South Indian Regional Consultative Meeting
on UN Milleneum Development Goals (MDGs)

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Introduction

A one day consultative meeting on Millennium Development Goals (MDG) was organized by Mithra Foundation, Bangalore, on the 30th of March 2008 at ISI Bangalore. It was attended by 17 NGO leaders selected from the States of Karnataka, Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The major objective of the programme was to analyze the South Indian Scenario on the commitment of the Government of India in fulfilling the 8 MDGs and produce a paper on the theme with facts and figures. The day long programme started at 10 in the morning with welcome and introduction and concluded at 4.30 P.M with summarising the outcome of the event and follow-up action. Following is a brief note on the presentation and reflections made on each of the goals by the presenters.

Overview

The consultation started by giving an overview of why MDGs are 'important to India' by Dr. Rosario. Mr. Lawrence Fryer and Ms. Baerbel Grimm from SD-Germany were the special invitees for the consultation.

Specific presentations

Goal 1 — Eradicate extreme poverty and larger (speaker: Mr. Boopal, SAKSHI)

The speaker specifically highlighted the major issues affecting poverty in Andhra Pradesh especially among the Dalits, women etc. The emergence of the Special Economic Zones resulted in the reduction of land utilization for agriculture thereby loosing employment opportunity, reduction of income and aggravating poverty. The current practices of land distribution for the Dalits is also not justifiable. He pointed out several other inter related issues aggravating the poverty situation in Andhra Pradesh.

Goal 2 — Achieve universal primary Education (Speaker Mr. Joseph Raj, TEST, Tamil Nadu).

The speaker started with raising some questions for better understanding on issue like 'What is education? What measures should be adopted to improve the quality of education? What are the challenges?' etc. He further pointed out that the enrolment itself is a problem especially with SC/ST children, girl child etc. Mushrooming growth of teachers training institutes is another problem. The role of teachers is not clear and they lack commitment. Not much attention was paid to curriculum development.

He suggested that a good portion of the total allocation of fund should be demarcated for curriculum and material development. Culture of the community should be taken into account for preparation of syllabus and materials. Systems and formations like PTA/MTA should be strengthened and proper mechanism should be evolved for social auditing. Based on the presentation, the participants pointed out the following issues.

• Enrolment itself doesn't mean achievement of universal primary education, other factors like learning, real interest, and the environment should also be analyzed.
• Government also runs education institutions for making profit (e.g. In Tamil Nadu).
• There are discrepancies in the teacher - student ratio which adversely affect the environment and learning process.
• The issue of language -mother tongue and English is also a big issue.

Goal 3 — Promote gender equality and empower women (Speaker Smt. Anbu Sengo Arasi, Tamil Nadu Women's Forum)

The speaker started explaining a series of issues hindering gender equality and empowerment such as lack of education, problems with in-laws, lack of job opportunities, inability to make their own decisions freely, wage disparities, even elected women members in Panchayats are generally voiceless , suicide due to debt, loss of employment mainly because of loss of land owing to the establishment of Special Economic Zones. This was not only challenging the life especially of the Dalit women but also compelling them to become sex workers to find an income for their survival. Gang rape case (Dalit women) is a regular feature. Devadasi practice is still existed in some of the villages in Tamil Nadu and some parts in Andhra Pradesh.

She suggested that proper intervention is needed at the local level for addressing these issues. The participants suggested that these issues should be developed as case studies to be incorporated in the proposed report on MDGs.

Goal 4 — Reduce Child Mortality. (Speaker Mr. Nalan, Nava Jevan Trust, Tamil Nadu)

Following were his observations on the current scenario

• The death rate of children < 5 year in 2002 was 90 per 10,000.
• In 2005 - 06 it was 64 death per 10,000
• The target is 41 per 10,000 by 2015.
• 1.72 million children die every year.
• The infant mortality rate was 129 per 10,000 in 1970 and 68 in 2000 and the target is 28 in 2015.
• IMR is much higher in India compared to the neighboring countries - Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
• Under nutrition and anemia are the major causes for IMR. 50 percent deathsoccur due to these reasons. There is a close relationship between malnutrition and IMR. Neo natal mortality is also a cause.

He suggested that the ante natal care should be strengthened, gender disparities should be reduced and proper orientation/training should be provided.

Goal 5 — Improve Maternal Health (Speaker Mr. Placid.G. Sahayi, Kerala).

The speaker started his observations by pointed out the following factors.

• The target is to reduce the MMR by three quarters between 1990 and 2015. It was estimated that in India, there were 407 maternal deaths per 100000 live births during 1998.
• In 1998-99 about 51.8 percent women were anemic. This was rather severe in pregnancy.
• MMR can only be used as a rough indicator of the maternal mortality. Antenatal check up, institutional delivery, delivery by trained personnel are some other indicators.
• In this regard several other issues also to be looked into such as age of marriage, customs, traditions and practices, poverty level, mental health issues, availability of basic amenities, etc
• As per the Planning Commission's India's Human Development goals and target the MMR should be 2 per 1000 live births by 2007 and to 1 by 2012.
• Though the Government has been implementing a series of programmes to address this issue such as prophylaxis and treatment of nutritional anemia, essential and emergency obstetric care, promotion of safe delivery, MTP, providing ASHA in every village etc., it is yet to be get any real momentum to ensure the achievement of the target within the stipulated period.
• He further highlighted that the need for substantial increase in the current spending of 0.9 percent of the GDP on health for achieving the target in health sector as stipulated in MDGs.

Goal 6 — pointed out that India is one of the leading countries in the world in the prevalence rate of HIV. Even though the government is taking many measures to control AIDS, the end result is not satisfactory.

Goal 7 — Ensure Environmental Sustainability (Speaker Mr. Philipose, VOICE, Kerala).

He started by pointing out some of the following major concerns.

• Environment sustainability is in danger.
• Human beings have had a tremendous impact on environment.
• So many species have disappeared.
• Cropping pattern and diversion are making severe impacts on environment.
• Biodiversity is decreasing.

He also narrated the examples of air pollution in Bangalore, global warming, increase in the incidence of asthma etc.

Goal 8 — Develop a Global Partnership for Development (Speaker Edwin, OPEN SPACE, Bangalore)

As he opined, there are few issues - issues related to landlocked countries and debt relief - that are not relevant to us, but the issues like decent and productive work for youth, access to affordable essential drugs etc are very relevant in the Indian context.

Following are the major issues he pointed out:

• There is conflict in one goal to another (eg. Target 17 and 18)
• India produces the cheapest drugs. What is the need to import costly drugs from other countries?
• With regard to jobs we do have a lot of outsourcing - a lot of textile industries are out sourced.
• Decent work ... Technology helped them reduce the labour force?
• We have to make a difference between availability and access.
• International cooperation is needed but not for the favour of few.

The presentation was followed by an experience shared by Ms. Padmini from Child Rights Trust, Bangalore.

The programme came to an end after considering the possibilities for follow up action and a decision on organising the next meeting at Sulthanbathery in Kerala on the 12th of October 2008. It was also decided to invite a large number of NGO representatives from the Southern States.