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JRD Tata Oration Six |
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th
-JRDTATA
MEMORIAL ORATION
Iii
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ion
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2000
N OF INDIA
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JRD Tata
Founder Chairman
Population Foundation of India
(July 29, 1904 - November 29, 1993)
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~
th
JRD TATA
MEMORIAL ORATION
NATIONAPLOPULATIOPNOLICY2000-
ROLEOFTHENATIONACLOMMISSION
ONPOPULATION
"
SHRI K C PANT
Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission
Vice-Chairman, National Commission on Population
November 3, 2000
i
~f£t~
POPULATION FOUNDATION OF INDIA
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PREFACE
India's population crossed the one billion mark on
11th May this year and is projected to reach a figure of
1,263.5 million by the year 2016 according to official
estimates by the Registrar General. In 1901, the country's
population within its present boundaries was only 238.4
million and has thus increased by slightly over 760 million
in the past 100 years. Out of this increase, 84% has
occurred during the second half of the century, i.e. 1951-
2000 and only 16% was added during the period 1901-
1951. We are currently adding about 17 million to our
already large population base every year. About 300
million of our people are below the poverty line and in
this context of crowding, poverty and continued rapid rise
in population, the population question has assumed
serious proportions.
The 20th Century also witnessed great strides in life
expectancy. People today live longer and healthier lives
...
and have greater opportunities for realising their
potential. Their standards of living have improved,
contributing to their overall quality oflife. However, there
continues to be millions of people who have still not risen
beyond. a struggle for basic necessities.
It is in this context, that I would like to congratulate
the Government of India for announcing its National
Population Policy. A Population Policy that provided a
vision at the beginning of the new millennium was the
need of the hour. The strategies for implementation
should be made in a manner that a comprehensive range
of reproductive health services become accessible,
affordable, acceptable and convenient to all couples. The
insistence in the Population Policy on "meeting the
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unmet needs and client satisfaction" hold the key to the
future success of Government programmes.
With the announcement of National Population
Policy 2000, followed by State-specific Population Policies
(Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,
Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh,) and constitution of
National Commission on Population, I am sure, there will
be a new ray of hope for achieving the population
stabilisation goals.
.
The country will be better off in sincerely
implementing this policy and not splitting hairs on the
nitty-gritty of some of the controversial issues, like
incentives to panchayats for achievement of the stated
reproductive goals or incentives to parents on the care
and :1urture of the girl child. The failure of many
developmental programmes in India in the past was not
due to lack of well-articulated policies but due to their
poor implementation. NPP 2000 should not be allowed to
fail on such grounds.
Population Foundation of India has also been
making, from time to time, a number of suggestions for
consideration of the Government, to strengthen the
programmes implemented towards achieving population
stabilisation goals. The Foundation has been playing a
catalytic role to promote programmes at different levels
directed towards the ultimate goal of population
stabilisation. The Foundation's activities, in the words of
the late Mr JRD Tata, have been focussed on "advancing
the cause of human welfare through family planning". We
are honouring his legacy by organising this lecture by
eminent persons every year. The JRD Tata Memorial
Oration in memory of the founder Chairman of the
Foundation was started in 1995, the Silver Jubilee Year of
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the Foundation. It was earlier known as "Encounter with
Population Crisis", a lecture series inviting Indian and
International celebrities to focus on critical issues related
to population field.
Since 1995, JRD Tata Orations were delivered by Shri
Ramakrishna Hegde, Mr Chandra Shekhar, Dr Najma
Heptulla, Mr I K Gujral and Dr N afis Sadik. This year, we
have invited Shri K C Pant, Deputy Chairman, Planning
Commission and Vice-Chairman, National Commission
on Population, to deliver the Sixth JRD Tata Memorial
Oration. Mr K C Pant also headed the Group of Members
~constituted in 1998 to draft the National Population
Policy, which was finally approved by the Government in
February 2000. We cannot think of a higher authority to
detiver this oration on "National Population Policy 2000
- Role of the National Commission on Population".
I am sure, this sixth JRDTata Memorial Oration will
stimulate the Government and Non-Governmental
..
Organisations to work together through a coordinated
approach and implement the various strategies for action
envisaged in NPP 2000 to achieve the population
stabilisation goals set in the Policy document.
New Delhi
November 3, 2000
Dr K Srinivasan
Executive Director
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SIXTH JRD TATA MEMORIAL ORATION
Speech by Dr Bharat Ram, Chairman
Distinguished speaker of
the day, Shri K C Pant,
respected guests, Ladies and
Gentlemen-
Population Foundation of
India is honoured to have Shri
K C Pant, Deputy Chairman,
Planning Commission and
Vice-Chairman, National Com-
mission on Population in our
midst to deliver the Sixth JRD Tata Memorial Oration in
the memory of the late Bharat Ratna Shri J R D Tata.
The Population Foundation of India was established
in 1970 and has ever since been in the forefront of non-
governmental efforts to check the runaway growth of
population of the country and establish a balance
between resource, environment and population.
The Foundation was established by a dedicated group
of industrialists and population activists. The founding
fathers believed that a movement of social development
such as population stabilization should not and cannot
remain the sole concern of the government and it should
be supported and supplemented by strong non-
governmental efforts. The Foundation has, therefore,
always worked in close cooperation with official agencies
and programmes. In its independent role, it has tried to
guide and influence the National Population Policy and to
serve as a catalytic agent to promote programmes at
different levels directed towards ultimate goal of
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population stabilization. I have personally sent appeals to
the Prime Ministers of India during the past three years,
emphasising the need for a more pro-active and well-
directed role of the Central Government in meeting the
unmet needs of couples for family planning and
promoting the two-child norm by all Departments of the
Government under the leadership of the Prime Minister
himself. Some of our efforts seem to have been well-
reflected in the recently announced National Population
Policy 2000 and the setting up of the National
Commission on Population.
The National Population Policy-2000 was
announced on February 15, 2000 and the National
Commission on Pop.vation was constituted on May 11,
2000, under the chairmanship of honourable Prime
Minister of India, with Shri K C Pant as Vice-Chairman.
The citizens of India have high hopes from this newly set
up high-powered Commission to guide and assist the
Nation in the achievement of goals set in the National
Population Policy 2000.
Population of India crossed the billion mark on 11th
May 2000 and India has joined China in the billion league
earlier than expected. The population of our country has
increased three times from 361 million in 1951 to 1000
million in 2000 with an average annual growth rate of
2.1 % per annum.
As early as 1952, India was the first country in the
world to launch a national official programme of family
planning for reducing birth rates. Clear demographic
goals were set from 1962. Half a century after formulating
and implementing the national family welfare
programme, India has reduced the crude birth rate (CBR)
only by 35% from 40.8 in 1951 to 26.4 in 1998. On the
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mortality reduction front our programme was better. We
have added 25 years of life expectancy from 37 years to 62
years during these fifty years and halved the infant
mortality rate (lMR) from 146 per 1000 live births in 1951
to 72 per 1000 live births in 1998. While global population
has increased threefold during this century, from 2 billion
to 6 billion, the population of India has increased nearly
five times from 238 million to 1 billion in the same period.
This shows the slow pace of decline in fertility in India as
compared to the rest of the world.
The rapid increase in the population since
independence is largely attributed to the steady decline in
the death rate with the birth rate remaining stagnant
until 1970 in almost all the States. Since mid seventies,
birth rate has been declining with the initial declines
recorded in the States of Kerala, Goa and Tamil N adu and
progressing in all the other States. However, the pace of
decline is still very slow in the large Hindi speaking
States in the North; Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Demographically and
development-wise these are the problem States.
Although the country has achieved self-sufficiency in
food with the increase in total agricultural production
from 51 million tones in 1951 to 203 million tones in 1999
and the contribution of industrial sector to our economy
has been raised from 16 per cent in 1951 to about 30 per
cent in 1~91, the gravity of population situation in the
country is still mind-boggling. Although the male and
female literacy rates have increased from 7.9 per cent in
1951 to 50 per cent respectively in 1997, there are about
380 million illiterates in our country. Education and
knowledge of the people at large is the only ultimate
solution for handling the problem of population growth
and sustainable development.
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The National Population Policy 2000 is a well-drafted
document. The immediate objective of National
Population Policy is to address the needs of contraception,
health infrastructure, health personnel and to provide
integrated service-delivery for basic reproductive and
child health care. The medium-term objective is to bring
the Total Fertility Rate to replacement level by 2010
through vigorous implementation of inter-sectoral
operational strategies. The long-term objective is to
achieve the population stabilization (zero growth) by
2045, at a level consistent with the requirements of
sustainable economic growth, social development and
environmental protection.
The major thrusts of the policy are expanding the
coverage and improving the efficiency of reproductive
health services including contraceptive services; active
involvement of locally elected bodies mainly panchayats
in the implementation of programmes and special
schemes for empowerment of women to improve their
literacy and educational levels, providing them with
income-generating
activities. These are large
programmes, which need not only additional financial
commitments but also committed leadership at the State
and local levels for sharing the national objectives
contained in the policy. It calls for a change in the mind-
set of the leaders on the significance of democratic
decentralization,
the provision of good quality
reproductive health and contraceptive services to the poor
and downtrodden and empowerment of women in the
society in all dimensions of social and economic
development.
The Honourable Prime Minister in his inaugural
address during the first meeting of the National
Commission on Population held on July 22, 2000 outlined
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the gravity of the population problem and the limited
success achieved by the national programmes of family
planning implemented so far, and hoped that the
Commission would guide and assist the Nation in the
achievement of the goals set in the National Population
Policy 2000.
We all are waiting to listen to Shri K C Pant on
National Population Policy 2000 and the role of the
National Commission on Population in achieving the goals
of National Population Policy.
Shri K C Pant has served the Nation by shouldering
the responsibilities in different fields. Shri Pant has been
the Chairman of the Prime Minister's Task Force on
Infrastructure and also Member, National Security
Council. He has been a Member of Parliament, both Rajya
Sabha and Lok Sabha, for 26 years. It is worth
mentioning that Shri K C Pant comes from an ,illustrious
family of patriots. He is the son of Bharat Ratna Late
Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant, Freedom Fighter and the
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Apart from representing
India in the International Arena, Shri Pant has been
heading important Ministries like Finance, Steel and
Heavy Engineering, Home Affairs, Irrigation and Power,
Energy, Education and Defence. Presently, he is the Vice-
Chairman, National Commission on Population in
addition to being the Deputy Chairman of the Planning
Commission.
I would request Shri K C Pant on my behalf as well
as all of you present here to share his enlightened views
with the audience on National Population Policy 2000:
Role of the National Commission on Population. Shri K C
Pant -
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NATIONAL POPULATION POLICY 2000 - ROLE
OF THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON
POPULATION
Shri K C Pant, Deputy Chairman, Planning
.,
Commission And Vice-Chairman, National
Commission on Population
Dr Bharat Ram, Shri Hari
Shankar Singhaniaji, Prof
Ranjit Roy Chaudhury, Mrs
Avabai B Wadia, Dr
Srinivasan and friends-
At the outset, I would like
to offer homage to the founder
of this institution - the late Shri
JRD Tata. Shri Tata was a
visionary, a pioneer and a builder of institutions. A many
'.I
splendoured personality, he made a rich and lasting
contribution to various facets of national life. I am
thankful to the Population Foundation of India for giving
me this opportunity to share some thoughts with you on a
..
subject which was of deep and nagging concern to him.
JRD Tata had recognised the critical linkages between
population and development and strove to accelerate the
process of demographic transition by paying attention to
meet the needs of individuals.
India reached the one billion population mark on the
11th May this year. With 16 per cent of the world's
population, India has only 2.4 per cent of the world's land
resources. In 1901 the country's population was 238.4
million, showing an increase of about 760 million in the
last 100 years. Of this increase, 84% has occurred during
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the second half of the century (after 1950). If current
trends continue, India may become the most populous
country in the world by 2045.
In India, improved quality and coverage of health
care resulted in a rapid fall in Crude Deatli Rate (CDR)
from 25.1 in 1951 to 9.8 in 1991. In contrast, the
reduction in Crude Birth Rate (CBR) has been less steep,
declining from 40.8 in 1951 to 29.5 in 1991. As a result,
the annual exponential population growth rate has been
over 2% during the period 1960-1990.
The picture, is however, not uniform across the
various regions of the country. Currently, five States of
Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and
Orissa, constitute 45% of the total population of India.
With present trends, these States will contribute 55% of
the total increase in population of the country during the
period 1996-2016. The tragedy is that at least some of this
growth was and is preventable. It is estimated that the
unmet need for contraception are between 25-30% in
these States. Such a State of affairs is inexcusable. Urgent
energetic steps are required to be initiated to assess and
fully meet their unmet needs for maternal and child
health (MCH) care and contraception. The performance
of these States would determine the year and size of the
population at which the country achieves population
stabilisation. In all these States, performance in the social
and economic sectors has also been poor. The poor
performance is the outcome of poverty, illiteracy and poor
development which co-exist and reinforce each other.
However, several States in India have made
enormous progress in improving the health status of
women and children and achieving rapid decline in
fertility and mortality rates. Their success stories have
demolished several assumptions. Kerala, the first State to
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achieve replacement level of fertility (TFR of 2.1), did so
in spite of relatively low per capita income proving that,
in the Indian context, high income level is not an
essential prerequisite for achieving the small family
norm. Tamil Nadu, which was the second State to achieve
replacement level of fertility, did so in spite of a higher
IMR and lower female literacy rate than Kerala. Andhra
Pradesh is likely to achieve replacement level of fertility
in the next two years. The State has shown a steep decline
in fertility in spite of relatively lower age at marriage, low
literacy and relatively poor outreach of the primary health
care infrastructure. The North-eastern States ofTripura,
Manipur and Mizoram, despite substantial difficulty in
accessing primary health care facilities, have achieved not
only low fertility rates but low infant mortality, thereby
suggesting that a literate population with awareness can
successfully overcome weaknesses in the primary health
care infrastructure. In every State, including those which
currently have poor health indices, there are districts with
health indices comparable to the national levels. It would,
therefore, appear that, in the Indian context, one of the
major determinants of health and demographic indices is
the decision of families about their health and fertility.
Enabling them to achieve their goals by improving access
to good quality services should therefore, be the central
agenda of all the concerned agencies in government,
voluntary and private sectors.
India's demographic profile is undergoing rapid
change. Projections by the Registrar General of India
reveal that the percentage of population in the age group
of 0-4 years will decline from 12.8 % in 1996 to 9.7% by
2016. On the other hand, the population in the
reproductive age group will undergo a massive increase
from 519 to 800 million.
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I feel that for India this demographic transition is
both a challenge and an opportunity. In the next two
decades, the size of India's population will be determined
mainly by adolescents and young adults, who will be
hopefully more literate, aware and able to make better
use of the opportunities that arise. If their felt needs for
health and contraceptive care are met, there will be a
steeper decline in mortality and fertility, helping the
country to achieve replacement level of fertility earlier.
This is an opportunity to utilize the abundant available
human resources of the country to accelerate economic
development, take advantage of this period of low
dependency ratios to improve the quality of life and
promote savings. The challenge is to develop synergy
between ongoing demographic, educational, economical
and technological transitions so that India can hasten
population stabilization, and rapidly achieve sustainable
development -social, economic and human.
According to some experts, the current growth in
population is basically due to three factors. About 60% of
the growth can be attributed to the large size of the
population in the reproductive age group. We refer to this
as "momentum", and this growth is bound to take place
because of what has happened in the past. Another 20%
of the growth will take place due to high unmet needs for
contraception, and the balance 20% due to other socio-
economic factors like high infant mortality, status of
women, gender bias against girl babies, poverty etc.
In this perspective let us consider the National
Population Policy 2000. The Policy is noteworthy in that
it transcends demographic concerns and aims at the over-
riding objective of economic and social development to
improve the quality of life of the people of India; to
enhance their well being and to provide them with
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opportunities and choices to become productive assets in
society.
The National Population Policy affirms the
commitment of Government towards voluntary and
informed choice and consent of citizens in availing of
reproductive health care services. While continuing with
the target-free approach to family planning, it lays down
a number of socio-demographic goals for 2010. T:hese
goals not only relate to family welfare and maternal and
child health care, but also include goals like making school
education upto the age of 14 years free and compulsory,
reducing dropouts at primary and secondary levels,
promoting delayed marriage for girls and, most
importantly, bringing about a convergence of various
social sector programmes, so as to make family welfare a
truly people-centred programme. The immediate
objective of the National Population Policy 2000 is to meet
all the unmet needs for contraception and health care for
women and children. The medium term objective is to
bring the total fertility rate to the replacement level (TFR
of 2.1) by 2010, from the present level of 3.3; the long-
term objective of the Policy is to achieve population
stabilization by 2045.
The population policy envisaged setting up of a
National Commission on Population, which was in fact
notified by the Government of India on 11th May, 2000.
Incidentally, this was the day that India reached the one
billion population mark. The National Commission on
Population is headed by the Prime Minister as the
Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Planning
Commission as the Vice Chairman. All Chief Ministers,
relevant Central Ministers, all major political parties,
specialists, NGOs, private sector and media
representatives
Commission.
are the other members of- the
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The Commission is a very good forum, which can be
used to build public opinion and create consensus. The
very first meeting of the Commission gave a clear and
categorical message. What came out very clearly was the
widespread national concern to achieve early population
stabilisation and a sense of urgency to take effective steps
to accelerate the process. There also appeared to be a
strong political will and commitment from all the State
Governments and political parties present. Some States
like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh,
Andhra Pradesh and Orissa have already debarred
candidates with more than 2 children from standing for
local body and PRI elections through legislative
enactments. Some States wanted to introduce similar
conditions for seekers of Government jobs. An alternate
view was that such measures may discriminate against
women, who have little or no control over their fertility in
our social milieu. The experts, representatives of media,
corporate sector, NGOs and civil society offered all
assistance that they could provide to further the cause of
rapid population stabilisation and human development.
The functions of the Commission are firstly, to
review, monitor and give directions for the
implementation of the policy. Secondly, to promote
synergy between demographic, educational, environ-
mental and developmental programmes so as to hasten
population stabilization. Thirdly, to promote inter-
sectoral coordination in planning and implementation
across government agencies, to involve civil society and
the private sector and to explore possibilities of
international cooperation. Lastly, and perhaps most
important of all, the Commission is to facilitate the
development of a vigorous people's movement in support
of this national effort.
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Convergence of services and coordination among
Government ministries and departments is one of the
most important roles that the Commission will have to
play. The Prime Minister has already announced the
setting up of an Empowered Action Group, in 'the
Department of Family Welfare to address the specific
problems of the backward areas and States lagging behind
in addressing population issues. Synergies between
various schemes aiming at the same target group have to
be promoted at the village level through active
involvement of peoples representatives and people
themselves. We should take into account and utilize the
large human resource base right at the village level. The
youth has a special responsibility; NSS Volunteers and
Nehru Yuvak Kendras are to be sensitised and utilised for
promoting small families and developmental programme.
After the first meeting of the Commission, we have
set up the following Working Groups:
CD Working Group on Strategies to address unmet
needs. There are four Sub-Groups to address
strategies for unmet needs for contraception;
unmet needs for maternal and child health; unmet
needs for public health, drinking water, sanitation
and nutrition; and unmet needs for empowerment
of women and development of children. This clearly
shows that the Population Commission is looking
beyond unmet needs not only in the health and
family welfare sector but also at unmet needs for
women's empowerment and development of
children, nutrition, sanitation and drinking water-
all of which impact on population stabilization and
vice-versa. However, considering that the unmet
need for contraception is in the range of 20%, the
sub-group on this subject acquires special
significance.
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(ii) Working Group on Primary and Secondary
Education in relation to population stabilization.
The very high correlation of education with
population issues is well recognized. Education,
particularly of girls, was seen as one of the single
most important factors that will accelerate
population stabilisation. Emphasis must be given to
primary and vocational education. We have seen
that while the total fertility rate (TFR) for illiterate
mothers is 4.03, it is 2.15 for mothers educated upto
and beyond high school. Similarly, infant mortality
rate for illiterate mothers is 101, but it is 37 for
mothers educated upto and beyond high school.
Population and sex education at secondary and
higher secondary levels has also proved its utility,
and should be incorporated into school syllabi.
(iii) Working Group on registration of births, deaths and
marriages. It is universally accepted that the status
of women is a key factor in fertility decline and the
quality of life. It is, therefore, necessary to increase
female literacy and awareness, their political
participation, reduction in child marriages, promote
women's health in. totality and enhanced
opportunities for women's income generation. The
need to enforce the legal age at marriage was clearly
discernible, for which mindsets and attitudes have
to be changed - laws alone will not suffice. Today,
we have a massive problem in enforcing or even
determining the exact age at marriage due to lack of
registration in this regard. This Group will grapple
with this prublem.
(iv) Working Group on Media for information,
education, communication and motivation. This is
one area that has tremendous scope and potential,
and we would like to explore all possibilities in an
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area-specific, need-based approach. We have added
motivation to the traditional concept ofIEC. Even if
one has information and it has been communicated
properly, if one is not motivated, there will be no
action. The very crucial role of the media, both print
and audio-visual, is well recognized. But the
presentation must be innovative and well designed.
Quizzes, game shows and dramas, for instance, are
likely to be considerably more effective than say
mere exhortations. Advantage should also be taken
of traditional forms of social interaction, such as
'haats' (local markets) and 'melas' to spread the
message. Members of the Commission with mass
following and credibility have offered their services
in putting population issues on the national agenda
and sensitizing the peopl~. A popular TV channel
has generously offered access and support at prime
time. The power and reach of the media: print,
radio, television and, more recently, the internet,
are force multipliers in the national campaign for
arresting population growth. There is a strong
demand for a much greater use of easily intelligible
Hindi in the communication materials. Much more
attention needs to be given to regional language
media. We must also not neglect the use of local
languages to focus on the under-performing areas
even within States reporting relatively good
performance.
') Working Group on the role of Panchayati Raj
institutions and self-help groups in population
stabilization. The population programme has to be
made a people's movement. It has to be adopted as
their own programme by the local self government
institutions of the Panchayati Raj and self-help
groups of the community. The challenge before this
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sub-group will be to so fashion this programme that
every individual and social group will recognise and
accept that having small families is in their own
interest.
Another Working Group on private sector, labour and
NGOs is also being set up. As the problems at hand are so
stupendous, Government alone cannot possibly find
solutions. The private sector, labour unions and NGOs
have a vital role to play in this regard. In the meeting of
the Population Commission, I may add, the Corporate
sector lent wholehearted support to the issue of
population stabilization and offered to involve the
industry through their resources, marketing and
managerial competencies. Labour and trade union
leaders also offered their wholehearted involvement.
These groups have been tasked with identifying gaps
and examining and suggesting alternative strategies in
the light of recent developments and innovations, with
the objective of contributing to the fulfilment of the
objectives of the National Population Policy.
To facilitate its working, the Population Commission
has formed a Strategic Support Group with the secretaries
of all the concerned Departments of Govt. of India as
members. This group will bring about coordination and
synergy between ongoing programmes in all these
Departments.
India has a rich tradition of indigenous systems of
medicine like Ayurveda, Siddha and Unnani. There are
over six lakh registered practitioners of these systems in
the country. Their services have not been fully utilised in
improving the access to reproductive and child health care
services. In order to ensure optimum utilisatio~ of this
human resource, Population Commission has set up a
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High Power Advisory Committee on mainstreaming of
ISM&H in the Health system.
A Task Force on monitoring, which is one of the
prime functions of the Commission, has also been set up.
It will be through this Task Force that the Commission
will review and monitor selected indicators which impact
on population stabilization. They will also go into the
feasibility of collecting and corroborating data from 2 or
3 different sources.
A National Population Stabilisation Fund is also
being put in place. The Planning Commission has already
announced a corpus seed money of Rs.100 crore for the
Fund. It is hoped that the private sector in India as well
as non resident Indians will contribute generously to the
Fund. Contributions to the Fund are exempt from income
tax. The Fund will be used to support, amongst others,
innovative, demand-driven, people centred projects at
district and sub-district levels which contribute to
population stabilization. Community Based Organisa-
tions (CBOs) and Non-Governmental Organisations
(NGOs) will be encouraged to avail of this facility. We
would like to concentrate our efforts in identified
backward districts.
In order to lend focus to our efforts an exercise to
rank districts on the basis of 13 select indicators and
identify the most backward districts, from the point of
view of social deprivation and population stabilization has
been initiated. Care has been taken to select indicators
from all sectors and not only family welfare related ones.
These 100 to 150 most backward districts will be given
special focus. We will also identify the 20 percentile most
backward districts in each State, so that State
Governments can plan accordingly. This will also help the
private sector and other non-governmental bodies to
decide where to intensify their activities.
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3.3 Page 23 |
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State Governments are also being encouraged to
formulate their own Population Policies and set up
Population Commissions. Uttar Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra
have so far formulated their own Population Policies.
Over the last five decades, international experience
has demonstrated that forms of government, religion and
poverty are not barriers to achieving rapid decline in
fertility and population growth. Success stories in this
regard, in countries like Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia
and Iran, need to be studied and widely disseminated.
Support of opinion makers like political and religious
leaders in this national effort will be of paramount
importance.
The role of men in the movement towards Population
Stabilisation will need to be promoted and encouraged -
not only by adopting family planning for themselves but
being supportive of their partners in all reproductive
health matters also. This is central to all efforts at
empowering women in our society. In furtherance of this,
a Group of Ministers CGOM)has been set up specifically.
to address issues of women's empowerment.
The task at hand is urgent and stupendous, and the
time is limited. It will be only with the concerted efforts
of all who are concerned about population issues that we
shall be able to achieve the goals of the National
Population Policy. Above all, we must make this a people's
movement. Everyone has a role and everyone's role is
important; so let us all put in our best!
In JRD Tata's own words "Yesterday would not have
been too early, tomorrow may be too late".
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GENERAL DISCUSSIONSAFTER THE
ORATION
After the Oration, a few questions were
asked for the honourable speaker's
reactions. These are as under:
Question:
Mr Shashi Sharma raised the point
that except (Late) Sanjay Gandhi,
nobody had the guts to implement
family planning programme so
fearlessly. He also asked, whether a
fund of Rs 100 crores for
population
stabilization
pro-
gramme would make any mass
movement in the programme
possible.
Shri K C Pant: "There is one lesson to be learnt from
the Emergency experience; that
coercion does not work. In those States
which used coercive methods the whole
programme received a setback. On the
other hand, the States, which did not use
coercive methods, have succeeded in
implementing the family welfare
programmes and achieving rapid
reductions in fertility. As for the second
question, Shri Pant's reply was: "We are
not counting just on Rs 100 crores. This
is a seed money only. Hopefully, the
progressive civil society, industry, trade
unions, NGOs, Panchayati Raj Insti-
tutions etc. will also come forward to
play important roles in achieving the
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3.5 Page 25 |
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Question:
Shri Pant:
Question:
Shri Pant:
goals of population stabilisation set in
the "National Population Policy 2000".
Dr Rajiv Kumar Jain, Registrar and
Secretary of Delhi Medical Council
stated that while the inter-State
disparities
could be measured,
within the States also there are
wide disparities which are not
taken into account. There are no
ways to measure intra-district
disparities within the so called
'developed States' and improve
them. He desired to know how this
could be done?
National Commission on Population was
in fact trying to identify backward
districts in all the States developed or
developing and support them from the
Centre.
Mr M K Premi, retired Professor
from Jawaharlal Nehru University
and Member, Indian Association
for the Study of Population raised
the issue of dis-incentives.
He
mentioned that in the Population
Policies of Rajasthan, Madhya
Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, it is
mentioned that a person having
more than two children cannot
stand for elections. Will it not
bounce back as was the case with
Sanjay Gandhi's way of working?
We would abide by the judgement of the
States concerned. The States know their
political climate better.
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3.6 Page 26 |
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Question:
Shri Pant:
Question:
Shri Pant:
Mr Rajendra Joshi from Centre
for Media Studies said that after
the introduction
of National
Population Policy and constitution
of National Commission
on
Population, the acceptors of family
planning methods this year are less
than the last year. He wanted to
check on the figures but data are
not available from the Ministry.
This information would definitely be
passed on to the Working Group formed
by the Commission.
Dr Gerard Bodekar from Univer-
sity of Oxford, UK, who was in
India for some other meeting,
attended the Oration and raised
the question of impact of HIV/AIDS
on the programme. He enquired
whether this major life threat-
ening problem was part of the
Agenda of National Commission on
Population or not? HIV/AIDS may
have an unintended Malthusian
effect on the population
by
increasing the mortality levels.
HIV/AIDs is an important component of
the national health programme.
Although it is not a separate Agenda
item, it is of course, an important
component of RCH programme. He said
that he would definitely take this
suggestion to the Group. He further
added that functioning of the Primary
Health Centres (PHCs) system has to be
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3.7 Page 27 |
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Question:
Shri Pant:
strengthened to cope with HIV/AIDS
and launching reproductive measures. If
PHCs' functioning improves, there
would be a direct impact on the
programme. Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare is looking into this
matter. International Agencies are also
involved in controlling the spread of
HIV/AIDs.
Shri BBL Sharma from National
Institute of Health and Family
Welfare said that after receipt
of reports
of Karunakaran
Committee and expert committee of
Dr M S Swaminathan,
it took
so much time, almost six years,
to formulate
the National
Population Policy. What about its
implementation? Will it be delayed
longer?
"We have to speed up the
implementation. Officials are called
from the States which are lagging
behind to discuss the measures to be
taken. Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare is also looking into their
problems. The Commission will monitor
the programmes in the poor performing
districts, try to energize the concerned
Departments and see that there is active
involvement of all sections of the society
in these Districts. In rural areas,
different Departments are working in
vertical direction, targeting the same
population, but there is no coordination
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Question:
Shri Pant:
Question:
among them. Once the broad problems
are understood and coordination
effected, the implementation will be
easier" .
Dr Suseendran from NCAER raised
the issue of offering incentives to
the States or Districts, which are
performing better, and wanted to
know the position about this
matter.
There was a strong opinion about
incentives and disincentives. We should,
therefore, move away from these and
concentrate on meeting the unmet
needs of the people. In the Policy
document, there is only one incentive,
which is for Panchayati Raj Institutions
to strengthen their activities. If they do
well, they will be given additional funds.
Shri Pant added that some States have
kept large size of the famIly as a
disincentive not only for contesting
elections but also for getting jobs in
Government. States are, of course, free
to take their own decisions. He will
abide by their judgement.
Prof ABL Srivastava, Member,
National Commission on Population,
mentioned the registration of
births, deaths and marriages etc. He
said, at present, the system is poor.
Under-age children are being
admitted in schools in Class I. The
ratio of enrolment in Class I is
declining in Tamil Nadu and
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3.9 Page 29 |
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Shri Pant:
Question:
Shri Pant:
Maharashtra.
What action is
contemplated in this regard?
As for marriages are concerned, Sharda
Act was introduced many many years
ago fixing the age at marriage. Even
then, under-age marriages are
continuing. Age at marriage has gone up
in the whole country, but there are even
instances of mass marriages below the
age of 18 years. It is a question of
changing the mind-set of the people.
Question of registration of births,
deaths and marriages is very important
but this is a State responsibility and we
have to work with the States. Sub-
groups have been set up in the
Commission to go into this question too.
As for the question that children are
sent to schools before they are eligible to
enter Class I, he said, he is happy if they
do so. It would be a welcome trend.
Dr Bulbul Sood from AVSC
International said that we have a
vast infrastructure but-the quality
of care is poor in our programmes.
What can be done in this regard?
One of the problems is that even where
Primary Health Centres have been
created, sub-centres have been formed,
ANMs have been posted, all kinds of
difficulties corne up. ANM cannot cover
the whole area because of the problem of
transportation. Doctors posted in rural
areas do not go there. All kinds of
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Question:
Shri Pant:
suggestions from different fora are
taken into consideration.
New
approaches have to be thought of. A
Working Group constituted by the
Commission will definitely find out
solution of this problem.
Dr Seth from NIHFW said that
people are migrating to urban
areas. In many developed countries,
population density would almost be
similar to that of India, but because
of unequal spatial distribution, we
are facing problems. Are develop-
mental efforts taken up in a manner
that population is well distributed?
This suggestion is a welcome one. It is
related to our ability to create better
quality of life and employment
opportunities in the rural areas.
Shri Pant also mentioned that we should
not compare ourselves with other
countries. In USA only 5% of the labour
force is engaged in agriculture while in
India it is 70%. We have to find our own
answers. We are a democratic country. It
is difficult to take hard decisions to
curtail movement of people. We have to
motivate the masses to participate in
our developmental and population
programmes.
The programme was concluded with a Vote of Thanks
from Prof Ranjit Roy Chaudhury, Emeritus Scientist,
National Institute of Immunology and Member,
Governing Board of Population Foundation of India, to
the Chief Guest, august audience and the organizers.
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4 Pages 31-40 |
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4.1 Page 31 |
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"Yesterdaywouldnothavebeentooearly,
tomorrowmaybe toolate..."
- JRD Tata
.
J.fJ.tJ.
POPULATION FOUNDATION OF INDIA
8-28, Qutab Institutional Area, Tara Cresent, New Delhi-11 0016
Tel.: 6867080/81, Fax: 6852766