NEW DELHI: One third of the extreme poor global population reside in India which has also recorded the highest number of under-five deaths in the world, the latest UN Millennium Development Goals report has said.
Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla, who released the report here, said its findings present a challenge to the government under Narendra Modi and that they would be able to surmount it.
"Good days will come," she said. "We don't have to be proud of what we have done. Poverty is the biggest challenge... I am sure when the next report comes, we will have done much better," she said, stressing on Prime Minister's commitment to poverty elimination and "sabka saath sabka vikas (With all, development for all)".
Though the report's figures for various human development parameters are mostly specific to different regions of the world, it has made references to India none of which, she said, are "flattering.
Heptulla has had a long association with the UN programme and was closely involved with it during the previous NDA government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Highlights of the report
Stressing the new government's commitment to improving human development index, Heptulla recalled the words of Mahatma Gandhi that validity of any action was the impact it had on the poorest of the poor and said this is also the "guiding principle" of Modi dispensation.
"Sadly, despite paying lip-service to Mahatma Gandhi we have been unable to fulfil his aspiration. And this is the challenge that our government has inherited and is committed to fulfilling," she said.
Modi has given highest priority to providing people adequate sanitation, drinking water, maternal and child care, particularly to the disadvantaged sections.
UN Resident Coordinator Lise Grande said India's role in global development is the most important in the world and the Millennium Development Goals can't be reached globally if they're not reached here.