India not likely to meet millennium goals by 2015: Ramesh
July 29th, 2009 - 11:53 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, July 29 (IANS) India is unlikely to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by 2015, the deadline it had promised, Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said here Wednesday.
“It’s a matter of great distress that we won’t reach the Millennium Development Goals by 2015,” Ramesh said at a conference of the Parliamentarians’ Group on the Millenium Development Goals (PG-MDGs).
Citing various challenges, especially in the field of health, he said the eight goals to eliminate poverty and social injustice will be difficult to meet by the set deadline.
In 2000, 189 heads of states met at the United Nations Millennium Summit and signed the Millennium Declaration.
As per this declaration, the eight goals - eradication of hunger and poverty, achieving universal education, promoting gender equality, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environment sustainability and developing a global partnership for development will be met by the signatories by 2015.
While the civil society has been crying hoarse that India will find it difficult to meet the goals within the deadline, the government had so far refused to admit so.
Supriya Sule, MP and the chairperson of PG-MDGs that aims at taking up the key issues by parliamentarians in order to achieve the goals, went one step ahead at the conference and said that the MDGs have become “a matter of conversation”.
“MDGs have become more a matter of conversation instead of implementation. Elections elsewhere like the US are fought on the issue of health policies. But here education and health are said to be issues of women’s concerns!” she said.
“Having said that, I am glad that the Right to Education Bill, with all its lacunae, has been passed by the Rajya Sabha and will be in the Lok Sabha tomorrow. It means we are moving forward and change is evident,” Sule added.
To make all parliamentarians aware of the key social issues in order to fight for them, PG-MDGs presented a kit containing brief summaries of key issues and policy briefs to the members coming to the conference.
- UN chief to visit India - Apr 24, 2012
- India needs to improve implementation of social schemes - Sep 15, 2010
- Decentralisation of power key to fighting poverty: Aiyar - Sep 13, 2010
- Asia-Pacific unlikely to meet hunger, child mortality goals - Feb 17, 2012
- Women demanding mobile phones but not toilets, says Ramesh (Lead) - Feb 17, 2012
- India, China have contributed significantly to global poverty eradication: IMF and WB - Apr 17, 2011
- UN chief to visit India this week (Lead) - Apr 24, 2012
- Maternal mortality rate down by half in South Asia: UN - Jul 08, 2011
- Six Indians get UN online volunteering award - Dec 03, 2010
- EU, India to solve migration issues - Dec 10, 2010
- India on track to meet poverty reduction goal: World Bank - Apr 23, 2010
- Now a parliamentary committee to meet Millennium Development Goals - Oct 22, 2008
- UN starts campaign to eradicate poverty in India - Sep 30, 2009
- Urgent action needed to achieve health goals: President Patil - Nov 13, 2010
- UN advisor urges Indian industries to help with MDGs - Feb 15, 2010
Tags: child mortality, education bill, global partnership, health policies, hiv aids, improving maternal health, lacunae, Lok Sabha, millenium development goals, millennium declaration, millennium development goals, millennium goals, millennium summit, parliamentarians, promoting gender equality, rajya sabha, ramesh, social injustice, sule, universal education