Often criticised for its dismal efforts in preventing infant deaths, India, according to the latest Sample Registration System (SRS) data, has succeeded in reducing deaths of newborns aged 28 days or less.

The data shows that in 2011, the country's neonatal mortality rate (NMR) stood at 31 per 1,000 live births, down six per cent from 33 in 2010. The figure had remained at 37 for the period 2004-07.