India on road to achieving UN goals, says govt

India is on its way to achieve the millennium development goals adopted by the United Nations in September 2000 and funds will not stand in its way, the government today said.

The country will meet the eight development goals which aim to eradicate poverty, achieve universal education, reduce child mortality and eliminate death due to HIV and malaria in the stipulated time-frame.

"We will not only achieve the goals set under the national common minimum program but also the millennium development goals, well within the time-frame," Minister of State for Statistics and Program Implementation G K Vasan said, releasing the India report on development goals.

"We are already way ahead in poverty eradication and in providing drinking water. By March end, every village will have access to safe drinking water and funds will not be a constraint for any of these programs," Vasan added.

The report stated that in 1999-2000, 26.1 per cent of the population was below the poverty line compared with 37.5 per cent in 1990.

As per the goal of eradicating poverty by 2015, the country will have to reduce the number to 18.75 per cent.

Vasan said the 2 per cent education cess introduced by the government, National Rural Employment Guarantee Program and other schemes launched under Bharat Nirman were some of the important drivers in achieving the development goals.

According to the report, India will have to increase the literacy rate among 15-24 years olds from 73.3 per cent in 2001 to 100 per cent by 2015. the country will also have to increase the percentage of people with access to sanitation from 9.48 in 1990 to 72 by the year 2015. To ensure gender parity in education levels, India will have to promote female participation at all levels to reach an equal level of female-male proportion by 2015.

The female-male proportion in primary education was 71:100 in 1990-91, which increased to 78:100 in 2000-01. During the same period, the proportion increased from 49:100 to 63:100 in secondary education.