The Hindu Business Line : Achievement of millennium development goals — `Innovation in formulation of public policy vital'

The Delhi Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit, flanked by Vice-President, World Bank, South Asia Region, Mr Praful Patel, and the Finance Secretary, Mr D.C. Gupta, at a conference in the Capital on Thursday. — Ramesh Sharma

New Delhi , June 17

INDIA is on course to achieve the millennium development goals (MDGs) much before the agreed 2015 deadline, according to the Finance Secretary, Mr D.C. Gupta.

The MDGs are a set of numerical and time-bound targets related to key achievements in human development. The international community had accepted the MDGs at the United Nations Millennium Summit in New York in September 2000.

Speaking at a conference here on Thursday on `Attaining the millennium development goals in India: Role of public policy and service delivery', organised by the World Bank, Mr D.C. Gupta pointed out that the goals of the Tenth Five-Year plan were much more ambitious than the MDGs.

At the same time, he held that "innovation" in the formulation of public policy and increased efficiency in public expenditure was key to the achievement of human development goals.

Mr Gupta also underscored the need for an increase in external aid flows to India, highlighting that such flows amount to only 0.5 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).

"The real challenge lies in improving public service delivery and ensuring last mile connectivity," he said, indicating that India's performance on MDGs hinges to a large extent on the performance of the economically backward States.

Mr Gupta held that development programmes must be calibrated with increased focus on economically backward States.

In her address at the conference, the Chief Minister of Delhi, Ms Sheila Dikshit, emphasised the need for administrative reforms to ensure speedy delivery of public services.

"We have to build trust and faith in each other. Unless we do that administrative reforms will not happen. We need to move on the fast track. We have to evolve a system that allows to take decision on the spot," she said.

Citing the problems faced in making progress in the transport scenario of Delhi, Ms Dikshit held that multiplicity of authorities hindered progress in such efforts. She noted that either the electricity department or the water department was raising objections to the attempts being made for the development of dedicated corridors.

"They do not want their pipes or electricity lines to be disturbed. But I am told that some of the present roads have to be uprooted to make way for the buses. We have to ask ourselves whether we are in a position to use archaic method of administration to meet the needs of persons in the 21st century," she said.

Mr Praful Patel, Vice-President, South Asia Region, World Bank, suggested an action plan for achieving serious progress towards MDGs.

Besides stressing the need for encouraging innovation in service delivery, Mr Patel also stressed the need to find ways of engaging the poorest States (Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan), without which, he said, there was no hope of achieving the MDGs.

"This is quite a challenge because these States have weak institutions and poor governance," Mr Patel said.

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