The latest Millennium Development Goals (MDG) report of the United Nations confirms fears that rapid economic growth has not trickled down to the poorest in our society. Growth rates might be rising and progress might have been made with regard to tackling extreme poverty and hunger but the disparity between the rich and poor is expanding as well. East and Southeast Asia have made commendable progress in their fight against poverty. In East Asia the proportion of population living in extreme poverty fell from 33 per cent in 1990 to 9.9 per cent in 2004, while in Southeast Asia poverty dropped from 20.8 per cent to 6.8 per cent in the same period. South Asia’s performance in tackling poverty leaves much to be desired. Around 30 per cent of South Asia’s population lives on less than one dollar a day.

In 2000, the UN set eight Millennium Development Goals to be met by the world by 2015. These goals include eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, reducing child mortality and so on. Today (July 7) we are halfway to the global deadline. Are we halfway towards meeting the goals? Many countries have covered considerable ground and seem on track to achieve the target. Some have made progress on a few goals and lagging behind on others. India’s performance so far indicates that it is lagging behind. Official figures suggest that the percentage of people living below the poverty line has fallen but the picture on the ground – the number of starvation deaths, farmer suicides and agricultural labour migration – is rather different.  Malnutrition remains an area of serious concern; 46 percent of India’s children under the age of three are underweight. Access to safe drinking water and hygienic sanitation seems a distant dream.

India accounts for 25 per cent of global maternal deaths, 34 per cent of the world’s underweight children, 23 per cent of under-5 children deaths, and 28 per cent of the world’s poor living on less than $1 a day. It bears an enormous share of the world’s responsibility in meeting the Millennium Development Goals. If India fails to achieve the MDG, the world fails. It needs to direct all its energies towards achieving the MDG and cannot allow development to bypass the large majority of its people. It owes this to its own citizens and the international community.