India’s progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has steadily improved in the last fifteen years. The latest National Report on MDGs shows that India has successfully halved the number of people below poverty line, has achieved universal primary education, and is progressing towards the same in secondary and tertiary education. The Under-five Mortality Rates (U5MR) and incidences of maternal death have also reduced especially in the recent years due to the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), although MDG targets for these have not yet been met.
These goals offer a yardstick to measure India’s progress in achieving all round development. However, these measures are more meaningful at the state level, where the real implementation of the programmes takes place. The Karnataka State Report on the MDG provided the measure of the indicators at state level, allowing for an emphasis on goals that are priorities for the state in preparation of adoption of the sustainable goals by the UN Assembly later this year.
