDG Score Card: Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

India's MDG Score Card: Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

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published Published on Jan 6, 2014   modified Modified on Jan 11, 2014

In its latest report, the Statistical Year Book, India 2014 conveys that India is clearly on track to attain the MDG-2 (achieve universal primary education) and MDG-8 (develop a global partnership for development). However, the results are either mixed or poor in terms of India's performance in achieving the rest of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The chart below provides the MDG scenario from a bird's eye view.
 
MDGs
The new report from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) carries a special chapter, among others, dedicated exclusively to tracking India's progress in achieving the MDGs. (See the link below to access). At the outset, the chapter on MDGs clarifies that although India's MDG framework recognizes all the 48 indicators that were included in United Nations Development Group’s (UNDG) 2003 framework for monitoring of the 8 MDGs, the country has found only 35 of the indicators as relevant. Having discussed the targets associated with different MDGs, a critique of MDG framework is also provided.

As per the report, India is certainly on track in achieving the Target 1 of MDG-1, i.e. halving, between 1990 & 2015, the percentage of population below the national poverty line. India has reduced poverty head count ratio (i.e. percentage of population below the poverty line) from 47.8 percent in 1990 to 21.9 percent in 2011-12. Activists who are critical of India’s growth paradigm doubt the rate of decline in poverty as shown by the government data. Much of the poverty decline has actually been achieved by tampering with the definition of poverty and the way poverty is measured. (See below the links of articles by Prabhat Patnaik and Utsa Patnaik).

The country, however, will completely fail to reach the Target 2 of the MDG-1 i.e. halving, between 1990 & 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. All the available data from National Family Health Survey-NFHS (various rounds) suggests that India is going slow in reducing malnutrition among children. The 2012 Global Hunger Index (GHI) report and the Nutrition Barometer report (published in 2012) previously had criticized the Indian government for not monitoring the state of malnutrition and hunger since the time the last National Family Health Survey-3 (NFHS-3) got published in 2005-06. However, Annual Health Survey (AHS) done under the aegis of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare in collaboration with the Registrar General of India (RGI) is in place of NFHS to cover all the districts in 9 states of India so as to assess health and nutrition status of Indian population. The District Level Household and Facility Survey (DLHS) will be undertaken in rest of the states/ UTs, where AHS is not being done. (See the links below for latest AHS results).

The country is on track to achieving the Target 3 of the MDG-2 i.e. ensuring that by 2015 children everywhere, boys and girls alike will be able to complete a full course of primary education. A trend based on DISE (District Information System on Education) data shows that the country will achieve 100 percent primary education for children in the primary schooling age of 6-10 years ahead of 2015. DISE 2010-11 reports Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) at Primary level as 99.89. According to the trend exhibited between 1991 and 2001 (1991: 61.9 percent and 2001: 76.4 percent), India is likely to attain 100 percent youth literacy (literacy rate of 15-24 year olds) by 2015. It has, however, been pointed out by critics that measuring the quality of education is equally important, which the MDG framework somehow undermines. Various rounds of PRATHAM's Annual Status of Education Reports indicate that India is a poor performer in imparting quality education and learning among children. [See below the link of ASER 2012 (Rural)]

India's performance has been mixed in achieving the Target 4 of the MDG-3 i.e. eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education, no later than 2015. The gender parity in primary education was attained by 2008-09. The gender parity in youth literacy is expected to be reached by 2015. However, gender parity in higher education is yet to be achieved and the progress is really slow. The proportion of seats held by women in the National Parliament is 11.21 percent in 2013 vis-à-vis the target of 50 percent in 2015. Given the number of crimes committed against women, it is hard to conclude that gender parity has been achieved in all the spheres of society. (See below the link of the MoSPI report: Women and Men in India 2013).

The country will fail to attain the Target 5 of the MDG-4 i.e. reducing by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the Under-Five Mortality Rate (U5MR). Against the U5MR target of 42 per thousand live births by 2015, India is likely to reach 50 per thousand live births by 2015 as per historical trend, thus, missing the target by 8 percentage points. Similarly, against the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) target of 27 per thousand live births by 2015, India is likely to reach 41 per thousand live births by 2015 as per historical trend, missing the target by 14 percentage points. It is likely to fall short of universal immunisation by about 11 percentage points by 2015.

India is off the track in achieving the Target 6 of the MDG-5 i.e. reducing by three quarters, between 1990 & 2015, the Maternal Mortality Ratio. At the historical pace of decrease, India is likely to reach MMR of 139 per 100,000 live births by 2015, against the target of 109 per 100,000 live births.

It is on track to attain Target 7 of the MDG-6 i.e. having halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS. However, India is moderately on track to achieve Target 8 of the MDG-6 i.e. having halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases. The prevalence of TB (per lakh population) has increased from 234 in 1995 to 256 in 2010. The Global Tuberculosis Report 2013 by WHO shows that India accounted for 26 percent of total cases worldwide in 2012.

India has performed well in achieving the Target 9 of the MDG-7 i.e. integrating the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverses the loss of environmental resources. However, activists working on the ground may contradict this claim. Land acquisition, soil erosion and pollution are major problems faced by the country today.

Its performance is mixed in achieving the Target 10 of the MDG-7 i.e. halving, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. The target of halving the proportion of households without access to safe drinking water sources from its 1990 level of about 34 percent to the order of 17 percent, to be achieved by 2015, has already been reached by 2007-08, much before the deadline.
 
Given the 1990 level for households without any sanitation facility at 76 percent, India is required to reduce the proportion of households having no access to improved sanitation to 38 percent by 2015. However, India is likely to reduce the proportion of households without sanitation to about 43 percent by 2015, missing the target by about 5 percentage point. It has been pointed out by many reports that the data on sanitation provided by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) is unreliable. (See the newsalert: Missing toilets: Is India’s sanitation drive ‘In Deep Shit’?).

No statistical conclusion can be drawn regarding the country's achievement of the Target 11 of MDG 7 i.e. by 2020, to having achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.

India is on track to achieving the Target 18 of MDG-8 i.e. in co-operation with the private sector, making available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communication.

References:

Chapter-45 on MDGs in the Statistical Year Book, India 2014 (please click here to access),

Statistical Year Book, India 2014, MoSPI,
http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/SYB2014/index1.html
 
Press Note on Poverty Estimates, 2011-12, Planning Commission, July, 2013 (please click here to access)

Status Note prepared by Planning Commission on India’s performance vis-à-vis the Millennium Development Goals (2013), (please click here to access)

India in Figures 2013, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation,
http://www.im4change.org/docs/16610India_in_Figure_2013_28
jun13.pdf

 
Women and Men in India 2013, 15th Issue, Central Statistics Office, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (please click here to access)
 
 
Key Indicators of Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Condition in India (July 2012 to December 2012), please click here to access

http://www.im4change.orghttps://im4change.in/siteadmin/tin
ymce//uploaded/NSS%2069th%20Round%20drinking%20water%20san
itation%20hygiene%20survey.pdf

 
Key Indicators of Urban Slums in India, NSS 69th Round, July 2012-December 2012, MoSPI

http://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/key-indicator
s-of-urban-slums-in-india-23741.html

 
 
 
Presentation on Annual Health Survey Fact Sheet First Updation Round (2011-12): Key Findings census, http://censusindia.gov.in/2011-common/AHSurvey.html
 
2012 Global Hunger Index-The Challenge of Hunger: Ensuring Sustainable Food Security under Land, Water, and Energy Stresses, IFPRI, Concern Worldwide & Welthungerhilfe, http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/ghi12.pdf

Nutrition Barometer: Gauging national responses to undernutrition (2012), Save the Children and World Vision,
http://www.savethechildren.in/images/resources_documents/n
utrition_barometer_asia.pdf

 
Annual Status of Education Report 2012 (Rural) prepared by PRATHAM, http://img.asercentre.org/docs/Publications/ASER%20Reports
/ASER_2012/nationalfinding.pdf


Global Tuberculosis Report 2013 by WHO,
http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/91355/1/978924156
4656_eng.pdf

 
Poverty Trends in India 2004-05 to 2009-10: Updating Poverty Estimates and Comparing Official Figures -Utsa Patnaik, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol-XLVIII, No. 40, October 05, 2013,
http://www.im4change.orghttps://im4change.in/siteadmin/tin
ymce//uploaded/Utsa.pdf

 
The dishonesty in counting the poor-Utsa Patnaik, The Hindu, 30 July, 2013,   
http://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/the-dishonest
y-in-counting-the-poor-utsa-patnaik-22154.html

 
A Critique of the Welfare-Theoretic Basis of the Measurement of Poverty, Economic and Political Weekly, April 6, 2013, Vol xlviiI, No. 14 (Click here to download)

Latest survey shows a marginal improvement in health indicators-Aarti Dhar, The Hindu, 28 December, 2013, http://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/latest-survey
-shows-a-marginal-improvement-in-health-indicators-aarti-d
har-23774.html


The Law, Rape and Son Preference: A Reality Check, http://www.im4change.org/news-alerts/the-law-rape-and-son-
preference-a-reality-check-23630.html

 
Image Courtesy: The United Nations, http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/


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