India lags behind in meeting UN goals

India is lagging behind in meeting the United Nation's Millenium Development Goals for bringing down infant and maternal mortality rates, but is on course to achieve all other targets, the government said on Monday.

Minister of Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhary also informed the Rajya Sabha that the government is planning to merge two schemes for adolescent girls to universalise the programme.

Replying to supplementaries, she said the country was "well on track" to meet the Millenium Development Goals, but was lagging behind on the target set on bringing down infant and maternal mortality rates.

According to a United Nations Children's Fund report, the mortality rate of children under five years was 76 per thousand births in 2006 while the MDG sets a target of bringing in down to 38 per thousand births by 2015.

The average annual rate of reduction has to be 7.6 per cent till 2015 to meet the target.

Chowdhary said the government is planning to merge the Kishori Shakti Yojana and the Nutrition Programme for Adolescent girls to universalise the programme and recast the Integrated Child Development Scheme to make it more effective.

Chowdhary said the Centre wants the state governments to "come on board" and "partner" it in providing better wages to Anganwadi workers, who are usually roped in by the states for other works including conducting census.

"If there is extra work, there should be extra pay," she said. She also noted that there was no provision to treat Anganwadi workers as government employees.

She said the Centre was expanding the ICDS programme and there will be around 18 lakh anganwadis in the country in near future and more will be opened in a phased manner.