Achievements Under Millennium Development Goals

Achievements Under Millennium Development Goals

Under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the MDG 5 target is to reduce maternal mortality ratio (MMR) by three quarters between 1990 and 2015. This translates to reducing the MMR from 560 in 1990 to 140 in 2015. India is likely to reach an MMR of 140 if the current compound rate of annual decline continues.

MDG 4 target is for reduction of child mortality by two-third between 1990 and 2015. In terms of Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), this translates into IMR of 29/1000 live births to be achieved by 2015.  As per the latest, Sample Registration System (SRS) Report published by the Registrar General of India(RGI) in 2013, the IMR in India is 40/1000 live births.  As per SRS 2013, 15 States/UTs have already achieved MDG 4 (IMR ≤ 29) namely Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Daman & Diu, Delhi, Lakshadweep, Puducherry, Manipur, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, Punjab.

No targets have been set under MDG for Total Fertility Rate (TFR). The progress however for TFR as per SRS in 2011 and 2012 was 2.4 and has declined to 2.3 in 2013. 24 States and UTs having already achieved the replacement level of fertility of 2.1.

The achievement during the last 3 years for MMR, IMR and TFR state/UTs-wise is given below:-

Maternal Mortality Ratio: India and State wise

(Source: RGI (SRS) 2007-09, 2010-12, 2011-13)

Major State	MMR(SRS)  (2007-09)	MMR(SRS)  (2010-12)	MMR(SRS)  (2011-13)
India Total *	212	178	167
Assam	390	328	300
Bihar	261	219	208
Jharkhand	261	219	208
Madhya Pradesh	269	230	221
Chhattisgarh	269	230	221
Orissa	258	235	222
Rajasthan	318	255	244
Uttar Pradesh	359	292	285
Uttaranchal	359	292	285
Andhra Pradesh	134	110	92
Karnataka	178	144	133
Kerala	81	66	61
Tamil Nadu	97	90	79
Gujarat	148	122	112
Haryana	153	146	127
Maharashtra	104	87	68
Punjab	172	155	141
West Bengal	145	117	113
*Others	160	136	126

*: Includes Others

Infant Mortality Rate, State and UT wise as per the SRS Reports 2010-2013

State/UTs	2010	2011	2012	2013
India	47	44	42	40
Bihar	48	44	43	42
Chhattisgarh	51	48	47	46
Himachal Pradesh	40	38	36	35
Jammu & Kashmir	43	41	39	37
Jharkhand	42	39	38	37
Madhya Pradesh	62	59	56	54
Odisha	61	57	53	51
Rajasthan	55	52	49	47
Uttar Pradesh	61	57	53	50
Uttarakhand	38	36	34	32
Arunachal Pradesh	31	32	33	32
Assam	58	55	55	54
Manipur	14	11	10	10
Meghalaya	55	52	49	47
Mizoram	37	34	35	35
Nagaland	23	21	18	18
Sikkim	30	26	24	22
Tripura	27	29	28	26
Andhra Pradesh	46	43	41	39
Goa	10	11	10	9
Gujarat	44	41	38	36
Haryana	48	44	42	41
Karnataka	38	35	32	31
Kerala	13	12	12	12
Maharashtra	28	25	25	24
Punjab	34	30	28	26
Tamil Nadu	24	22	21	21
West Bengal	31	32	32	31
A and N Islands	25	23	24	24
Chandigarh	22	20	20	21
Dadra and Nagar Haveli	38	35	33	31
Daman and Diu	23	22	22	20
Delhi	30	28	25	24
Lakshadweep	25	24	24	24
Pondicherry	22	19	17	17

State wise Total Fertility Rate as per Sample Registration System

India & Bigger States	TFR
	2011	2012	2013
India	2.4	2.4	2.3
Andhra Pradesh	1.8	1.8	1.8
Assam	2.4	2.4	2.3
Bihar	3.6	3.5	3.4
Chhattisgarh	2.7	2.7	2.6
Delhi	1.8	1.8	1.7
Gujarat	2.4	2.3	2.3
Haryana	2.3	2.3	2.2
Himachal Pradesh	1.8	1.7	1.7
Jammu and Kashmir	1.9	1.9	1.9
Jharkhand	2.9	2.8	2.7
Karnataka	1.9	1.9	1.9
Kerala	1.8	1.8	1.8
Madhya Pradesh	3.1	2.9	2.9
Maharashtra	1.8	1.8	1.8
Odisha	2.2	2.1	2.1
Punjab	1.8	1.7	1.7
Rajasthan	3.0	2.9	2.8
Tamil Nadu	1.7	1.7	1.7
Uttar Pradesh	3.4	3.3	3.1
West Bengal	1.7	1.7	1.6

The key steps taken to accelerate the pace of reduction for Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Total Fertility Rate(TFR)  under the National Health Mission (NHM) for achieving MDG goals are:

·      Promotion of institutional deliveries through Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY).

·      Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram (JSSK) entitles all pregnant women delivering in public health institutions to absolutely free and no expense delivery, including caesarean section. Similar entitlements have been put in place for all sick infants accessing public health institutions for treatment.

·      Operationalization of Sub-Centers, Primary Health Centers, Community Health Centers and District Hospitals for providing 24x7 basic and comprehensive obstetric care, neonatal, infant and child care services.

·     Mother and Child Protection Card in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Child Development to monitor service delivery for mothers and children.

·     Mother and Child Tracking System is being implemented to ensure antenatal, intranatal and postnatal care along-with immunization services.

·      Identifying the severely anaemic cases of pregnant women  at sub centres and PHCs for their timely management

·      Operationalization of Safe Abortion Services and Reproductive Tract Infections and Sexually Transmitted Infections (RTI/STI) at health facilities with a focus on “Delivery Points”.

·      Maternal Death Review (MDR) is being implemented across the country both at facilities and in the community. The purpose is to take corrective action at appropriate levels and improve the quality of obstetric care.

·      Establishing Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Wings at high caseload facilities to improve the quality of care provided to mothers and children.

·        Under National Iron plus Initiative (NIPI), through life cycle approach, age and dose specific IFA supplementation programme is being implemented.

·        To tackle the problem of anaemia due to malaria particularly in pregnant women and children, Long Lasting Insecticide Nets (LLINs) and Insecticide Treated Bed Nets (ITBNs) are being distributed in endemic areas.

·        Capacity building of health care providers in basic and comprehensive obstetric care, Integrated Management of Neo-natal and Childhood Illness (IMNCI), Navjaat Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram (NSSK), Facility Based Newborn Care (FBNC) and Infant and Young Child Feeding practices (IYCF) etc.

·      Setting up of Skill Labs with earmarked skill stations for different training programs to enhance the quality of training in the states.

·      A new initiative of “Prevention of Post Partum Hemorrhage (PPH) through Community based advance distribution of Misoprostol” by ASHAs/ANMs for high home delivery districts.

·        Emphasis on facility based newborn care i.e. Special New Born Care Units (SNCUs), Newborn Stabilization Units (NBSUs) and Newborn Care Corners (NBCCs) at different levels to reduce child morbidity and mortality:

·        Launch of India Newborn Action Plan (INAP) with an aim to reduce neonatal mortality and stillbirths to single digit by 2030.

·        Newer interventions to reduce newborn mortality- Vitamin K injection at birth, Antenatal corticosteroids for preterm labour, kangaroo mother care and injection gentamicin to young infants in cases of suspected sepsis.

·        Newer interventions to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity- Diagnosis & management of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus, Hypothyroidism during pregnancy, Training of General Surgeons for performing  Caesarean Section, Calcium supplementation during pregnancy and lactation, De-worming during pregnancy, Maternal Near Miss Review, Screening for Syphilis during pregnancy  and  Dakshata guidelines for strengthening intra-partum care

·        Home based newborn care through ASHAs to improve new born practices at the community level and early detection and referral of sick new born babies.

·        Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight (IDCF) to be observed in July-August 2015 focusing on ORS and Zinc distribution for management of diarrhoea and feeding practices.

·        Integrated Action Plan for Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (IAPPD) launched in four states with highest infant mortality (UP, MP, Bihar and Rajasthan).

·        Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) have been established for management of severe acute malnutrition in children.

·        Appropriate Infant and Young Child Feeding practices are being promoted in convergence with Ministry of Woman and Child Development.

·        Village Health and Nutrition Days in rural areas as an outreach activity, for provision of maternal and child health services.

·        Universal Immunization Programme (UIP): Vaccination protects children against  seven vaccine preventable diseases.

·        Mission Indradhanush has been launched in 201 high focus districts to fully immunise more than 89 lakh children who are either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated; those that have not been covered during the rounds of routine immunisation for various reasons.

·      Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) for health screening and early intervention services has been launched to provide comprehensive care to all the children in the age group of 0-18 years in the community.

·      Expansion of Family Planning Choices through introduction of new device- Cu IUCD 375 (effective for five years) introduced in program in 2012-13 and introduction of new method  Post partum IUCD in 2010-11 has provided post partum women an effective spacing option

·        Influencing the demand through ASHA Schemes for Family Planning through Scheme of Home Delivery of Contraceptives by ASHAs,  Scheme of Ensuring Spacing at Birth and  Pregnancy Testing Kits (PTK) scheme

·        Promoting quality sterilization services through enhanced compensation scheme, ensuring drop back services to sterilization clients and dedicated Mobile teams for FP services.

·        Promoting quality IUCD services by introducing PPIUCD incentive scheme, development of online beneficiary based software to track IUCD removals/complications and increasing provider’s base for providing IUCD services through Task shifting.

The Health Minister, Shri J P Nadda stated this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha here today.

RS panel backs majority of GST Bill proposals

RS panel backs majority of GST Bill proposals

With the Rajya Sabha Select Committee endorsing almost all provisions in the GST Bill, the chances of the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, meant to introduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST), clearing Parliament in the current session has brightened.

• The committee was headed by Bhupender Yadav of the BJp. The committee recently submitted its report to the Parliament.

Recommendations made by the committee:

• The GST rate should not go beyond 20% as standard rate and 14% as reduced rate.
• Full compensation from the Centre for any revenue loss to the States during the transition.
• The provision in the Bill that the Centre “may” compensate the States for up to five years for any revenue loss be replaced with acommitment of compensation for five years.

Status of the Bill:

• The Lok Sabha has already approved the Bill. It will now have to be taken up for passage in the Rajya Sabha.
• As it is a Constitution amendment Bill, it will have to be approved by two-thirds of the members in the Upper House, where the ruling BJP does not enjoy a majority. The government will have to depend upon the support of regional parties and allies.

Various demands by the opposition parties:

• Cap GST at 18% to avoid imposing unfair tax burden on consumers.
• Exclude petroleum from the ambit of GST.
• Reduce centre’s say in GST council.

Areas of conflicts:

• Some see this bill as pro-corporates. They say this bill aims at promoting the interests of corporates who want a free flow of goods and services.
• The GST Council, as a constitutional body, would impinge on the legislative sovereignty of both Parliament and the State legislature and would jeopardise the autonomy of the States in fiscal matters.

GST council:

• The GST Bill seeks to establish a GST Council tasked with optimising tax collection for goods and services by the State and Centre.
• Composition: The Council will consist of the Union Finance Minister (as Chairman), the Union Minister of State in charge of revenue or Finance, and the Minister in charge of Finance or Taxation or any other, nominated by each State government.
• The GST Council will be the body that decides which taxes levied by the Centre, States and local bodies will go into the GST; which goods and services will be subjected to GST; and the basis and the rates at which GST will be applied.

Sources: The Hindu, prsindia.

Privacy not a right, Aadhaar legit: Centre

The Centre has told the Supreme Court that Right to Privacy is not a fundamental right under the Constitution, adding it cannot be invoked to scrap the Aadhar scheme. it has further said that “Right to Privacy is not absolute and is subject to restrictions.”

Background:

The centre’s reply came in response to petitions which contended that the scheme of Aadhar based on collecting personal data violates the citizens right to privacy.

What petitioners say?

• Petitioners feel iris scans and fingerprinting arean invasion of privacy.
• Such personal information would help the State possess unbridled powers over its citizens and provide an easy opportunity to snoop on their private lives.
• Petioners also point out that nowhere in the Aadhaar scheme is the word ‘biometrics’ used; yet there are iris scans being done in the camps. Even the enrolment form does not use the word ‘bio-metrics’.

On a September 23, 2013 order, the court had directed that “no person should suffer for not getting the Aadhaar card.” In March this year, the Supreme Court had confirmed that the Aadhaar number was not compulsory, and further, officials who insisted on them would be taken to task

My Preparation Strategy, Nitish K, Rank – 8, CSE – 2014

I did my schooling at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Chitradurgaduring which I made up my mind to become an IAS officer. Later I did engineering from a college in Bangalore. I started my preparation from mid 2010, i.e. during my final year in engineering.

Like everyone, I decided to take Public administration as my optional and started reading it. After few days I realized that Public administration was not my cup of tea. Fortunately at that time results of CSE-2009 was declared and Prakash Rajpurohit had got Rank 2, with Mathematics as one of his optional. His success inspired me to take Mathematics. He also wrote a blog, which I consider as bible for Mathematics optional. I bought all the books which he had mentioned in his blog and finished one time reading by the time I completed my graduation in mid 2011.

Then I left to Delhi from Bangalore and reached Old Rajinder Nagar in June, 2011. I had made up my mind to take Psychology as second optional and join Mukul Pathak’s coaching. But I changed my mind at last moment and joined Neetu Singh for Geography optional.

While going for Geography coaching, I also joined Maths test series at IMS (Venkanna). I left Delhi after 4 months due to adverse conditions like climate, food, high rent etc and went to my native place near Udupi.

Till prelims i.e May 2012, I finished General Studies myself and revised Maths and Geography. After prelims, I again went to Delhi to appear for Maths and GS test series. I made the mistake of appearing for Mains at Delhi Centre. I got high fever on the day of Essay, General Studies and Geography exams and finally recovered before Mathematics exam.

After Mains, I returned to my native place and started preparing for Interview as well as for next Mains. Then fortunately I cleared Mains and appeared for interview in my first attempt. However I could not make it to the final list. Later I found out that I had missed rank by 10 marks and had got low marks in Interview and Geography. Despite working hard for nearly 3 years and leaving job at campus placement, at the end I was left with nothing.

Many people (particularly relatives) mocked at me telling that even two years after engineering I was sitting at home and gave examples of students getting placements with high packages. This was like adding salt to wound. But somehow all these things eventually made me more determined to clear this exam, at any cost.

Fortunately for me, pattern was changed in 2013 and only one optional was required to be taken. I gladly dropped geography and appeared in Prelims again. As the GS syllabus for mains was changed drastically, I felt it was better to prepare in a group. So I went to Delhi again after Prelims and rented a room with two good friends, who were very hardworking and dedicated. I also joined test series for GS and Maths. This time I wrote mains at Bangalore in December.

After Mains, I relaxed for around 20 days and then contacted Vinay bro. He was my senior in school and I got to know that he had got very good marks in UPSC interview. As I had got very low marks in interview in the previous attempt, I was quite afraid about interview. He was kind enough to take many mock interviews freely in his room and helped me to overcome my fear of interview.

Based on my experience, a few suggestions to all the aspirants:

1. With right approach, it is possible to clear this exam in first attempt But don’t get disheartened if you fail. Don’t give up. Introspect and rectify your mistakes. Hit back with greater effort. When I missed getting a rank by 10 marks in first attempt, I was very disappointed. But I read that year toppers’ interviews. I told myself if they can do it why can’t I do. I was very angry on myself for not clearing and this made me more determined to clear this exam.
2. Try to prepare with a group of serious There is no point is befriending non-serious aspirants. They will lead to your failure. Be very careful in choosing your friends.
3. Consistency and discipline are key to success. I have seen lots of people who work very hard for first 1-2 months and later their preparationdecays exponentially. Have a timetable and follow it religiously. My daily study routine for past four years is like this – 8 to 9:30, 10 to 1:30, 4 to 8:30 and 9:30 to 12:30. Make your own timetable and give some time in between (say ½ hour) for relaxing. The idea is you should be comfortable with your timetable and not get frustrated.
4. Clear prelims by a comfortable margin. This is very important so that you start preparing for mains seriously without waiting for prelims results.
5. Practice answer writing for GS, essay and optional regularly. 
6. For GS make notes, preferably on Evernote as it consumes less time and easy to edit and revise.
7. Don’t spend too much time on Internet searching for materials, news etc. Many aspirants spend hours on internet and think they are preparing. But actually they would be aimlessly jumping from website to another without any value addition. It is better to follow few sources that are qualitative.
8. Also many have this habit of filling their rooms with all kinds of books, material, photocopies etc., which they won’t study even one page. Buy a maximum of 2 books per subject and read them repeatedly. You need not do research on each and every topic. You should just understand them and be able to give simple and clear answers in exam.
9. Try to finish Mains syllabus before Prelims. Because after prelims you will be having time only for revision and answer writing.
10. Join coaching only by consulting many seniors. Don’t be fooled by huge photographs of toppers in advertisements. Many would have appeared only for Test Series or Mock Interviews and coaching centers would claim that they were part of classroom coaching.
11. Finally don’t get your confidence lowered by all the negative comments made by your friends and relatives. Have faith in your hard work. Promise yourself to work harder and prove all your critics wrong. If you work hard, then luck (God) will help you.

I would like to end with two of my favorite quotes, which helped me immensely during my preparation:

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’” Muhammad Ali

“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.”  Jim Rohn

All the best for your exams and future. Thank you.