Messed-up Nagaland as India’s Millennium Goal year speeds by

The current is the terminal year for the states and union territories of India to achieve their Millennium Development Goals for 2015. While the country has been exerting thrust in infrastructural development, healthcare and poverty and welfare, Nagaland–a hilly state nestled in the canopied, often-shirked plethora called the north east region–has challenges ahead of her.

The 'Millennium Development Goals Indio Country Report-2015’, released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, lists some points of reference for  the states and union territories to exert greater thrust on.

Amid louder calls for reaffirmation of developmental accountability in both the services and infrastructure sectors, the current underplay of corruption and institutional apathy from the policy makers has created a state of lacunae. These lacunae have impacted a slant that adversely impacted the state’s growth, especially during the millennium goal-phases of 1990-to-2015. 

The lacunae for Nagaland is encompasses a struggling healthcare sector to environmental concerns, a rampaging jump in HIV and AIDS cases, to deteriorated public infrastructure and arrested development.

In his August statement acknowledging the Millennium Development Goals set for 2015, the Minister for External Affairs General (Dr.), Vijay Kumar Singh, had made clear that the concluding year to the decade’s pursuit was also a ‘year to shape’ whatever level of development had been achieved so far. 

“The year 2015 is the terminal year for the present Millennium Development Goals as well as the year for shaping up post-2015 development agendas,” Gen. (Dr.) Singh had noted in his statement.

“It is of crucial importance in the development process around the globe. This report also identifies the areas where the progress made by India is less than that at the desired levels. Therefore, more focused attention needs to be given in those areas”

Likewise, the secretary for the Ministry of Statistics & Program Implementation, Dr. TCA Anant, said while about 200 countries committed to the millennium goals, the global attainment of the MDGs critically depended much on India. “The sheer size of India, contributes a huge proportion to the attainment of global Goals of elimination of poverty, hunger and mal-nourishment, illiteracy, disease, gender discrimination, etc …” Anant said.

The ministry’s report contains updated information about the progress achieved so far in respect of the eight goals compressed into 12 targets and the 3S indicators. “Despite the resilience shown by the Indian economy in the face of global economic crisis, its impact on the development process (has) resulted in less than desirable progress in some economic and social areas,” the ministry says in the report.

Nagaland

For Nagaland, the number of sectors that are in need of attention is several. However, of them all, the progress of Nagaland in working against poverty particularly in the urban areas, healthcare and mother-child health, and HIV/AIDS stand out.

The millennium goals are inter-linked. For instance, achieving health Targets are dependent on achievement of targets in sanitation, availability of safe drinking water, clean environment, reduction of poverty and malnutrition, spread of literacy and so on. Thus, an all-round development in related sectors is required to achieve a single target, as the ministry states in its report. 

The year 2015 is the terminal year for the Millennium Development Goals. It has helped in bringing out a much needed focus and pressure on basic development issues but there needs much to be done especially for underdeveloped states such as Nagaland where an internal interplay of poor policy making and negative administrative behavior have effected development. 

For citizens who might not know, the Millennium Developmental Goals originated from the Millennium Declaration adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in September 2000. The MDGs consists of eight goals, each of them addressing interconnected developmental issues.

The eight, main, goals are:

•         To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
•         To achieve Universal Primary Education
•         To promote Gender Equality and empower women
•         To reduce child mortality
•         To improve maternal health
•         To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB
•         To ensure environmental sustainability
•         To develop global partnership for development

Nagaland: Increased poverty

Contrary to lofty rhetoric floated by local politicians about development and welfare security, the level of poverty in Nagaland has increased. Contrary to the all India scenario, which reflect reduction in the intensity of poverty in both rural and urban areas, in case of the Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland, the intensity of poverty has actually increased in the rural areas, the report said.

In fact, the report shows, the north eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland are the only ones in the country that have shown an increase in poverty levels both in their urban and rural areas.

The welfare performance of Nagaland can be viewed through the Poverty Gap Ratio (PGR). The PGR is the gap by which mean consumption of the poor below poverty line falls short of the poverty line. It indicates the depth of poverty; the more the PGR, the worse is the condition of the poor.

While the number of poor people indicates spread of poverty, PGR indicates the depth. During 2004-05 to 2011-12, PGR also decreased in both rural and urban areas in India. While the rural PGR declined from 9.64 in 2004-05 to 5.05 in 2011-12 in the urban areas it declined from 6.08 to 2.70 during the same period. A nearly 50% decline in PGR both in rural and urban areas during 2004-05 to 2011-12, reflects that the conditions of poor have improved both in urban and rural areas

However, although at the all India level the Poverty Gap Ratio declined substantially in both rural and urban areas during 2004-5 to 2011-12, some states are still running a tough race. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Odisha reported substantially higher reduction in PGR (higher than the national average) in rural areas. But the states of Odisha, Bihar, Maharashtra and Punjab reported higher reduction of PGR in urban areas. In some States PGR actually increased during 2004-12.

In case of the Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland, the intensity of poverty actually increased in the rural areas and both in urban and rural areas in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland, the report states.

Nagaland: Anomaly in mother-child health performance  

Another Indicator of Nagaland’s performance in the health welfare sector is the percentage of births attended by skilled health personnel. The states of Kerala, Goa and Tamil Nadu have already achieved nearly 100% coverage of births attended by skilled health personnel. By the current 2015, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are expected to achieve universal coverage of births by skilled health personnel.

In addition to these states, the states of Jammu& Kashmir, Karnataka Odisha, Rajasthan, and Sikkim are expected to reach close to 100% coverage of births attended by skilled health personnel. Considering the live births, the percentage of live births attended by skilled health personnel (SRS 2013), among bigger States of India, ranges from 68.7% in Jharkhand to 99.8% in Kerala.

Nagaland: Losing battle to HIV / AIDS

Another concern that Nagaland has failed in asserting its intervention rhetoric, is the fight against HIV /AIDS. From being the sixth, and to the fourth, and subsequently to being the state in the country with the highest prevalence-rate of HIV /AIDS, the once- “fastest developing” northeastern state of Nagaland is a story of failure.

Ironically, even as the pursuit for the millennium goals are to conclude this year, it was this year istelf, in May, that Nagaland was declared the state in the country with the highest HIV-Prevalence, with a general population prevalence rate of 0.88. In other words, one out of an estimated 113 persons in Nagaland is living with HIV.

According to the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), HIV/AIDS prevalence among the general population in Nagaland State stood at 0.88 as against the all-India average of 0.35 (calculated from ANC attendees). Previously the highest prevalence state, Manipur stood at 0.64. This was stated in NACO’s latest HIV Sentinel Surveillance report, 2012-13.

“While there been a long term significant decline in all traditionally high prevalence states, Nagaland and Mizoram have shown a comparatively high overall prevalence at a state level on a year to year basis (2010-11 and 2012-13),” stated the NACO in its analysis.

The reports points to another worry: the HIV prevalence among pregnant women (15-24 yrs) is highest in Nagaland (1.16%). Behind Nagaland is Mizoram with a rate of 0.97%. During 2008-13, the indicator showed a declining trend in all the states except for the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and Uttarakhand.

In spite of the existence of myriad developmental initiatives in the form of programs and policies to address the major areas of concern as outlined in the millennium goals, the progress toward achieving them continues to be slow by large.

(Report by: Al Ngullie)

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