Analysis of Achievement of Selected MDGs: A Comparative Study between India and Bangladesh

Abstract

The paper focuses on the relative achievement of five major Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for India and Bangladesh. This is done by constructing indices with the help of the UNDP goal-post method and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) technique. From the analysis, it is revealed that these two countries have more or less successfully performed to bring about positive reforms in the case of hunger alleviation, the progress of primary education, improvement in child and maternal health, establishing better environment against sex discrepancy, etc. It also identifies the policies and programmes set by the two countries for the attainment of the respective goals. The paper shows that though these two developing nations performed quite satisfactorily to deal with deprivation afflicted issues and address the prevailing status of socio-economic malaises, the achievements were sometimes not continuous and marked by undulations.