Going by current trends, the target for reducing infant mortality and improving other human development indices seem near impossible to achieve Less that 500 days are left for nations to achieve the targets set under the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); there are eight such goals which range from halving extreme poverty rates to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education. The countdown for the deadline for MDGs, which expires next year, began on August 18 and it seems unlikely that India can achieve the targets set under it.

Take for instance, the target to reduce infant mortality rate (IMR) to 27 per 1,000 live births. Though IMR has been reduced by nearly 50 per cent between 1990 and 2012, the present level is still a high 42 per 1,000 live births. Going by current trends, IMR is likely to reduce to 40 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2015. Similarly, India is expected provide immunisation cover against measles to about 89 per cent children in the age group of 12 to 23 months by 2015. But the country is likely to fall short of universal immunisation of one-year old children against measles by about 11 percentage points.

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