India may not fully achieve Millennium Development Goals: Govt

NEW DELHI: The government today said the country may not fully achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ratified by the United Nations with regard to health and nutritional indicators.

"While most of the targets under MDGs are likely to be achieved, however, (with regard to) some health and nutritional indicators, India may not fully achieve the targets," Minister of State for Planning, Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Ashwani Kumar told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

MDGs are international development goals that United Nations member states and numerous international organisations, including India, have agreed to achieve by the year 2015.

These include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equality; reducing the child mortality rate and ensuring environmental sustainability.

The government, the minister said, has taken steps to improve health services and increase the nutritional level of children through programmes like the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and Mid-Day Meal Scheme.

The 11th Five-Year Plan, Kumar said, "is based on the strategy of promoting inclusive growth, for which 27 monitorable targets have been specified."

"These targets in a way reflect the philosophy of MDGs to which all the nations are committed to," the minister said.