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Focus 1997 July - September English |
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Foeus
POPULATION ENVIRONMENT DEVELOPMENT
Volume XI No. 3
July-Sept., 1997
KERALA WINS INAUGURAL
JRD TATA AWARD
FOR BEST STATE IN
POPULATION PROGRAMMES
The first JRD Tata Award for Population
and Reproductive Health Programmes,
instituted by the Population Foundation of
India has been won by Kerala on the merit
of continued outstanding performance.
Awards have also been given to the
best performing districts. one in each
group based on their population according
to the latest census. Palakkad in Kerala
won the award in the large population
category (more than 2.31 million).
Chidambaranar in Tamil Nadu in the
medium category (1.22 million to 2.31
million) and Kurukshetra in Haryana in the
small category (below 1.22 million)
The best State gets the handsome
rolling trophy and a cash award of Rs.10
lakhs. Each of the best performing districts
will receive an attractive rolling shield and
a cash award of Rs.2 lakhs.
The results were announced at a
news conference in Delhi on July 29. the
birthday of JRD Tata in whose memory
the awards have been instituted.
Henceforth, these will be given every two
years. (Details on page 6)
The awards are expected to be
formally presented by the President of
India at a colourful function planned to be
held.in early November.
Sustainable Population Growth
As National Agenda
Unanimous Decision Taken By Parliament
Members of Parliament belonging to all political parties have pledged
themselves to a 14-point National Agenda for reconstruction and development
including a vigorous campaign to check the rate of growth of population.
The decision was taken at a six-
day special session of Parliament to
mark the golden jubileeof the country's
independence. The session which
ended on Sept.1,took a vow to remove
the social and political maladies
afflicting the national life while
promoting positive programmes of
human development to ensure higher
qualities of life for every citizen.
On the population issue, the
resolution recorded that the growth of
population must be curbed to make it
sustainable by the available resources
and pace of development. Other
decisions closely related to the issue
were to make primary education
universal by the year 2005 and to
make education at all levels
employment oriented, development
of infrastructure in rural areas and to
work for gender justice as a way of life
with particular emphasis on the girl
child.
These noble intentions now
require to be translated into
meaningful action programmes with
reasonable time frames for execution,
demanding total commitment on the
part of politicians, planners, central
and State government machineries,
social activists and voluntary
organisations. The success will depend
on dedication and co-ordination of
efforts. Hoping that this would soon
emerge so that the momentum
currently generated is not wasted, the
Population Foundation of India,
nevertheless, feels rewarded in its
tireless efforts to present population
stabilisation as a national priority.
In its advocacy role the PFI
organised a seminar on August 26
(see page 3)exclusivelyfor the Members
of Parliament coinciding with the
special session in which it appealed to
the MPs to put the population issue
above political controversies and work
out a national plan of action. It had
earlier submitted a detailed
memorandum to the Prime Minister
suggesting a member of concrete
actions to arrest the runaway growth
of population and it is gratifying to
find some of these reflected in the 14-
point National Agenda adopted by
Parliament.
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National Agenda
EDITORIAL
Governing Board Reviews Foundation Activities
Though the current population scenario in
India allows no room for respite and relaxation,
particularly in view of the unimpressive
performance of the official family welfare
programme, one should oot miss some of the
changing positive trends in the national attitude
which may lead to a welcome re-adjustment of
priorities to achieve population stabilisation
before the situation goes totally out of control.
The Population Foundation of India is convinced
that no population programme, however well-
meaning, can succeed in India without a
resolute political will and the PFI has been
persevering to motivate public leaders at all
levels to actively involve themselves in
population programmes. The unanimous
decision of the special session of Parliament
held in late August, endorsed by all political
parties, to strive towards a sustainable growth
of population may be regarded as a landmark
event in this direction which will add vigour and
hope to the efforts of all population activists in
India.
Population stabilisation can be achieved
through the willing participation of the people
when they realise that limiting family sizes is
part of a process to achieve higher qualities of
life. The realisation can be promoted through
information and communication backed by
availability of quality services, and removal of
social and economic inequalities. This task can
hardly be left to the government agencies,
which will nevertheless remain the biggest
provider of services. The community leaders,
panchayats, voluntary organisations, political
activists, social activists and the corporate
sector, all have to share their responsibility.
The pioneering lead given by Parliament,
particularly by the Prime Minister, the Speaker
of the Lok Sabha, the Deputy Chairman of the
Rajya Sabha and the Minister of Health &
Family Welfare has now to be carried to all
States to evolve a national plan of action
beyond all controversies. The PFI is committed
to lend its full weight to any such effort.
Lack of funds is often cited as a
stumbling obstacle, but no obstacle is too great
if there is a will to act and we are clear in our
priorities. The fact that a substantial portion of
the fund at the disposal of Members of
Parliament for development purposes has
remained unutilised indicates that, with better
management, a beginning could already be
made, and the beneficial results would have
created a greater momentum for marshalling of
resources. Let us not allow any such opportunity
to go by default from now.
t;;J~ -
The Governing Board of the
Population Foundation of India
met in New Delhi on July 29 to review
the activities of the Foundation.
The meeting reviewed the
completed projects as well as the
progress of those under
implementation.
It was suggested by the Board
members that the Foundation should
make a proper assessment of the
concerned NGO before entrusting any
programme and NGOs should be rated
for their competence to execute
different kinds of projects.
Executive Director, Dr K
Srinivasan indicated that a qualitative
evaluation of completed projects and
those nearing completion had been
entrusted to outside experts and an
overview had been prepared by senior
staff of the Foundation alongwith
individual case studies. He highlighted
the important findings which had
implications for future funding by the
Foundation.
The Governing Board then
decided to inducfnew members in the
Advisory Council to replace the
retiring members. Mr Ajay Mehta,
Sewa Mandir, Udaipur in the category
of environment and Dr Ragini Prem,
Mizapur in the category of social work
were inducted as new members while
Dr M S Swaminathan, Dr Yash Pal
and Prof. Ram Lal Parikh, all existing
members, were re-appointed as
members of the Advisory Council.
About 40 per cent of the allocation to Members of Parliament under the Local
Area Development Scheme for funding development programmes in the
constituencies at the discretion of the individual MP remained unutilised between
1993-94 and 1994-95.
According to a review of the scheme by the central Department of
Programme Implementation, of the total funds of Rs. 1571.75 crores released
during the period, only about Rs.941.26 crores (59.9%) could be spent by the
Members Of Parliament.
The Population Foundation of India has been advocating substantially
higher allocation for health and education along with other social schemes to
promote reproductive health standards with the aim of stabilising the population
growth in India. In a memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister and in an open
appeal to Members of Parliament, the foundation has strongly pleaded that at
least 20 per cent of the special fund for MP's should be spent on improving health
and family planning services in the rural areas. It is painful to see available
resources not being utilised for such pressing developmental needs.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~P~eople/s
Representatives
Parliament Members Accept
Population As National Priority
The Population Foundation of
India has, for quite sometime,
been striving to ensure political
commitment to programmes for
stabilising the runaway growth of
population in India, which has
already assumed alarming
proportions. In continuation of its
efforts, the PFI held a seminar,
exclusively for Members of
Parliament, on "Political Commitment
to Population Programmes" at
Parliament House Annexe on August
26. It was planned to coincide with
the special session of Parliament
which began on that day to take
stock of national issues on the
occasion of the Golden Jubilee of our
Independence.
The seminar had the blessings of
. the Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr P A
Sangma, who was unable to attend it
due to pre-occupations. The Rajya
Sabha Deputy Chairman, Dr (Mrs)
Najma Heptulla, had agreed to deliver
the key-note address, but also could
not be present due to similar pre-
occupations in Parliament. However,
the Minister of Health and Family
Welfare,Ms Renuka Chowdhury, who
strongly supported the cause, kept
her commitment to preside over the
function despite her pressing
engagements during the Parliament
session.
Personal letters from the PFI
Chairman had been sent to all
Parliament Members - both of the Lok
Sabhaand the RajyaSabha- requesting
them to attend the seminar, explaining
the urgency of the issue. Many of the
invitees were personally contacted
requesting them to be present at the
seminar. A good number of MPs
expressed their willingness to be
present, but could not make it as the
Parliament session on the 26th was
extended by a couple of hours to
discuss important issues. Even then,
some 20 MPs belonging to different
political parties like BJP, Congress,
CPI(M)and CPI,attended the seminar.
In his introductory remarks, Dr
K Srinivasan, Executive Director, PFI,
outlined the current population
scenario to establish how the situation
had become alarming despite four
decades of a national family planning
programme. He said that the situation
in some of the more populous States
in North India like Bihar, MP,
Rajasthan and UP, was so bad as to
demand urgent corrective action,
failing which the future of the entire
country could be in jeopardy. He said
that the Governing Board of the
Population Foundation of India felt
that absence of political commitment
to population programmes and family
planning' was a major contributing
factor to the tardy progress of the
programme
and
elected
representatives of the people all over
the country required to be alerted
about it. The seminar was being held
in that perspective.
Welcoming the participants, the
Chairman of the PFI, Dr Bharat Ram,
made an impassioned appeal to
Members of Parliament to actively
involve themselves in population
programmes. He said that as political
leaders, they were in a position to
exert tremendous influence in two
major areas, one, within their own
parties and, secondly, in their own
constituencies, which were their direct
charge. He said that at the party
forum, the MPs could remain alert
that in any programme of national
development, the focus was not
shifted from the' population issue.
Their active support in Parliament
will help realise the Foundation's
suggestion for much higher allocation
of funds on Education and health. He
said, in fact, programmes for better
health services, adequate care for
pregnant women and the new born
children, immunisation, higher status
of women and female, female
education, raising the age of marriage,
improvements in the quality of health
services offered, etc constitute the
desired social goals cherished by all
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----------~-------------------------------
political parties and the active
involvement of the MPs to promote
these programmes would hlep realise
a national dream.
Dr Bharat Ram said, there was
perhaps much more that an MP could
do through his individual efforts in
his own constituency. With an intimate
knowledge of its people, the socio-
economic conditions, the services
available and the short-comings, the
administrative problems, and the
ecological and environmental
problems, each MP could act as a
guardian of peoples' interest and keep
an eye on the programme
implementing agencies and the
delivery systems. Dr Bharat Ram
pointed out that the PFI had already
submitted a detailed Memorandum to
the Prime Minister incorporating a
number of suggestions for population
stabilisation and it was gratifying to
understand that it was receiving his
attention. In fact, some of the
suggestions were already reflected in
his decisions and pronouncements
such as compulsory education for all
children with emphasis on girl children
and an indication of comprehensive
population policies. Dr Bharat Ram
appealed to the Members ofParliament
to keep the population problem at the
centre of all deliberations at the special
session of Parliament, which would
deliberate upon the pressing socio-
economic and developmental
problems facing the country.
A half-hour video film titled
"People, Population and Our Leaders"
produced by the Population
Foundation of India was then screened
to form the basis of further discussion
in the seminar. The film has been
directed and scripted by Ms Sagari
Chhabra.
The film sought to highlight the misunderstood by both the elected
basicissues underlying the population representatives and the press. The
problem in the country, the ground Minister said that the welfare of the
realities of the conditions of services people with emphasis on women was
vis-a-vis their requirements, the mood at the centre of all her efforts and she
of the people and the role that the appealed to all parliamentarians to
leaders of our country, political or in lend their support in this task.
any other field,could play in resolving
The Minister said, health being a
these issues with the
State subject, complete
ultima te aim of
achieving population
stabilisation,as quickly
as possible.
THERE HAS TO BE AN
END TO GENDER
DISCRIMINATION WHICH
MANIFESTS ITSELF IN
coordination between
the Centre and the
States in this
programme
was
Dr Srinivasan
ALL SPHERES OF OUR
needed with the leader-
explained that the film
SOCIAL LIFE
ship coming from the
did not pretend to offer
States. She pointed out
readymade solutions to our failures that fertility rates were directly related
on the population front because the to women empowerment. There had
issue was too vexed and involved as to be an end to gender discrimination
to lend itself to unidirectional which manifested itself in all spheres
remedies. The film was based on a of our social life. She said, population
reconcilia tion of macro level programmes must have community
demographic conditions with micro participation and appealed to
level situations and policy participants to go back to their States
implications. It brought out that the and inspire the respective State
mood of the people was in favour of Governments to take up the challenge
restricting their family size and they seriously.
were clamouring for and eager to Lively Exchange
avail th~se services. The candid
interviewss showed that people want
family planning as part of a package
There was a lively exchange of
of services to fulfil their development views by the participant
needs and to attain a higher quality of
life. The film carried the unfiltered
voices of the women from slums and
rural areas which were poignant and
self-revealing.
The film seemed to have made a
deep impact on the participants
including the Minister, Ms Renuka
Chowdhury, who joined the seminar
at that stage. Initiating the discussions,
the Minister said the stark realities of
the ground situation had to be
accepted as a challenge, with the
resolve that the situation had to be
altered. It was commitment what was
needed. She regretted that some of
her suggestions and effortsto establish
parliamentarians in the discussion
that followed. There was unanimity
that the population question was a
national issue. Vice Chairman of the
PFI Mr Harishankar Singhania urged
the participants to press for higher
allocation of the national budget for
health and education. He also
requested the MPs to spend
substantial portion of the fund at
their discretion on health and
education in their own constituencies.
Some MPs said that they were already
spending a major chunk of their
discretionary fund on health,
education and social development
works in their constituencies. Many
a two-child norm were being
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World Population Day Observed
on these issues. The basic issue involved
gender equity and it had to be established
T he World Population Day, which falls on 11th July every year, was observed by
through economic and social structural
changes.
the Population Foundation of India, through a Seminar where noted experts
Medical experts said that the entire
deliberated on the significance for India of this year's theme "Right to Choose health delivery system relating to family
Reproductive Rights and Reproductive Health".
planning was totally concentrated on
women, whereas, it was necessary to
Inaugurating the Seminar, the
Chairman of the PH, Dr Bharat Ram,
said the 'right' would be meaningless
out that though women had to bear the
brunt of pregnancy whether they desired
it or not and suffered from inadequate
give equal importance to men in the
interest of reproductive rights and
reproductive health. Participants also
without the freedom and capabilities of health care, mal-nutrition, morbidity pointed out that hardly any attention
millions of our countrymen to choose and even death, they had practically no was given to the health and psycological
what they desire and get what they
deserve. He pointed out that of 585
thousand women in the world who die
each year due to causes of pregnancy,
one-fourth were from India and much of
this calamity could be avoided with
better reproductive health measures.
Only 24.5 per cent of all deliveries which
took place in '1993 in India were under
proper medical care. Of the 26 million
births that take place, 2.3 million are
unwanted. A point of greater significance
is that 35 million women in India who
want to limit or space their pregnancies
are still without the means to do so
effectively. The right to choose assumed say in this matter in a male dominated
needs of both boys and girls who pass
great relevance in this context, he said.
Mr Y N Chaturvedi, Secretary,
Department of Family Welfare,
Government of India, said a big problem
in India was the absence of a proper
delivery system even though a good
package of services had been developed
for reproductive and child health. Most
society like India. Empowerment of
women to exercise their right should,
therefore, involve not only their
education or employment but also an
attitudinal change on the part of men. It
was recognised that in many cases, men
were ignorant of their responsibilities
and needed to be alerted and educated
through the difficult period of
adolescence and who failed to develop
a healthy attitude towards reproductive
behaviour. While it was necessary to
give them proper information and
instruction, the channels and contents
should be carefully worked out.
of the Primary Health Centres were ill-
managed and the health delivery systems
in many States were weak and
Population Day - Seminar at FICCI
inadequate. He said the Government
was trying to promote social marketing
of contraceptives to ensure regular and
The World Population Day was
marked by another seminar jointly
Health & Family Planning. He regretted
that despite the enormity of the
reliable supply, particularly in rural and organised by the Federation of Indian population problem the country was yet
slum areas.
Chambers of Commerce & Industry and to evolve a population policy. He said
The Seminar deliberated upon the
issues of empowerment of women,
responsibilities of men and women in
reproductive health and adolescent
sexuality as three major items related to
the theme for the day. Experts pointed
the UN system in India on July 10. The
theme for the seminar was "Population
Imperatives & Corporate Sector -
Towards A Social Contract"
The theme address was delivered
by Dr Karan Singh, a former Minister of
that the family planning programme
conducted for decades had failed to
create any impact. He called for an all
out effort including women NGOs, youth
organisations, panchayats and the
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JRD rata Award
JRD Tata Award for Population and
Reproductive Health Programmes Announced
The State of Kerala and the districts of Palakkad, Chidambaranar (renamed Toothukudi) and Kurukshetra
were declared as winners of the JRD Tata Award in their respective categories by Ms. Justice Leila Seth,
former Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh, and Chairperson of the Award Committee, at a crowded press conference
in New Delhi on July 29.
The Governing Body of the Population
Foundation of India had decided in 1996
that it would be a fitting tribute to the
late JRD Tata, the guiding star of the PFI
since its inception in 1970, to institute
national level awards for best
performance in reproductive health and
family planning through programme
intervention, a cause for which the great
man was a champion.
A very high level Awards
Committee was constituted to go into
the issue in depth and set standards and
ground rules for the awards. Besides Ms
Justice Leila Seth, the other members
were Mr B G Deshmukh, former Cabinet
Secretary, Dr M S Swaminathan, noted
Scientist, Dr V Ramalingaswami,
National Research Professor, All India
Institute of Medical Sciences, Mrs
Nirmala Buch, former Advisor to the
Gujarat Governor, Dr Vasant R
Gowrikar, Vice-Chancellor, Pune
University and former Scientific Advisor
to the Government of India, and Dr K
Srinivasan, Executive Director, PFI, who
was Member Secretary.
Explaining the criteria for selection,
Ms Justice Seth said that the
performances of the States were
evaluated in relation to nine factors, viz.,
a) Total Fertility Rate
b) Birth interval reflecting spacing
between births
c) Proportion of higher order births
d) Skilled attention provided at the
time of delivery
e) Expectation of life at birth, sexwise
f) Adult literacy rate, sexwise, in the
prime adult age group 15-34
g) Enrollment ratio in middle classes,
sexwise
h) Continuation rate from class VI to
VIII, sexwise
i) Percentage of expenditure on public
health, family planning, sanitation
and water supply, and education to
State's total expenditure.
A composite index on' the basis
of the 1993 level of these nine
indicators, and the change between the
1983-1993 levels weighted in the ratio
of 1:2 was used to select the best
performing State.
In the case of districts, the selection
was based on three indicators - adult
literacy rate, infant mortality rate and
total fertility rate - for which data are
available at the district level from the
Census. The composite index based on
the above indicators involving the levels
in 1991 and changes between 1981 and
91 weighted in the ratio of 1:2 was used
for selection of the best districts within
each category of population size.
Earlier welcoming the news
correspondents, the Chairman of the PFI
Dr Bharat Ram paid glowing tributes to
the late JRD Tata, in whose memory the
National Awards had been instituted.
Describing him as a stalwart of an
Indian, he said his burning passion was
to see a strong and prosperous India
where its population would be a source
of strength instead being a source of
embarrassment. He was a crusader for
the cause and the world recognised his
contribution by conferring on him the
first ever United Nations Population
Award in 1992.
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Underlining the rationale in giving
the awards when India's performance
in the field of family planning had so far
failed to achieve population stabilisation,
Dr Bharat Ram said there were States
and there were smaller geographical
and administrative units within every
State which were doing wonders in this
field and whose achievements were
comparable to the best even in more
advanced countries. These emphatically
demonstrated that, given the will and
conditions, the success could be repeated
in more and more regions. Dr Bharat
Ram said "We must believe in ourselves
to do so and the Awards hopefully
would generate the much needed
impetus and confidence".
HUMAN
<'d"'<V'kW,_'k<~=~_~EBL
India* ~0.4281
Sri Lanka
I
I
ndonesia
I
I
I
I
USA
I
I
Japan
I
I
Australia
I
0.628
I
0.711
I
0.6 58
I
0.626
I
I
I
I
I
) Source:
HOt
'Wall Chart, PFI,. ~i996. ?s," "
Human Development Repo:(1, 1997
0.942
0.940
0.931
It will hardly come as a surprise to
anyone that the first JRD Tata Memorial
Award for excellence in reproductive
health and population programmes by a
State should be won by Kerala. The
State's achievements are so well
recognised,
nationally
and
internationally, that it is only in the
fitness of things that Kerala should be
honoured with the inaugural award.
The outstanding feature of Kerala's
performance is that the State not only
reached a high level of success in a short
time but continues to improve upon it to
match standards attained by many
developed countries in the world. As
would be seen from the exacting criteria
for selection of the award mentioned
earlier, some nine crucial factors were
consi~ered with greater weightage given
to the change factor than the current
level of achievement, and Kerala proved
to be the most dynamic.
It will be interesting to recall some
of the achievements. Demographically,
the State had, in 1990, a Crude BirthRate
of 19, Crude Death Rate of 5.9 and Infant
Mortality Rate of 17, far exceeding the
goals set for the entire country to be
achieved by 2001 AD. The replacement
level of fertility (TFR 2.1) was achieved
as early as 1988 while most States in the
country may not achieve it before 2016.
The expectancy of life at birth is over 72
today; women live even longer.
Kerala has become the cynosure of
population activists all over the world,
and there is wide reference to the Kerala
model at all important international
deliberations. Understandably, these
demographic end results are the
products of various factors, a complex
interaction of historical, geographical,
socio-economic, cultural, policy
planning, organisational and structural
changes, which triggered the inner urges
of the Kerala people to mould their
demographic behaviour.
Kerala stands out as a unique
example of the capability of low income
agrarian societies to attain and sustain
high quality of living levels. Kerala has
its own problems of development and is
far from being prosperous. There is a
prevailing condition of poverty, plagued
by unemployment and low nutritional
status. The per capita income and level
of industrial output are among the
poorest in India. Yet, remarkably among
all these adversities, Kerala ranked first
among the States in terms of
internationally
accepted Human
Development Index (HDI) in 1993 which
signifies the quality of the people.
The factors considered for HDI are
Life Expectancy (Kerala-71.8 years, India
59.3 years), Adult Literacy in the age
group 15-34 (kerala-95.9%, India 56.9%),
Middle School Enrollment (Kerala 100%
- India 59.1%) and Per Capita State
Domestic Product (Kerala 5768, India
6255). Despite a low per capita SDP, the
achievements on social fronts pushes
Kerala's HDI to 62.79 against India's
42.79, the State coming closest to Kerala
being Maharashtra with an HDI of
55.49.
Among the districts, Palakkad in
Kerala is the proud winner of the first
prize for large population districts which
have a population above 2.31 million.
In the coastal State of Kerala,
Palakkad is one of the interior districts
bordering on the State
Palakkad of Tamil Nadu to the
east. It was earlier
known as Palaghat. According to 1991
census, the total population of the district
was 2382235 persons with a male female
ratio of 1061 females per 1000 males.
The annual exponential growth rate of
population of the district between 1981-
1991 was 1.53, exceeding the State figure
of 1.34.
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JRD rata Award
Palakkad district is said to be the
granary of Kerala State. It is
predominantly an agricultural area and
industrially backward. Literacy among
women was generally low compared to
the State level. Palakkad was one of the
four districts in Kerala which were
identified as backward in terms of family
planning. Enhanced infrastructure,
service inputs and IEC networks were
provided there under the India
Population Project initiated in 1984 to
improve the performance.
On the three parameters selected
for choosing the best performing district,
Palakkad
showed remarkable
improvement in reducing Infant
Mortality Rates which came down to 31
in 1991 from 64 in 1981. The Adult
Literacy Rate in the age group 15-34 also
went up from 75.69 in 1981 to 90.14 in
1991. Most significantly, female adult
literacy rate shot up from 68.61 to 86.96.
The Total Fertility Rate declined from
4.20 in 1981 to 2.65 in 1991, even though
it remained higher than the State average.
The performance was a clear evidence of
remarkable improvement following
programme intervention.
Chidambaranar district in Tamil
Nadu (since renamed Toothukudi)
ranked first in
Chidambaranar terms of health
and
family planning performance
among
the medium
population districts having a
population between 1.22
million and 2.31 million.
Chidambaranar is part
of a State, Tamil Nadu, which
is another forerunner in family
planning performance, well
on way to repeating the
credible performance of
neighbouring Kerala. The
district is situated in the
extreme south-eastern corner
of Tamil Nadu. The total area
of this district is 4621 sq.kms.
and the population in 1991
was 1455920persons. It had 1051females
per 1000 males in contrast with the State
ratio of 974 females to 1000 males. The
district's annual exponential growth rate
during 1981-91 was only 0.75%.
The district was carved out as a
separate entity in 1986 bifurcating
Tirunelveli district which lies to its west
and north. The new district has adequate
communication facilities by road, rail
and sea with its headquarters at the port
town of Tuticorin. It has a fair mixture
of agricultural, animal husbandry,
fishing as well as industrial activities.
The percentage of urban population in
the district was 41.2, much higher than
the State percentage of 34.2. In terms of
the three criteria of selection,
Chidambaranar registered a remarkable
drop in Infant Mortality, which came
down to 43 in 1991 from 105 in 1981.The
Total Fertility Rate showed a decline
from 4.7 in 1981 to 3.05 in 1991. In
respect of Adult Literacy, the percentage
rose from 67.39 in 1981 to 78.96 in 1991.
Much of this could be attributed to the
rise in female literacy rate, which went
up to 73.14 in 1991 from 56.51 ten years
ago.
Kurukshetra in Haryana came on
top in terms of health and family
planning performance among the low
population districts with a population
below 1.22 million.
Kurukshetra is so deeply rooted in
history that it requires no fresh
introduction. It was here that the famous
battle described in the epic of
Mahabharat was
fought between the
Kauravas
and
Pandavas. It lies
close to the capital territory of Delhi in
north India.
The district has an area of 1217 sq.
kms. with a population of 641940 in
1991. The annual exponential growth
rate of population during 1981-91 for
the district was 2.10 per annum as
against the State average of 2.42 and all
India average of 2.14. Haryana is a
thriving State in terms of agriculture
and industry and has been marked by
high fertility rates. However, the fertility
rate is steadily coming down. It has
declined to 2.8 for females with high
school education but is still high at 4.7
for woman with no education. The
National Family Health Survey found
that knowledge of family planning is
universal in the State but practice is only
by 50% of the currently married women.
The Infant Mortality Rate is high at 75
per 1000 live births. The literacy rate
stands at 56%.
The achievements of Kurukshetra
which IS a high population density area
in the State is to be viewed
in this context. Its Infant
Mortality Rate came down
to 35 in 1991 from 91 ten
years ago. The Total
Fertility Rate declined to
3.82 in 1991 from the 1981
TFR of 5.50. In terms of
Adult Literacy, the
performance
was
impressive. In 1981 the
literacy rate was 44.94%
whereas in 1991 it went up
64.07%, much of it due to
an increase in female
literacy, which went up
from 29.65% in 1981 to
51.73% in 1991.
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1.9 Page 9 |
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Good Progress of
Programmes for Rural Women
With the conviction that women empowerment and welfare are strong catalysts
to changes in fertility behaviour, the Population Foundation of India has
sponsored a number of action programmes in different parts of the country and some
of them have shown encouraging results.
One such success story relates to for petty economic activities to
a project covering ten villages in augment their income.
Aurangabad
* Muzaffarpur
* Tripuati
During the year of operation of
the project there was a sharp increase
in the use of contraceptives by eligible
couples in the age group 15 to 29. An
independent evaluation recorded that
users of contraceptives rose from 13
to 38 percent in a year due to the
combined effect of health education
and income generating schemes.
Another project in Bihar which
has reported good progress is the one
run by ADITHI, Patna, to promote
rural family welfare in Saraiya block
of Muzaffarpur District.
The project which started in June
last year will be run for a period of 3
years with an outlay of Rs. 20 lakhs.
It aims at providing all the eligible
couples in the block education and
information pertaining to family
planning and maternal and child
Aurangabad district in Bihar which
aimed at empowerment of women
with focus on family welfare. The
project, commenced in June last year,
was originally sanctioned for one year,
but the PFI has decided to extend the
project to ten more villages for another
year.
The field work was carried out by
an NGO, named Daudnagar
Organisation for Rural Development,
with the objective of organising 1000
poor rural married women under 30
years of age in small cohesive groups
for creating awareness and educating
them about the issues related to family
welfare and general health.
Additionally, It aimed at providing
some 200 women with small credits
~
Training programmes conducted by AOITHI in SaraW8
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1.10 Page 10 |
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Ernjects
Panchayat Training Programme
Gets off the Ground in Lalitpur and Bankura
The training programme for
Panchayat members in the field of
reproductive health sponsored by the
Population Foundation of India in seven
districts of the country took a further step
forward with the formal launching of the
projects at Lalitpur in D.P. and Bankura
in West Bengal.
A joint training workshop for the
selected NGO in Lalitpur, the Harriet
Benson Memorial Hospital and the Zilla
Parish ad members was held at Lalitpur
from August 26 to 29. The orientation
programme was on the basis of eight
modules developed by the Foundation.
The presentation of the modules, speeches
by subject matter specialists and the
Chairman and Vice Chairperson of Zilla
Parishad as well as the question-answer
sessions were all videographed. A write-
up in Hindi on the concept, importance
and utility of practising family planning
was presented by Foundation's
representative. The participation of Zilla
Parishad members was somewhat limited
due to the coincidence of a major festival,
and a general strike on some local issues.
It is proposed to involve Zilla Parishad
members in the subsequent block level
training programmes for resource persons.
These are expected to be held in November.
A fairly good coverage of the workshop
was given by the local press.
The Bankura project also got off to a
satisfying start with a three-day workshop
for the Zilla Parishad members from
September 8 to 10.The workshop, attended
by the selected NGO-the Bankura Institute,
and the consulting organisation - the State
Institute of Panchayats and Rural
Development, was inaugurated by the
West Bengal Minister of Health & Family
Welfare Mr Partha Dey. The District
Magistrate Ms Dempo was also present.
The training modules and the pattern
of the panchayat training programme were
discussed at the workshop for the next
stage of training of resource persons
planned to be conducted in November.
The Bankura Institute has already identified
the resource persons who will do the field
work. The State Minister ofPanchayats Dr.
Surya Kant Mishra addressed the
workshop on the concluding day.
Earlier, a four day training
programme for the NGO was held at the
end of July at the SIPRDin Kalyani. There
were 11 participants from the Bankura
Institute, including two lady members.
In both Lalitpur and Bankura, there
was welcome evidence of deep'
commitment to the project, with assured
cooperation from the State Government
agencies.
•
of them pointed out that the service
conditions in outlying areas were
even more dismal than depicted in
the film. One lady MP forcefully
argued that the focus of an intensive
population programme should be on
men and the suggested two-child
restriction for elected representatives
should begin with men first.
It seems that the initiative taken
by the Population Foundation of India,
in its advocacy role and the ~trong
and active support to population
stabilisation programmes coming
from senior leaders including the
Prime Minister, Speaker of the Lok
Sabha, the Deputy Chairman of the
Rajya Sabha and the dynamic Minister
of Health herself has generated a
momentum towards a national will
with the hope that there may be a
much desired emphasis on population
activities from now on. The outcome
of the six-~ay special session of
Parliament which concluded on
September 1, holds that promise. •
corporate sector to check the growth of
population. He also called for special
attention to the development of
contraceptive technology.
A special address was given by Dr
Bharat Ram, Chairman, PFI and a past
President of FICCl. He said that the
country was facing a desperate situation
in relation to population and immediate
steps were needed to turn the population
growth rate around. Mentioning the
likely imbalance in the age structure of
population in the years to come, Dr
Bharat Ram said" As industrialists we
should take note that the population in
working ages is likely to increase to 800
million in 2016 requiring creation of
about 14 million additional jobs every
year. There would be greater supply of
work force than employment
opportunities". Dr Bharat Ram said that
with increasing globalisation and
liberalisation of economy there would
be a shift towards automation and
mechanisation in India to compete with
other economies and lesser dependence
of human labour. This would further
shrink employment opportunities for
the unskilled labour.
Reminding the corporate sector of
its commitment of giving one percent of
the gross profits towards promoting
family planning, maternal and child
health care, immunisation etc., Dr Bharat
Ram urged individual houses to honour
the pledge as it was as much in the
interest of the society as the industry
itself. He said "I would expect each
large unit to extend the social benefits
not only to the people directly employed
by them but also to adopt a remote
village or block for all round
development to improve the quality of
human resource". He said that any
investment on these activities would
ultimately pay rich economic dividends.
Contd on page 11
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2.1 Page 11 |
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Women
Programmes for Rural Women
health care. It plans to provide
A two day training programme
contraceptive services to about 6500 for traditional birth attendants (dais)
couples every year, or a total of was conducted in May. This was
around 20 thousand acceptors during attended by about 100 dais. A Swasth
the project period.
Mela was organised about that time
To ensure
community
participation, it will seek to motivate
the local community to contribute one
third of the total cost of the programme
every year so that the programme
becomes self-sustaining on completion
where video programmes on MCH
and family planning were screened.
A number of persons from the
adjoining villages including
. adolescent girls and rural women
participated.
of the 3 year period. It also plans to
train health educator couples, women
health volunteers and traditional birth
attendants in providing education and
family planning services to the
community.
The project seems to have gained
momentum now that trained dais are
in position. Already, nine family
health workers have been
given vaccination training to carry
out MCH programmes. ADITHI has
reported that there is a very good
response from rural women to Apsara
The Minister of Health & Family oral pills which are being sold to
Welfare Mrs Renuka Chowdhury, them.
delivering her inaugural address, made
a strong plea for raising the status of
women, with employment and equality
in all spheres, to make a real dent in the
population problem which was defying
solutionbecause of a strong gender bias
in a male dominated society. She said
while we should not be shy to say that
population control was our aim in the
present situation, it should not be
forgotten that development of human
quality was our ultimate aim. The
Ministersaid it was a task before all and
should not be left only to the limited
efforts of the Government. She said the
corporate sector must act as conduits to
translate national policies into 'action
and might work in collaboration with
the trade unions.TheMinistersuggested
that the message of a small family could
be put in all the advertisements and
media work of the corporate sector
which should also give more
employment to women and create
infrastructure for working women.
In Andhra Pradesh, the
Department of Population Studies of
Sri Venkateswara University at
Tirupati is conducting a project to
study the contraceptive behaviour of
peasant women belonging to the
scheduled castes and particularly
those who are small land owners or
landless labourers. The study will
cover the level of their exposure to
modem views of lifeand
Tirupati the communication
network. This project
also started in June 1996,for a period
of 27 months. The baseline data has
been collected and data entry and
editing of data have also been
completed. The project has identified
active women in 18 rural villages to
work as community health volunteers.
They will work in close co-operation
with the ANMs visiting these places.
Eight health education programmes
with the help of ANMs and school
teachers have been organised. Medical
check-up camps have also been
organised to check the health of
pregnant women, children and
elderly persons.
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2.2 Page 12 |
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Advisory Council
Advisory Council Lauds
Training Programme for Panchayats
Families living below the poverty
The Advisory Council of the expressed the opinion that since there
. Populatio~ Foundation of India were now a number of agencies in
linewilleach get Rs.500/-for a girl
childbornto the familyafterAugust
15thisyear.TheGovernmentwould
met in New Delhi on July 28, to the field, imparting training to
also give free education to the girl
review the progress of the various Panchayat members to undertake the
child upto Class-X. The Prime
projects sponsored by the PFI and to
give guidance for future activities.
Dr K Srinivasan, Executive
Director explained the steps initiated
by the Foundation to promote the
wide list of responsibilities given to
them under the Constitution, care
must be taken that there was no
unnecessary duplication of efforts and
consequent wastage of resources.
Minister Mr. I.K. Gujral has
announced that the scheme would
be implementedfrom October 2,
birth anniversary of Mahatma
Gandhi.
Panchayat
Raj
Training Programme
in the areas of health
and family welfare. He
said the programme
design had been
worked out in
consultation with
M S Swaminathan
EFFORTS OF
NON-GOVERNMENT
ORGANISATIONS WOULD
HAVE GREATER SUCCESS IF
THE CO-OPERATION OF
THE CONCERNED STATE
GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
COULD BE ENLISTED
On the general
pattern of execution
of projects, the
Advisory Council
was of the opinion
that the efforts of
non-government
organisations would
have greater success
He emphasised the necessity of
creation
of
information,
empowerment of people by giving
proper publicity to the various
schemes to make people aware of
their entitlement. Dr Swaminathan
said that apart from improving the
quality of equipment and training, it
was essential to assess the degree of
Research Founda-tion,
if the co-operation of satisfaction of the users of the services
Madras, with a total investment of the concerned State government on a score card of a graded scale by
Rs.50 lakhs in one year. The project agencies could be enlisted. There using a number of probing questions.
will be implemen-ted in seven were welcome instances where the He emphasised the importance of
districts in six States. Giving the State governments had placed the drawing -up clear work plans with
details of the plan of execution, Dr
Srinivasan said the broad modules of
the training had been developed,
available also in local languages,
which would serve as guidelines to
serVIcesof theIr local a encies under
t e ctional control of the non-
govemm,ent or ani-sations and these
ha always produced beneficipl
r~ XRe CO'Oncidl eliberated upon
allocation of specific responsibilities
and effective monitoring. Dr
Swaminathan said the work plan
would serve like a memorandum of
understanding.
consulting organisations for
developing their own training
modules. The intention was to bring
out a manual and also a video cassette
to explain what a Panchayat member
was expected to do to improve health
and sanitary conditions and promote
reproductive health programmes. The
Adivsory Council commended the
efforts made by the Population
Foundation of India and approved
the manner in which the project was
sought to be implemented. Members
t e question
of
There
were
improvement of quality
IT IS ESSENTIAL
discussions on the
of services. The Chairman
TO ASSESS THE
problems relating to
of the Advisory Council,
DEGREE OF
execution of large area
Dr M S Swaminathan said
SATISFACTION OF
projects. The Council was
that information on the
THE USERS OF
of the opinion that
facilities to which people THE SERVICES ON A Population Foundation of
were entitled should be
compiled and circulated.
SCORE CARD OF A
GRADED SCALE
India could stay away
from large area projects
He pointed out that even
as there were many
in more advanted States like Tamil administrative and logistic problems
Nadu people were not aware of many which were difficult for the
of the well publicised programmes. Foundation to handle.
•
Published by the POPULATION FOUNDATION OF INDIA, 8-28, Qutab Institutional Area, New Delhi-110016. Tel. : 6867080, 6867081
Typesetted and Printed by Reproductions India, 198119, Sapna Apts., Ramesh Market, Easi of Kailash, New Delhi-110065. Ph.: 6233269, 6216287
Editorial Direction & Guidance : Dr. K. Srinivasan
Editorial Consultant : Asim Chatterli