The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000. All 191 UN member states, including India, committed to achieve these goals by 2015. These goals aimed to address a range of global issues, including poverty, hunger, disease, literacy, environmental degradation, and gender inequality. Here's a detailed look at India's progress towards these goals:
1. Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
Targets
- Halve the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day.
- Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people.
- Halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.
Progress
- Poverty Reduction: India made significant strides in reducing poverty, with the poverty rate decreasing from around 45% in 1994 to approximately 22% in 2012.
- Employment: Programs like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) provided employment opportunities, although challenges in job quality and underemployment remained.
- Hunger: The prevalence of undernourishment decreased, but malnutrition and hunger still posed significant challenges, particularly among children.
2. Achieve Universal Primary Education
Targets
- Ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling.
Progress
- Enrollment Rates: India achieved near-universal primary school enrollment, with significant improvements in literacy rates.
- Quality of Education: Despite high enrollment rates, challenges persisted in ensuring the quality of education and reducing dropout rates, particularly in rural areas.
3. Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
Targets
- Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015.
Progress
- Education: Gender parity in primary and secondary education improved significantly.
- Women's Empowerment: Initiatives to empower women, such as the Self Help Group (SHG) movement and various government schemes, made progress, but gender inequality in labor force participation and political representation persisted.
4. Reduce Child Mortality
Targets
- Reduce the under-five mortality rate by two-thirds.
Progress
- Child Mortality Rate: The under-five mortality rate in India fell from around 126 per 1,000 live births in 1990 to about 48 per 1,000 live births in 2015.
- Health Interventions: Expanded immunization programs, better healthcare access, and nutrition initiatives contributed to this progress.
5. Improve Maternal Health
Targets
- Reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three-quarters.
- Achieve universal access to reproductive health.
Progress
- Maternal Mortality: The maternal mortality ratio decreased from 560 per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 174 per 100,000 live births in 2015.
- Reproductive Health: Improved access to maternal healthcare services and family planning, though disparities remained in rural and underserved areas.
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Other Diseases
Targets
- Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.
- Achieve universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it.
- Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.
Progress
- HIV/AIDS: India made significant progress in controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS, with a decline in new infections and improved access to antiretroviral therapy.
- Malaria and TB: Enhanced disease control programs led to reductions in malaria and tuberculosis cases, though these diseases still posed public health challenges.
7. Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Targets
- Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reverse the loss of environmental resources.
- Halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
- Achieve significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.
Progress
- Environmental Policies: India adopted various policies and programs to promote environmental sustainability, including renewable energy initiatives and conservation efforts.
- Water and Sanitation: Access to safe drinking water improved, but sanitation remained a significant challenge, with initiatives like the Swachh Bharat Mission (Clean India Mission) launched to address it.
- Urban Development: Efforts to improve the living conditions of slum dwellers made some progress, though urbanization pressures continued to create new challenges.
8. Develop a Global Partnership for Development
Targets
- Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system.
- Address the special needs of the least developed countries.
- Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries.
- In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries.
- In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications.
Progress
- Trade and Financial System: India engaged in global trade partnerships and reforms to integrate more effectively into the global economy.
- Technology Access: Advances in information and communications technology (ICT) improved, enhancing connectivity and digital inclusion, though digital divides persisted in rural areas.
