India: Make noise to achieve MDGs

The United Nations Millennium Campaign (UNMC) together with partner organisations Wada Na Todo Abhiyan, Oxfam India, Save the Children and OneWorld South Asia on Monday launched the India chapter of the global people’s movement called, “Stand Up Take Action 2010”, in the capital. The aim is to push governments to speed up progress towards the Millennium Development goals.

Dr. Pronab Sen and Minar Pimple launching the website/ Photo credit: Monisha Khanna/OWSA

The UNMC regional director for Asia and the Pacific, Minar Pimple; Pronab Sen, Principal Advisor, Planning Commission; Nisha Agarwal, CEO, Oxfam India; Amitabh Behar, Convenor, Wada Na Todo Abhiyan and Thomas Chandy, CEO, Save the Children were present at the occasion.

The “Stand Up and Take Action” movement began in 2006 to ensure that achievement of the MDGs remains a priority on the global political and public agenda.

“When leaders from a hundred and eighty nine countries signed the Millennium Declaration in 2000, it became the highest political commitment that they had made. The role of the press conference, therefore, is to outline few of the key issues we are facing as of now and the context in which we launch the 'Make Noise' on this significant 10th year”, said Minar Pimple in his welcome address.

During the address Minar Pimple affirmed that even though countries like China and India are witnessing huge economic growth - which may be called the economic indicators of poverty - but they are just national aggregates and many a times hide the reality of exclusion on basis of gender, social groups and geographic regions.

Therefore the agenda of integrating the issue of inequality as part of the MDGs was emphasised.

The year 2010 is the year to look back as well as look forward. With only five years left to meet these goals, it becomes imperative for all stakeholders to work together to accelerate progress towards achieving them, he added.

The address was followed by a report launch by Wada Na Todo Abhiyan. The report, entitled ‘A response to the India Country Report on the Millennium Development Goals’, consists of views by various experts who have been engaged with specific thematic issues related to the MDGs, in an effort to engage constructively with the Government on the issues.

Based on this year’s campaign theme, ‘MAKE A NOISE', the website – www.noiseagainstpoverty.org was launched by Pronab Sen. It included an online petition in support of the Millennium Development Goals. Incorporating the sounds of various musical instruments, the petition is an opportunity for all stakeholders to raise their voice in support of the MDGs.

The noise against poverty website/ Photo credit: Monisha Khanna/OWSA

Dr. Pronab Sen while addressing the gathering on ‘India and the MDGs’ said, “I am very glad that this campaign is happening because ultimately, to be able to give substance to voice, is very important. The people outside the political system, the bureaucracy, should understand that the voices which so far, did not get a chance to express themselves, are now doing so. The media could have, but have not yet done much. With this campaign, if we can integrate the media, it will be very critical for the progress.”

After the website launch, Minar invited other panelists to share their thoughts on the importance of achieving MDGs in the last lap of the Millennium Declaration wherein Amitabh Behar expressed his disappointment over the high infant and maternal mortality rates in spite of the country’s robust economic growth. He urged the civil society, the government and other actors to demonstrate serious political will to achieve the MDGs.

“We should look at the disaggregated data instead of the macro aggregate statistics to get the real picture of the MDG progress in the country. We should focus our attention on the poor performing states like Bihar and U.P and many Naxal affected areas where our performance is considerably low”, he said.

He suggested ways for moving ahead which included the formation of a national consultation and a parliamentary committee to look into the issues of MDGs. He also suggested adequate budgetary allocations and initiate administrative reforms to deal with the current situation.

Thomas Chandy, CEO, Save the Children, gave an insight into the current state of child mortality in India indicating that 1.8 million children are lost every year and noted that India must bring its child mortality rate to 6.28% per year if it has to achieve the MDG 4. “The moment has come for India to act decisively. It needs to step up its efforts to deliver on the promise it made in 2000”, he remarked.

Nisha Agarwal, CEO of Oxfam India said, “The idea of inclusive growth still remains an aspiration. The quality of growth is still not taken as seriously as the level of growth. India appears to be seriously off-track on a number of MDGs including those on hunger, infant mortality, maternal mortality, and women's empowerment.”

The panelists launch the WNTA report/ Photo credit: Monisha Khanna/OWSA

She expressed the need for urgent action in the next five years to accelerate the implementation of policies and programmes that can help to get India back on track to achieve MDGs. She also noted that the achievement of MDG 1, i.e. eradicating extreme poverty and hunger is very critical in realising rest of the goals.

Minar Pimple concluded, “We believe that the MDGs are achievable if there is political will at all levels of government. While there are many policies and programmes in place for achievement of the MDGs, delivery systems need to be strengthened to ensure that all people, irrespective of caste, creed, gender, have access to basic quality services. It is essential that these goals are localised to national, state and local levels to make them more relevant and accessible to the people. We also believe that citizens, who are the primary beneficiaries of any government programme, should be the primary stakeholders in monitoring delivery on the ground.”