OneWorld.net (U.S.)

In order to achieve successful realisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), it is imperative to call for a broader and more meaningful engagement of communities who are most vulnerable to deprivation of resources.

The relevance of MDGs can be enhanced by linking them with government’s local and national level programmes for effective monitoring.

The MDGs were designed to provide a timeline for governments across the globe to eradicate poverty and social exclusion.

Measuring India’s Progress on the Millennium Development Goals – A Citizens’ Report provides an overview of the progress made on MDGs in India and presents the challenges faced, particularly by socially disadvantaged groups.

For instance, dalits in India have always been at the receiving end owing to the rigid caste system in the country. Referred to as Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), these marginalised groups suffer from massive deprivation in terms of resource allocation.

Together SCs and STs constitute about 25% of India’s total population and account for 42% of the poor. They also make up for about 85% of the bonded labour in the country. Gender equality, health and literacy indicators are also dismal for these groups.

The report also tracks the progress on MDGs in different states of India.

For example, in case of Madhya Pradesh, it finds that almost one-third of population is living below poverty line. The rural education infrastructure shows improvement in the state.

However, the drop-out rate remains high at primary level especially due to poor implementation of mid-day meal schemes. Child mortality is highest among SCs and STs and less literate women. Also, forests being crucial to the state’s livelihood have not received much attention.

In West Bengal, about 10.6% of rural households remain hungry everyday for some months of the year. The state also shows poor record on literacy rate among women, SCs and STs lagging behind the rest of population.

However, if the state has done fairly well in reducing child and maternal mortality rate, there has also been a rise in number of HIV/AIDS infected persons in the state.

Among southern states of India, Tamil Nadu has the highest levels of poverty. One of the major problems faced by the state is disempowerment among rural women and discrimination with girl-child.

Nearly 45% of the total AIDS patients in India live in Tamil Nadu. Though there has been some decline in the HIV prevalence in the state due to improved efforts.

The report concludes that to make MDGs succeed, Self Help Groups need to be more assertive. Because of poor implementation of government programmes and schemes, the social development of SCs and STs remains low.

The report recommends a dalit-centric policy framework to the MDGs. However, in addition to political and economic empowerment of these groups, what is needed is the change in societal attitude.

The report calls for spreading more awareness about MDGs especially among marginalised communities with special focus on gender and caste. Greater financial support is also required for the social services especially to improve the situation in rural India.

Source: WNTA