Training Report: Millennium Development Goals in the SAARC Region

Working Sessions
The estimated adult HIV prevalence in India was 0.32 % in 2008 and 0.31% in 2009. The adult prevalence is
0.26 % among women and 0.38% among men in 2008, and 0.25% among women and 0.36 % among men in
2009. Among pregnant women of 15-24 years, the prevalence of HIV has declined from 0.86% in 2004 to
0.48% in 2008. The Government of India has responded to the challenge of HIV with appropriate policies,
strategies and programs. The national AIDS Control and Blood Policies were adopted in 2002.
The total Malaria cases have consistently declined from 2.08 million to 1.6 million during 2001 to 2010. India
has contributed to approximately 24% of the total global new cases detected during the year 2009 as per the
WHO Global Report 2010. There has been an increase in the number of TB patients registered for treatment
from 1.29 million in 2005 to 1.52 million in 2010. Repeat population surveys conducted by Tuberculosis
Research Centre indicate an annual decline in prevalence of the disease by 12%. Programs to control Malaria
and TB include: National Malaria Control Program; National Malaria Eradication Program; National Anti
Malaria Program; Enhanced Malaria Control Project (EMCP); National TB Program and Revised National
Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP).
The forest cover of the country as per 2007 assessment was 6, 90,899 km which is 21.02% of the geographical
area of the country. As per 2011 assessment, the country has a forest cover of 6, 92,027 km, which constitutes
21.05% of the country’s geographic area. There is an increase in forest cover by about 1128 sq. km between
2007 and 2011. A network of 668 Protected Areas (PAs) has been established, extending over 1, 61,221.57 sq.
kms. (4.90% of total geographic area), comprising 102 National Parks, 515 Wildlife Sanctuaries, 47
Conservation Reserves and 4 Community Reserves. The country is on track in increasing the protection
network for arresting the diversity losses and for maintaining ecological balance. The prevailing trend over
time suggests attainability of almost cent percent coverage of safe drinking water by 2015, including both
rural and urban sectors.
Given the 1990 level for households without any sanitation facility at 76%, India is required to reduce the
proportion of households having no access to improved sanitation to 38% by 2015. It is expected that at this
rate of decline, India may achieve to reduce the proportion of households without any sanitation to about 43%
by 2015 missing the target by about 5 percentage points. The latest estimate based on DLHS-3 for 2007-08,
however, indicates that about 42.3% households have access to improved sanitation facility and the 65th NSS
round reported 47.6% for 2008-09.
The number of telephone subscribers has increased from 0.67% in 1990 to 76.03% in 2011. Over a period of
12 years, internet subscriber base had increased by 97 fold from 0.21 million in 1999 to 20.33 million in 2011.
It was concluded that despite the existence and launch of various programs and policies to address the major
areas of concern under the MDGs, the progress toward achieving these goals appears to be satisfactory in
some areas and not up to the mark in others. With only about 6 more years to go toward the set time for
achieving these goals, the only way to do so would be to further intensify our efforts in reaching out to the
unreached populations and ensuring uniform distribution of resources in the areas where we are not on track
and give momentum to the progress toward achievement of the MDGs.
Mr. T. M. Qureshi, Ex- Joint Educational Adviser, Policy and Planning Wing, Ministry of Education,
Islamabad while taking a session on “MDGs and System of Indicators to Assess and Analyze Progress with
Special Focus on Education” said that the endorsement by the Government of Pakistan (GoP) to the
Millennium Declaration places an obligation on the State for leading the process in the formulation and
finalization of the MDG Report, as annual feature. He informed that an indicator is an individual or composite
statistic that relates to a basic construct in education, and is useful in the policy context. Education indicators
are the statistics that reflect important aspects of the education system, but not all the statistics about education
are indicators. Indicators are, thus, expected to assist policy makers as they formulate schooling goals and
translate those goals into actions. Indicators should be: specific, measurable, attributable, relevant, and
timely. Statistics qualify as indicators only if they serve as yardsticks; for example, the number of students
enrolled in schools or the number of institutions or the number of teachers is an important fact. It does little to
tell us how well the education system is functioning; however, survival rate to grade 5, or transition to
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