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Squaring the vicious circle

The half-way point has been crossed and there is less cause for optimism that the laudable targets set under U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000, aimed at reducing extreme poverty worldwide, will be reached meaningfully by the target year, 2015. Two global developments — the post-9/11 war on terror, and the current financial crisis — shuffled the international priorities set in the post-Cold War development-oriented milieu of 2000. The form er, in particular, had seriously skewed global spending for fighting poverty. Figures published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) show an increase in the world’s military expenditure, particularly since 2001. In 2007, the mid-point of the 15-year time span for the MDGs, the military expenditure was $1,339 billion, equivalent to “2.5 per cent of world gross domestic product.” According to the U.S.-based Economists for Peace and Security, even in 2003 — much before the onset of financial crisis — such spending far exceeded the money required to meet the MDGs: $956 billion, against $760 billion. In the wake of the financial crisis, the added pressure on developed countries to set their economies in order is bound to further constrict the flow of development assistance.

Against this backdrop, the U.N.’s report on the status of the MDGs, submitted ahead of the 63rd General Assembly, is a timely reality check. The note of concern sounded by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon when he said that, despite “important progress towards all eight goals, we are not on track to fulfil our commitments”, evidently stemmed from the changed global spending priorities. A more worrying aspect is that whatever progress has been made conceals inter-regional disparities. For instance, the report notes that in sub-Saharan Africa and the Commonwealth of Independent States the “number of poor increased between 1990 and 2005,” pointing to a distortion. Moreover, even in countries that have shown progress, there are disparities. For instance, in India, official data for 2004-05 reveal that the poverty level in Orissa was as high as 46.5 per cent, as against the national average of 27.5 per cent. Leaving such inequalities unaddressed will render the lofty millennium development goals meaningless.

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