Indian has been accused of deceiving people by claiming that the maternal health in the country has improved by a leading rights group as renewed efforts began at the United Nations to cut global poverty.

Human Rights Watch said that rather than focusing on how many survive the delivery and post-delivery period, the government in New Delhi was wrong to focus on the number of women who give birth in health facilities as a measure of progress.

The group's Asia women's rights researcher, Aruna Kashyap, said, “The authorities were playing number games with women's lives and dangerously misleading the public.”

Adopted by world leaders in 2000 and set to be achieved by 2015, reducing maternal mortality is the fifth of the eight Millennium Development Goals.

An attempt is being made by world leaders in New York by taking a fresh look at ways to meet the targets, which are badly behind schedule.

According to the World Health Organization, in India, during childbirth and pregnancy, about 100,000 women die and this is more than anywhere else in the world every year.

It has been stated by the UN's special reporter on health that for a country like India it is shocking to see the rate of maternal deaths and has said that India is unlikely to meet its Millennium Development Goal target.