The Hindu : National : 'India unlikely to meet development goals'

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Thursday, Sep 23, 2004

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'India unlikely to meet development goals'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 22. The World Bank today expressed doubts about India attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) — reducing the under-five mortality rate by two-third, ensuring universal primary education and eliminating gender disparity in primary education — by 2015.

While acknowledging India's headway on some child development parameters and interventions made by the Government, the Bank found the country's progress on many MDGs slower than other developing nations, including Bangladesh and Nepal. The international agency came to this conclusion after conducting research on India's performance on various child development parameters.

Releasing the study, `Reaching Out to the Child: An Integrated Approach to Child Development,' at a conference here, the Bank advocated a "multi-sectoral approach" and replacing centralised and standardised programmes with decentralised plans — right down to the village/ward level — to address the diversities of the country.

The Union Human Resource Development Minister, Arjun Singh, agreed, saying: "A fragmented and uncoordinated approach for human development is definitely inappropriate, more so for the young child, for whom the needs of health, nutrition and education have to be addressed in a holistic and comprehensive manner."

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