The Hindu Business Line : A long way to go for development goals: Chidambaram

FIVE years after the international community stood as one and adopted the Millennium Development Goals, only a third of the distance has been traversed, the fact being "that we are already lagging in our tryst with our targets that we had set for achievement by 2015," the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, said in a statement to the Development Committee here today.

"It is thus time for us to build momentum, otherwise we may arrive too late or, in the case of some countries, not arrive at all," the Finance Minister added.

Mr Chidambaram, while talking about the Global Monitoring Report, pointed to the fact that five crucial years had passed since the eight MDGs were accepted as a global compact. "In taking stock it is a moot point whether the world may already be too late in meeting the minimum targets," he remarked even while stressing that the MDGs are too important to fail.

"Overall global wealth has grown but is less evenly distributed within countries, within regions and in the world as a whole. While overall poverty targets maybe achieved, there would still be vast areas, including sub-Saharan Africa where poverty, in fact, has increased," the Finance Minister observed.

Turning to India, Mr Chidambaram remarked that the country seems to be "comfortably on track" for meeting the MDG in terms of reducing poverty thanks to a high growth performance in the 1990s; but there is also awareness that for India to meet the 2015 targets "an extraordinary effort" will be required especially in the poorest or "lagging" States, district and communities. The Minister outlined the challenges and tasks ahead in India and in what has been achieved over the years. "From the data that is available it is evident that significant progress has been achieved by India in relation to poverty, health and education related indicators," Mr Chidambaram said.

"The Government of India is doing its utmost to achieve a GDP growth rate in the range of 7-8 per cent per annum.

"The post-1991 reforms pursued by the Government have already put India on a high growth trajectory. We are now in the process of introducing "second generation reforms."

All these efforts would go a long way in raising income levels of the people and hopefully in wiping out extreme poverty in India by 2015," Mr Chidambaram said.

The Finance Minister once again spoke of "democracy deficit" as it pertained to governance in international financial institutions, which he said must be addressed to enhance "legitimacy, transparency, accountability and ownership of the decision-making process."

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