When United Nations convened a special assembly to mark the start of a new millennium in 2000, it established what are called the 8 Millennium Development Goals. These goals promised to ensure that the people of the world don’t struggle for their rights and necessities anymore and a healthy, prosperous planet will be a reality by 2015 which is the deadline of the MDGs.
India’s progress: 6% of children in primary schools never reach beyond the first grade and another 10% drop out by the fifth grade. Income inequalities have resulted in 11 years of difference in the life expectancy between the rich and the poor. Another 43.5% of children below 5 years of age are under nourished.
At the same time, we have made huge strides in some areas like RTE and accessibility to education. We have also eradicated Polio at large, but healthcare is a much bigger and broader issue. Almost half of our women still give birth to children without any maternal care by their side.
As the clock ticks, time is running out of our hands and we need to fulfil these goals. Are we looking at disappointing the world once again? We have less than 500 days which demand us to ensure better healthcare, equitable distribution of income and focus on environmental sustainability along with economic development.
Thus, Youth Ki Awaaz is hosting a hangout in association with Oxfam India and Wada Na Todo Abhiyaan with a panel of experts to discuss the way ahead for India in achieving these development goals.
The hangout will have Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament. He has also worked as Under-Secretary-General at the UN and his experience of being the HRD minister under UPA government will add value to the conversation.
From the civil society, Parvinder Singh, National Campaigns Manager, Oxfam India; Paul Divakar, General Secretary of National Campaign, NCDHR; and Amitabh Beher, Executive Director, National Foundation of India will be joining us as we discuss the possibility of achieving these development goals in the next 500 days.
Shireen Miller, Director of Advocacy at Save The Children will also be one of our panelists in the discussion.
The hangout will be moderated by Vimlendu Jha of Swechha.
Join us in the conversation, live at youtube.com/youthkiawaaz on the 4th September from 5 PM. You can also tweet to us @YouthKiAwaaz with the hashtag #MDGHangout and we will take up your questions.