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PFI Brochure 1979 |
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S.
Mr
Khosla
8. Mr A. L. Mudaliar
9. Mr Arvind N. Lalbhai
10. Mr H. P. Nanda
n. Mr Rajeshwar Prasad
12. Dr L. M. Singhvi
13; Mr T. T. Vasu
14. Mr B. G. Verghese
15. Mrs Avabai B. Wadia
16. Dr K. L. Wig
17. Prof J. C. Kavoori
Executive Director FPF
AOVISORY COUNCIL
Dr Malcolm S. Adiseshiah
Chairman
Mr Charles M. Correa
Dr (Mrs) A. Dass
Dr (Mrs) Kumudini Dandekar
Mrs Serla Grewal. lAS
Dr A. M. Khusro
Miss Mehta Masani
Dr N. R. Moudgal
Mr J.P. Naik
Dr Nitya Nand
Dr V A. Pai Panandikar
Dr Samuel Paul
Dr Bhaskar Rao
Dr V. Ramalingaswamy
Mr Chanchal Sarkar
Dr M. N. Srinivas
ADVISORY PANEL
(Biomedical)
1. Dr K. l. Wig
Convener
2. Dr P. N. Chhuttani
3. Dr (Mrs) A. Dass
4. Dr K. R. Laumas
5. Dr M. K. Krishna Menon
6. Dr Nitya Nand
7. Prof M. R. N. Prasad
8. Dr V. Ramalingaswamy
9. Dr Somnath Roy
10. Mr Chanchal Sarkar
11. Mr Justice S. M. Sikri
ADVISORY PANEL
(Non- Biomedical)
1. Prof P. B.Desai
2. Dr George Joseph
3. Dr S. N. Ranade
4. Dr R. K. Sanyal
5. Dr Y. P. Singh
6. Dr T. R. Tewari
STAFF
Prof J. C. Kavoori
Executive Director
Commodore C. Mehta, AVSM
Secretary l!t Treasurer
Or B. K. Anand
Programme Director (Biomedical)
fAMILY PLANNING
198, Golf Links,
New Delhi-110003
FOUNDATION
The world's population problem is recognised today as probably the
most serious of all the problems that face humanity and on its solution.
and the time it will take to implement it. will largely depend ultimately the
prosperity, happiness and even the survival of hundreds of
millions of people.
The urgency of bringing the population growth rate down in
developing countries to a level at which decent living standards can be
assured for coming generations is perhaps the greatest of all in India, whose
exploitable land mass and resources are limited, and whose population i.>
the second largest in the world.
Y The Family Planning Foundation was created nine years ago as an act
of faith by a small group of people who felt the imperative"'needfor
voluntary effort to supplement Government family planning and welfare
programmes. In the light of the immensity of the task and the relatively small
resources that could be mustered from its donors in India and abroad,
generous as they were, the record of the Foundation in the past seven years
has been a highly commendable one as will be seen from the following pages,
and the constructive value of its research, promotional and funding
activities has been recognised in India and in other countries. As a result,
demands upon it have continued to grow while its resources have been
diminishing to a point where it must face extinction and its work must
cease unless its funds are replenished.
A great moral responsibility rests upon all of us, rich or poor,
to playa part. however small, in supporting this great endeavour on which so
much of the fate of our people will depend in the coming years.
The Foundation has in the past succeeded in obtaining support from
abroad as well as within India, and I hope we shall be able to do so again,
but clearly our main effort must be in India. In fact, only thus can we
hope for and justify support from friends elsewhere.
I therefore earnestly appeal to one and all to help in making it p03sible
for the Foundation to continue to exist and to serve this noble cause.
Our aim is the modest one of raising about Rs. 75 lakhs wit~in India.
While every effort will be made to organise fund raising activities so as to tap
all sources of support, it is to the industrial and business firm.>in the
private sector that we must again primarily turn for help, for n::>tonly do they
have the resources, but their own long-term prosperity will largely depend on
the prosperity of the massesof our people, which, in turn, will depend on the
success achieved in solving the population problem.
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-_.. ~ \\0;<:7
,- :. ..'
THE CONTEXT
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The burden of a "Second India"
ddded to the 1971 population
base looms around the millenium.
The optimists and pessimists
may differ a few years in their
respective assessments as to when
precisely India will touch the
billion mark, but the prospect is
now inevitable; and increasingly
likely by the turn of the century,
unless a much more vigorous
intervention takes place. For the
nation struggling to assure food,
shelter, employment, education,
health care - essential human
needs, basic human rights - to its
existing masses, will it be possible
to provide them to twice that
number? That is the question more
people need to raise today.
National Policy
India was amongst the first few
countries in the world to recognise
the dangers inherent in rampant
population growth. Following
Independence, as the country's
leaders embarked on the
challenging task of raising the
standard of living of every citizen of
free India through planned
development within the framework
of democracy, it was apparent
to them that the precipitious
increase in population taking place
posed a serious threat to the
realisation of these national goals.
Family Planning as a national
policy was therefore adopted in
1952. This was a historic first in
the annals of government
population policy, but
unfortunately the early initiative
was not matched I;>yan effective
commitment to the work.
Population &
Poverty
Since 1951, the Government
programme notwithstanding,
another 270 million have swollen
the country's population.
This has added the equivalent of
the population of USSR to the
India freed from British rule.
The effort so far has undoubtedly
brought down the birth rate
from 41 per 1,000 to 33 per 1,000
and averted an estimated 33
million additional births from
taking place. But even so, at the
present rate, another 13 million or
roughly the population of
Australia, two and a half times the
land size of India, is added
annually. With a predominant
number of births taking place in the
lower socio-economic strata,
the problem of poverty can be seen
to have compounded.
According to the Five Year Plan
for 1978-83, there are now 290
millions below the poverty line,
that is denied even the Rs 50
(roughly $6.25) per capita per
month considered adequate to
provide two square meals a day.
With less than 2 t per cent of the
world's land area, India is already
supporting 15 per cent of the
world's population. The
negation of development efforts
intrinsic to this situation is
self-apparent. The obvious
conclusion is the need for family
planning efforts to do much more
and more effectively.
The Critical Need
India's official family planning
programme has gone through many
vicissitudes in the 27 years since
its inception. But perhaps its most
critical moment is today.
The country has already entered a
period of exponential growth.
The age structure of the country at
present is such that while 0.6
million couples leave the
reproductive age group every year,
2 million couples enter it; further,
the fertility rate of the new
entrants is thrice that of those
leaving. To keep the birth rate
static at the present level alone
requires a minimum of 1.5 million
sterilisation or 4.5 million
covered by other methods.
To attain the modest goal of a
birth rate of 30 per 1.000 by
1982-83 as envisaged in the Five
Year Plan for 1978-83 nearly
40 million of the 109 million
couples in the reproductive age
group in India will have to be
brought into the fold of
family planning acceptance.
This means a virtual doubling of the
numbers already reached. And
the ground must be laid now for
still wider acceptance-by a
minimum of 60 per cent of eligible
couples within the next two
decades - to achieve a Net
Reproduction Rate of I in the year
2001, which is the goal the
country has set itself.
A minimum of 25 million
sterilisations are proposed to be
done in the next five years;
an average of 5 million couples
annually covered by conventional
contraceptives and an average of a
million annually by IUDs.
The infrastructure on the ground
available for this work does not
.... Population Projections (Millions) by
age groups-based on official figures till
1991. Also, ambannavar's projection
giving low, medium & high estimates for
2001 A.D.
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meet even the norms settled in
1966-67 vis-a-vis the needs
according to the 1971 census and
the states particularly requiring this
work are notably lagging in
facilities for it.
While this is the need, the family
pl;lnning programme buffeted by
Emergency excesses and the
post- Emergency scare has lost the
momentum built over the years
and entered into a regression.
The number of those covered by
contraceptive measures has
actually dropped by more than a
million and the birth rate has
begun to shoot up in recent times.
Voluntary Role
The Government is seized of the
gravity of the situation and the
Draft Plan for 1978-83 has
proposed the highest ever
allocation of resources -
Rs 7,650 million (roughly 5956
million) to this work. But mOre
than ever before, there is
need for voluntary efforts to
supplement government's action to
regenerate popular commitment
and concern for this pivotal issue.
The attack has to be multipronged.
On the one side, there is need to
stimulate social and economic
actions to the utmost extent
possible, particularly emphasising
the status and opportunities for
women and ensuring access to
health care, so that tangible
development creates an
environment of aspiration and hope
for a quality of life. At the same
time there is need to develop
strategies that will reach both
knowledge and services for simple,
safe and foolproof methods of
family planning to the doorsteps of
the people. In all this, there is
need to realise that curbing the
growth of population is not merely
a technical problem of finding
the best means to limit births.
It involves fundamental political
decisions and changes in social
attitudes. Altogether, it requ:res a
total voluntary movement to
upsurge across the nation - in the
ultim3te, the only guarantee for
sure success.
.... Population Projection (Mil/ions) showing the age & sex structure
in 1981 based on official figures.
POPULATION BY AGE AND SEX (1981)
I
I
I
I
80 60 40 20
AGE
70 &mor
60 -69
50 - 59
40 - 49
30 - 39
20 - 29
10 -19
0 -9
I
I
0
0
MILLION
I
,
I
20 40 60
I
I
80 100
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FPF:THE CONCEPT
AND CONCEiRNS .
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The Family Planning Foundation
is a major voluntary effort to
inject appropriate stimulis to the
country's population policies and
activities. A private non-profit
organisation, it is committed to the
task of supporting innovative
programmes and playing a
catalytic role for research and
action in population and family
planning, with the aim of
constructively influencing -national
population programmes and
policies.
FPF came into being as a
registered society in October 1970.
Its birth was the outcome of the
deep concern of a number of
leading industrialists led by
Mr J R 0 Tata, plus dedicated
social workers and professionals,
who felt strongly that the
magnitude and complexity of the
population problem required the
official approaches to be further
augmented, supplemented and
supported by effective
non-official initiative.
In FPF the nation acquired a
responsible non-governmental
forum for germinal population
action. Its structure provided
industry, organisations and
individuals with the opportunity for
involvement in the country's
struggle to improve the quality of
life - a struggle that could only be
a losing one, if the unbridled
population growth went
unchecked. This has filled a felt
need. For as time has shown,
the efforts of the core group of
concerned workers that brought
FPF into existence have been
further reinforced by the unstinted
support in diverse ways of
numerous distinguished
professional men and women,
scientists, researchersand persons
prominent in public life, who have
come together to make FPF
perform a seminal role in charting
new courses to study and
solve the complex challenges of the
population problem.
FPF does not normally undertake
direct family planning activities.
Its primary purpose is to provide
funds, guidance and support to
appropriate agencies, organisations,
institutions, and individuals
directly engaged in the field.
Its cwn staff is skeletal and
administrative overheads have been
minimal; this has been possible
because of the method of
operation, which is to spot and
harnessthe best talent in the
country in a particular field and
entrust the execution of the work
outside, reserving to FPF the role of
constant monitoring and
evaluation, often through other
experts similarly roped in.
FPFs critical importance lies in
identifying, and wherever needed,
creating new agencies or thrusts
capable of playing a significant
role in research or action directed
at population control.
It has thus played a particularly
pioneering role in bringing to bear
on family planning programmes, a
wider variety of professional and
scientific expertise and experience,
promoting an interaction
between academic experts and
actual field workers that has had
mutually beneficial results.
From this research has flowed
frequent feedback of material on
many aspects that has helped to
interpret policies and programmes
in population. FPFs strengths and
pathstriking characteristics further
stem from the fact that while it
attempts to function, by and large,
within the framework of the
Government's policies and
priorities, closely Iiasing and
relating its efforts meaningfully with
the official programmes, it is by
no means circumscribed by the
official pattern of activities.
In just under 7 years of active
existence (FPFs administrative
office was set up in March 1971
and the funding programme started
in June 1972) the practical
research projects sponsored by it
have already foreshadowed
national policy developments and
highlighted new critical areas of
investigation and their impact on
fertility trends. But FPF has not
shirked to apply on itself the
rigorous yardstick of monitoring
and evaluation with which it keeps
tab on funded projects so as to
ascertain their progress. Aware of
the importance of an objective
assessment of the authenticity of its
role, its use and compatability with
national needs and priorities,
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FPF recently took the initiative to
ask for an independent, high-
powered evaluation committee to
review its work since inception.
It is a matter of gratification that
the Evaluation Committee headed
by ex-Chief Justice G D Khosla had
the following comments to make:
"After careful consideration of
the various aspects of its working
and the results obtained so far
we are firmly of the view that:
(i) The Foundation has so far.
performed a significant and
worthwhile role in the promotion of
its objectives in the context of the
crucial pervasive problem of
population growth and the official
programme of family planning;
(ii) It has established its
credentials as one of the most
effective organisations of national
importance of its kind;
(iii) Its role in the promotion of
much needed bio-social research is
well appreciated by individuals
and institutions who know and
understand the nature and wide
canvass of its activities;
(iv) Due care has, on the whole,
been exercised in the selection
and support of research projects;
(v) It has shown requisite initiative
and discrimination in s.upporting
research projects of varied nature;
(vi) The Foundation's Executive
has generally kept a close watch
over tt"teprogress of projects
supported by it and has not
hesitated to withdraw the support
as and when circumstances
warranted it;
(vii) There have, however, been a
few instance of projects not
coming up to expectations for
reasons which were not always
such as could not have been
anticipated; and
(viii) Miscarriage of project has,
in most such cases, occurred from
factors beyond the control of the
Foundation and their proportion
has been much below what
would be expected in a pioneering
venture in a hitherto uncharted
field of action research concerning
such intimate behaviour as
that of reproduction.
Policies and
Procedures
FPF furnishes the necessary
underpi nnings of technical and
financial aid for programmes which
fall within the scope of its policy
for promoting action research
in areas which offer hope of
practical solutions for problems
identified as targets of attack.
The criteria for selection of such
programmes is exacting: not only
must projects approved for support
have a critical connection to
family planning need3, but they
must be, in addition, development
oriented, innovative, replicable and
economical with an emphasis on
optimum use of existing
technical and allied infrastructure.
There is no duplication of
government efforts, rather it
provides a critical support in a
creative spirit.
Notwithstanding FPF's marginal
funds in comparison to the
SUMMARY OF
PROJECTS SUPPORTED
1972 TO 1978
2.35,000
( 12)
1,90,186
( 29)
A-Action/Applied Research/Demonstration] .
B-Biomedical Programme - Basic Research
and Study
C -Evaluation /Survey /Studies / Review /
Policy Research/Communication
D - Conferences/Seminars / Workshops
E-Publications.
government budget for this work,
its flexibility in action and
independence of judgement enables
it to perform a crucial function,
since it can move quickly to
support projects with potential that
might be denied or delayed
government support under the
latter's specified procedures.
It can initiate and support schemes
calling for unorthodox research
approaches. This entrepreneurial-
type dynamism has secured for
FPF an avante-garde reputation:
of an organisation capable of
remote sensing problems yet to
come and ahead with leads and
directions to solve them.
The bulk of the funds for FPF
operations have been raised from
the private sector, largely from
industrial houses within India.
In the formative stage, the
Ford Foundation made a generous
grant of $ 200,000 subject to three
times this amount being raised
by the Indian Industrial Community
Upto 31 st December 1978,
FPF had raised Rs 8.3 million
($ 1 million) in India and had
received a support grant of
Rs 2.3 million ($ 300,000) from
the Ford Foundation in addition to
Rs 1.67 million ($ 200,000), for a
collaborative programme of
research in the field of Human
Reproductive Physiology and
Contraceptive Techniques.
FPF has been able to earn
interest on its capital fund of
Rs 4.73 million ($ 0.59 million)
during the last few years. Its annual
budget for supporting programmes!
projects has risen to Rs 2 million
($ 0.25 million) which may be
increased to Rs 3 million (S 0.37
million) and the annual budget for
Establishment and Promotional
Activities is about Rs 0.5 million
($ 0.06 million).
The Governing Board has now
decided to start another drive for
fund raising in India and the target
fixed for collection of donations
over the next two years is about
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Rs 8 million ($1 million).
It is also seeking support from some
of the international agencies and
philanthropic individuals abroad.
It is to be noted that FPF is
approved by the prescribed
authority for the purpose of
Section 35(1 )(ii) of the Income
Tax Act 1961, and as such
donations made to the Family
Planning Foundation are hundred
per cent deductable from the
income of the donors for the
purposes of assessing taxable
income. Further, this is irrespective
of the amount involved as the
ceiling on contributions by a
company, as stipulated under
Section 293 (1 ) (e) of the
Companies Act, does not apply to
·,~e...donations made to FPF.
Illllllllllillih
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AREAS OF ACHIEVEMENT
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In seven short years FPF has
provided nearly Rs. 10 million (5 1.25
million) in support of more than 100
projects, big and small, spread across
the entire canvas of the country.
These projects range the spectrum:
from basic research in the
biomedical and behavioural science
fields to action programmes
that encompass demonstration and
experimental path-finding efforts
to studies, surveys and evaluations
which aim at providing hard
data inputs for policy decisions.
This has engineered a constant
cycle of action and quick feedback
in areas considered critical at any
point of time and reinforced the
FPF's image as a responsive,
responsible, independent
organisation with the resources and
ability to be a catalytic force for a
prime national cause.
The underlying denominator of
FPF's functioning is the search for
methodologies that can converge
to create a national ethos of
urgency to the population question
in which population limitation
becomes a national ethic.
As the Evaluation Committee put it:
"It has succeeded in securing
recognition as an important
organisation with a dynamic role in
helping to solve the national
problem of population control.
It has become known as a national
body seeking and promoting
various potentials in the field of
biomedical research for acceptable
contraceptives and initiating and
support programmes of educating
the people and arousing their
awareness of the consequences of
over population."
Thus, FPF is set out to identify
and support the most relevant
approaches; to place possible
solutions in proper perspective and
project them on wider planes for
maximum impact; to mobilise
personnel and popular base support
for the realisation of the population
goals; to help create an
environment in which the intricate,
entwined relationship between
human numbers and social justice
is perceived and tackled with
perceptivity and ill a manner that
places human dignity as the
paramount consideration
Altogether, a complex critical
challenge, to participate in which it
has been a matter of patriotic pride,
and privilege for all associated with
the work.
Basic Research
Researchto understand the
diverse dimensions of the problem
of human fertility and the dynamics
of the different factors that
influence it is a necessary
prerequisite for population policies
to have an integrated intellectual
perspective and interdisciplinary
approach. The social and
economic connections in which
fertility behaviour is embedded
need to be more fully seen on the
one hand. On the other, it is
imperative to explore further
avenues to locate still safer, still
Biomedical
more convenient and
economically feasible techniques of
fertility regulation than exist at
present. But at the same time
there is considerable scope for
improving and facilitating the use
of existing contraceptive
techniques, especially keeping in
view the socio-economic and other
problems in the Indian setting.
Basic research both in the
behavioural and biomedical
sciences is therefore of critical
importance in a selective way.
A Study Group of senior
biomedical experts of the country
set up by FPF recently examined
the thrust of biomedical research to
determine suitable priority areas for
developing appropriate technology
in contraception for Indian use.
TheStud'y Report that emerged
from this review will, it is hoped,
provide a useful guide to research
workers in contraceptive
technology. From this review it is
also clear that research for the
improvement of the existing
contraceptive technology and their
adaptation to the particular needs
of our country. requires to be
undertaken on apriority basis.
However, this does not have to be
to the exclusion of research for
developing newer methods of
contraception.
Adaptation for
Appropriate
Technology
FPFs major thrust in the
biomedical field has been the
improvement of existing
contraceptive technology with the
particular view of adapting it to
India's conditions and needs.
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The existing knowledge and
methods of contraception have
sufficed to help several developing
countrie:; cont3in their population,
but have failed to make a similar
impact in India, particularly in
the rural are3S. For instance.
the IUD has not had the same
success in India as elsewhere
because its bleeding problem looms
larger for Indi3fl women whose
widespread anaemic condition is
aggravated; similarly, the pill
because of the side effects. daily
motivation31 dependence and
delivery obstacles has not been able
to become the mass method it is in
many countries. FPF supported
research is now working on the
elimination of these side effects;
also, towards developing newer
modes of delivery of steroids into
the body. such as injectibles which
will simplify its intake.
FPF has initiated research that will
lead to the development of
intravaginal rings carrying steroids
which many experts feel could
provide the answer necessary for
carrying contraception into the
rural situation.
Another area is indigenous
medicine. A growing body of
world medical opinion has come to
raalise that indigenous methods of
contraception constitute a
possibly valuable source of
acceptable solutions. However,
these methods require scientific
evaluation to prove their safety and
efficacy beyond doubt. FPF has
initiated scientific investigation
of several herbal preparations and
other traditional techniques
which could yield a positive
outcome.
Innovation for New
Appropriate
Technology
In the context of the search for
newer method,;;of cO;ltraception
suitable to the Indi,m milieu, FPF
was the first to rec:>gnisethe
potential and support the
development of an anti-pregnancy
vaccine. FPF's input was provided
at the very critical germinal stage
well ahead of the international
acclaim of the methodology and
provided the impetus and means for
this research to establish itself.
The work already carried out in this
field by ProfG P Talwar at the
All India Institute of Medical
Sciences provides considerable
hope for such a vaccine to be
available for general use in the not
too far future. Pioneering research
is also been carried out with
FPF's support to understand the
role hormonal and enzymetic
methods can play to prevent
pregnancy. Other studies in
prostoglandins have the potential of
evolving self-insertable vaginal
suppositories for use in the earlier
stages of pregnancy. An important
aspect of this work is the attempt
to develop newer synthetic
prostoglandins which will be still
more efficient and have more stable
shelf-life in Indian climatic
conditions, a prerequisite for
their wider use in rural areas.
In an effort to balance the female
centred bias of most contraceptive
technology. FPF is also
encouraging research on male
methods of contraception.
Two projects aim at studying the
effects of intervention in sperm
maturity, as opposed to preventing
sperm formation which has
complications of !ibido
decrease.
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Career
Development
One of the most critical inputs
FPF has provided to the
development of biomedical
research in India is through its
Career Development Research
Awards Scheme, which is geared to
the creation of human resources
for the country in the shape of a
cadre of middle level and senior
scientists to provide quality
technical manpower in
reproductive research. The
programme supports the most
promising areas of research in
fertility control through a scheme
of fellowships awarded to
outstanding and/or promising
scientists in the field. This
programme identifies and
encowrages promising, as well as
well-known, Indian scientists to
take up research on reproduction
mechanism as part of a long term
interest; it also seeks to reverse
brain drain to an extent, by
stimulating and bringing back
talented Indian scientists residing
abroad to work in suitable
laboratories in India. Eight
fellowships have already been
awarded under CDRS and more are
in the pipeline.
Behavioural & Social Science Research
From its inception FPF has been
sensitive to the fact that the social
and behavioural sciences have
not yet impacted sufficiently on
population research which has been
monopolised greatly by the
demographic overview. There is a
pressing need to understand
fertility behaviour at the micro
level - at the family and
community level - before it can be
influenced to change in
accordance to national needs.
FPF has tried to fill some of the
lacunae b-r identlfying the crucial
areas of needed research and by
bringing about an involvement of
some of the country's foremost
social and behavioural scientists in
population research work.
The maiden exercise in this
pioneering work was the
commissioning of a status study in
population research with focus on
behavioural sciences, the first
such attempt in the country.
As a sequel to this investigation,
followed a review of existing
sociological and related literature
with focus on fertility and culture
undertaken by three leading social
scientists of the country -
Dr M N Srinivas, Dr A R Desai
and Dr Roy Burman - in order to
understand rural, urban and tribal
ftimily community.
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Another study with considerable
methodological interest currently
under way is that of poor slum
women in six cities of northern
India - Delhi, Meerut. Kanpur,
Lucknow, Indore and Agra.
Through observation of the self-
perception and articulation
of these women this study is
attempting to develop social and
demographic profiles of
women in their multiple roles as
influenced by the social change
process, with a particular focus on
fertility behaviour and family
planning practices. In another
study of Muslim families the
emphasis is on contrasting fertility
attitudes within the community,
to understand the differential
impact of the modernisation
process.
Each one of these studies is not
only pioneering in the matter of
identifying important areas of
study, but also in conceptualising
approach and methodologies
for these types of studies.
The examples cited here are
illustrative of the wide sample of
activity stimulated in this particular
sphere, hitherto relatively
unexplored.
Action Programmes
A pressing need of the
developing world in general, and
India in particular, is to identify
some strategies that can help
create for its millions a new design
for living. A design that is
compatible with human dignity,
non-disruptive of the cultural
context and implementable within
the framework of severe resource
and time limitations. The process of
social change must be hastened
and progress telescoped to reach
the nation's submerged millions so
as to draw them abreast with the
dynamic developments of
industrial societies.
Social action to restructure
society and recast it in a more
equitable mould takes many forms.
But a critical component of this
action is the integration of the
population concern within the
overall developmental thrust -
since the small family is not only
pivotal to economic development
but equally to the improvement of
the quality of life, and particularly
critical to the betterment of the
status of women and children.
Projects that provide insights into
the psyche of the people, that
demonstrate ways and means to
reach the community with pertinent
messages, that develop the
instruments for doing it and offer
models for replicability and
extension - these have been
FPFs concern in several different
ways, the sum total of which
makes up a comprehensive
programme of social action by FPF,
and the predominant share
of its funding.
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Health and
Heal th Related
Care
Locating an appropriate
methodology for the delivery of
health care, including family
planning services, has been a prime
area of focus for FPF. Within this,
special importance has been
given to strategies that particularly
protect and promote the health of
mother and children, which
has been recognised as a
fundamental plank for the
acceptance of the small family
norm. To mention some,
highlights: FPF funded projects
have preceded by several years the
new official approach for a
community health worker thrown up
from within the community -
women slum dwellers trained as
effective pregnancy counsellors in
Madras by an interdisciplinary
approach that brought together for
the first time medical and social
work educationists; community
nurses in Kerala attempting to
define a new category of middle
level worker as a supervisory
link service between the doctors
and the periphery workers
(foreshadowing the health assistant
in the national pattern) ; direct
action by voluntary organisations :
through several such projects
FPF has provided models of the
potential of community
participation in health and heRlth
related delivery work.
Today, as the government has taken
up the CHW approach as a major
national strategy, FPF is further
attempting to provide regional
and community-specific variants on
the theme to supplement the
official stereo-typed approach
which will inevitably face difficulty.
Currently, FPF is also documenting
case studies of six different
successful community based
voluntary projects. The idea is to
provide through these profiles, a
glimp~e of the mix of the
Ingredients and strategies that have
worked in these situations -
notable examples of which are
Tilonia in Rajasthan and Jamkhed
in Maharashtra - with the object
of triggering replication.
. ... the village Health Committee is one
approach in community involvement
Community
Approach in
Action
One notable project that seeks to
deliver comprehensiv9 health care
services to the community through
voluntary efforts and local
leadership is in the tribal belt in
Bihar with Shri Jayaprakash
Narayan's Sarvodaya Ashram at
Sokhodeora as the nucleus.
The initial project provided some
very encouraging results and has
been extended to cover the entire
block. Similar demonstration
projects are being supported in
Kashmir, Narenderpura in West
Bengal and rural Haryana. In
Madurai, Tamil Nadu an action
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research project covering the
entire district has shown how
existing government infrastructure
and primary health centres can
be further sensitised and improved
to serve community needs.
Although, all the demonstration
projects have the common thread
of a search for the best health care
and family service delivery pattern
through the training and
utilisation of local workers, each
one of these projects has its own
specialised stance. The hope is
that the cumulative sum of
information and knowledge
emerging from these projects will
be able to provide the national
programme more appropriate
methodologies to achieve its
objectives.
Side by side with the need to
develop paramedical and
non-traditional systems of delivery
of health and family planning
services, there remains a critical
need to intensify, to a much greater
degree, the involvement and
commitment of the medical
profession to the family planning
programme. In this direction, FPF
has been able to strengthen the
instruments of dialogue for a more
effective integration of practising
physicians in the national
population programme, as well as
.... Community health
agents of change.
workers as
in the training of physicians to
take 011 this role with more
appropriate zeal.
Improvement of
MTP Services
The continuing high incidence of
illegal abortion, despite the passing
of the MTP Act, points to the
dire need for development of
better services, particularly in the
rural areas, via qualified personnel
and new technology that is now
available to simplify the
procedure to the minimum.
A major contribution in this field
has been FPF's support to a
network of government MTP
clinics in various parts of UP,
upgrading skills and equipment.
and alongside seeking to
understand the psychology of the
abortion seeker.
.... women slum dwellers trained as
effective pregnancy conunsellors.
Communi.ty Based
Distribution
A new approach for an effective
offtake of contraceptives is
currently been developed in Manipal
where a community based
distribution programme for supply
of pills and condoms backed by
specialised marketing and
managerial techniques is being
initiated. This is another aspect of
FPF's continuing efforts to
stimulate different components of
society to participate in the family
planning effort. Another project
organised male sterilisation camps
in Madras: a small infusion of
funds triggered off enthusiasm and
catalysed collaborat!on between
voluntary and official systems
resulting in high achievement of
targets. This has provided a model
for the mass sterilisation camp
approach.
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Studies Surveys and Evaluation
The monitoring of ongoing
programmes in different sectors to
assesstheir intrinsic worth for
population needs replicative value
and/or scope for furthering
population goals, is a vital function
of FPF work. This has resulted in
several publications of note which
have been useful in influencing
national trends.
Family Planning &
Organised Industry
In a totally different sector - the
industrial arena - FPF was the
first in the country to recognise that
the infrastructure of the industrial
units provided an excellent
opportunity for pursuing population
goals and identified a special
strategy for family planning work
with industrial workers.
Six profiles of successful family
planning programmes in the
industrial sector are now under
preparation.
A highly innovative experiment
to which FPF provided sustaining
strength at a critical juncture
and which has been evaluated for
the local impact it has made, as
also the leads it offers to other
organised labour units, is the
UPASI project. Here the impact
on fertility of deferred incentives
through an unique No Birth Bonus
Scheme plus a comprehensive
labour welfare plan that provides
health care, creches, recreation
clubs, and primary schools
has been supported and studied;
now, a cost-benefit analysis is
being made.
Studies with Policy
Implications
FPF's interest has ranged from
the micro-reality setting to the
macro-policy canvas. In the
former, as described elsewhere, the
demographic hegemony on the
population programme has been
challenged by small studies made
by leading sociologists who
have examined particular groups for
fertility behaviour : from Harijans
in Tamil Nadu to Muslims in
Delhi's resettlement colonies,
to the Khasis and Garos in the
North East for whom family
planning practices are taboo.
At the other end of the spectrum are
policy making reviews of
population planning policies.
Amongst these, special mention
must be made of the authoritative,
exhaustive data presented
by Dr Asok Mitra in his
two volume study: India's
Population which documents
the option limits that the
country will have imposed on
itself at the turn of the century as a
consequence of the population
explosion and focuses on the
need to improve the quality of the
Indian population simultaneously
with effective control measures.
Another leading social scientist,
Dr Pai Panandikar, is presently
working on an exercise to answer
several basic questions on the
linkages between population and
economic development with a
particular view to highlighting its
regional connections. This
would be informational input that
will be new for India. On another
front, a selected group of the
country's leading sociologists and
demographers are distilling the
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2.8 Page 18 |
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practical lessons to be learnt from
the handling of family planning
during the Emergency, in order to
suggest the new directions the
programme should take. A. study of
Incentives and Disincentives in
Family Planning as used during the
Emergency period has already
been provided.
Two other ongoing policy
studies merit special attention: a
detailed review of the rationale of
past population policies, their
measure of responsivenessto
needs and the ways in which better
linkages to overall developmental
policies can be effected, that has
been made by Dr Rajni Kothari
and Dr D L Seth; and secondly,
Dr Phul Chand's exploration of
population policy vis-a-vis the
Legal Framework, with a view to
ascertain the nature and extent of
legislative support available to
the population programme and to
further anc:;lysethe lags between
the law and population policy, in
order to create a national awareness
of population problems with
particular reference to law.
Population
Monograph
At the international level ESCAP
which is currently bringing out
monographs on population for
each country in the region has in
acknowledgement of the high
degree of population expertise
available within India, made an
exception of the task of preparing
India's monograph. This
document has been entrusted to
FPF in collaboration with Indian
Association for the Study of
Population The population
monograph is being prepared with
a view to provide an authoritativ'
demographic profile, alongside a
review of the areas that influence
fertility, with a view to enhance
national and international
understanding of population facts
for the purposes of developmental
planning.
.... FPF film Parvati won the Best
Promotional Documentary Award in the
National Film Festival 1978.
Information & Communication
A primary task of any population
programme is to provide
information education and
communication services. It is only
through awareness and
understanding of the problem that
political commitment and
popular acceptance - the two
planks necessary for the
programme to move - can be
generated. Mention has already
been made elsewhere of the
pioneering work in population
education conducted under the
aegis of the FPF. The work in the
communication field has covered
several different aspects - from
sensitising rural leaders in
population and development
concerns to developing material
providing simple and accurate
information on sex, contraception
and family planning for
neo-literates. Another sociological
study sponsored by FPF has
provided insights garnered from a
six month exposure to young
married rural couples in the form of
a report and a film with a strong
family planning message in a
popular idiom. Particular mention
is due to another FPF film -
Parvdti - which focuses on the
women's status issue and the
inextricable link with family
planning. Parvati won the Best
Promotional Documentary film
award in the national film festival
held in 1978 and will be shortly
released by the government for
wide dissemination throughout
the country.
An important aspect of FPF's
contribution in the communication
field is a project that was
launched in the wake of the post
emergency derailment of the familr
planning programme. This hGis
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· ... mformation and communication project to catalvse support at critical levels of
leadership
makers in the Sarvodaya movement
seeded the emergence of a
liberal group to espouse the
population cause beyond the
conservative. orthodox Gandhian
approach of abstinence . Followed
by zonal seminars for grassroot
workers and continuing
interaction, this has brought to the
population movement, on the basis
of individual conscience, a very
committed and conscientious set of
people. This is a dent in
Gandhian thought on the subject
which in time could have great
national impact.
served to sensitise some of the
national and state level political
and administrative leadership in
the country to the dangers of
complacency or timidity in tackling
the population issue and has
succeeded in regalvanising the
media in support of the cause.
This is a new thrust in FPF's
functioning and holds tremendous
promise and potential for
developing new programmes
through areas of cooperation which
emerge from this stimulis.
Seminars &
Conferences
As part of a purposive effort to
stimulate new ideas, exchange and
pool information and develop
expertise particularly among the
younger social and biomedical
scientists and leaders of the lay
public, regarding population
problems, FPF periodically sponsors
seminars and conferences.
During the World Population Year,
FPF played a prominent role in
sensitising voluntary organ!sations,
academic research and
professional organisations and the
mass media to a more positive and
relevant support of the population
issue. In recent months FPF
seminars have served to reinvolve
the medical profession, particularly
the private practioners, with what
was being considered a
discredited programme. Slated for
the immediate future are a series
of seminars that will highlight the
complex relationship between
developmental activities' the
status of women and population
dynamics; also, a national
conference of voluntary
organisations for evoving a joint
strategy of participation in family
planning actIvities to bring the
family planning programme back
into focus as a priority area of
national voluntary effort.
Institutional
Development
A priority area of support for FPF
is the development of institutional
capability for population work.
This has two elements; one, the
nurturing of new agencies; and
secondly, the addition of a new
dimension to the vision of
dedicated workers. An
outstanding effort in this latter
direction has been the successful
involvement of Sarvodaya workers
to the population cause. A
national seminar for key decision
Population and
Family Planning
Education
One of the earliest efforts of FPF
was a survey of family planning
education in the School s of Social
Work in India. The report
stimulated interest in professional
social welfare circles to seek a
more meaningful involvement
with the population issue and
became a base from which the
population education stance in all
schools of social work has
undergone a radical change.
Another project has identified the
context, methods and programmes
of population education suitable to
college level students - pioneering
work in population edu-::ationat
the university level. an area that
has been neglected so far.
Yet another project is collating the
data on the efforts made on the
school level to incorporate the
population education component,
which will serve to project the
latest thinking on the subject.
Currently. a status study of
agricultural institutions is being
conducted which seeks to identify
their programmes and interest in
population education and to locate
entry and intervention points for
population component in the
system.
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Demographic
Journal
FPF's support to the Indian
Association for the Study of
Population has helped to develop
the country's only organisation for
population demography. IASP,
besides stimulating demographic
research. is bringing out
"Demography India" the first
population journal of its kind in the
country, which provides a forum for
research and evaluation in
population, family planning and
related fields impinging on
population matters and, as such, is a
valuable contribution to the
academic and specialised interest
community.
In an effort to create more region
specific approaches to population
problems which at present suffer
from a too uniform national
conceptualisatiOn of solutions, FPF
has interacted with North Eastern
Hill University, Shillong, to evolve a
suitable population strategy for
this sensitive geographical area.
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3.1 Page 21 |
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FOCUS ON THE FUTURE
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There is considerable evidence
today that society has begun to
change and research and action
is needed to enhance the force of
those elements of social change
which are favourable to the
adoption of national responsible
behaviour in relation to family
formation. This is where Family
Planning Foundation finds it has a
still more critical role to play in
the years that lie ahead.
The intervention will be in diverse
ways and in keeping with FPF's
tradition to be responsive to felt
needs. with a responsible distilling
of the essence of past experience
to take action forward. Specific
areas of concern that are already
emergent are: a strengthening of
the health care structure to be more
relevant through (1) programmes
that will help replicate successful
demonstration projects so that
they no longer remain islands of
excellence in the vast rural
hinterland; (ii) programmes that will
help provide more local specific
strategies relevant to the area of
operation: (iii) strengthening
of research that will on the one
hand simplify and expedite the use
of existing contraceptive
technologies even as it quests for
bold new solutions; and (iv) on the
other hand bear focus on social
change and development as for
instance efforts to improve the
status of women which is a
fundamental factor of population
dynamics.
As FPF confidently moves
towards fulfilling these challenges,
there is expanded opportunity for
the business and professional
leaders of the country and elsewhere,
to participate in this noble
assignment: an adventure of
service in the most critical crusade
of the 20th century. FPF has been
struggling these several years to
tackle a monumental problem with
slender resources. If it has to do,
what must be done with urgency,
speed. imagination and integrity
to make India sensitive and
responsive to its population needs,
the critical need is to have these
resources augmented.
Family Planning is a humane
activity as vital to the interest of the
individual as to the entire nation.
But in a social environment of
general deprivation and despair,
its critical links to the betterment of
this condition is often not
perceived. While all developmental
work to bring about a qualitative
improvement in the lifestyle of the
people must move apace and be
given full support from population
programmes. there remains the
immediacy to establish an outright
connection for family planning,
even within a social environment
not characterised by favourable
changes.
Set as we are today in the
trajectory of geometrical progress
of growth. the time lag neded for
the cause-and-effect relationship
of development to bring about
desired structural change in
population, as it did in industrialised
countries. is just not available.
In any case there is no question of
either/or; it must be both.
Both streams simultaneously pushed
to meet at the same goal:
a better life for all.
Above all, family planning action
must begin to be understood and
rehabilitated in the perspective of a
human rights movement that
seeks to bring the scope of survival
and dignity of living to the
condition of India's women and
children. To wait in the wings
while development alone provides
the contraceptive would be to
deprive many of a whole generation
of this chance. There can be no
imbalances one way or the other -
contraceptive technology must
reinforce the thrust of social
technologies to build a better,
more equal world.
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INDIA
POPULATION OF STATES
IAS EXPRESSED ON 15 SEPT. 78)
DENSITY OF
POPUlATION PER SQ. KIL.OMETER
~
o~
Abo~ 250
100 - 250
&clow 100
AREA OF STATES SHOWN ACCORDING TO POPUL.ATlON
(INOoo I
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INDIA
NUMBER OF EFFECTIVELY PROTECTED
COUPLES -1978
(EXPRESSED AS AREA OF STATES I
MucII A"" Tile _rove
'm A•••••c 2"0
A""c Tile low,.
~
Morc Than 22'S - 29'0
10-. ••••• Tile
Mucll' ••••• TIle A_afC
~
0
12'0 - Less Than 22,S
8clow 120
AREA OF STATES SHOWN .-cCOROlNC TO NUMBER OF
-..EfFtCTIYELY· PAOTB:TEO COlJ>L£S
c=-l400000
~.IOO.OOO
Produced by Family Planning Foundation 198, Golf Links New Delhi-110083. Designed by Srikant Binge
Graphic Designer & Consultant and Printed at the Stetesman Press, New Delhi-110001.