Will India be able to eradicate poverty by 2015? No, says a report prepared by Social Watch, a a non-governmental organisation that monitors governance.

In the report, India figures in the same bracket as sub-Saharan Africa. “If current trends continue, India will not reach an acceptable level in terms of satisfying the basic social needs of the population by 2015,” said Roberto Bissio, global coordinator at Social Watch, “India’s social sector is lagging behind. And also it can’t eradicate poverty by 2015.”

The Basic Capability Index is an annual monitoring report on the evolution of basic social development indicators of over 130 countries on 100 points. It judges countries on three categories: the percentage of children who reach the fifth year of primary school, the mortality rate among chidren under five-year old and the percentage of births attended by skilled health personnel. It does not include monetary income to calculate its figure.

The report released in Delhi on Tuesday puts India at 68 points, an increase of four points since 2004. Bissio said India is progressing at faster pace, but poor people are getting poorer since economic liberalisation. “It should ring alarm bells in the government as it prepares to present the next union budget on February 26,” said Himanshu Jha, coordinator for India.