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JRD Tata Oration Five |
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JRD TAT A
E!I!I
MEMORIAL ORATION
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!!!!flIIIII
FIFTH
dII
(13th D.J!cember 1999)
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POPULATION FOUNDATION OF INDIA
NEW DELHI
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..
JRD Tata, Founder Chairman,
Population F~undation of India
Born July 29,1904 - Died November 29, 1993 .
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---
y
JRDTATA
MEMORIAL ORATION
FIFTH
DR NAFIS SADIK
Executive Director, UNFPA &
Under-Secretary-General, United Nations
On
- A 'NEW WOMAN' FOR INDIA A NEW INDIA
FOR WOMEN
(13th December 1999)
POPULATION FOUNDATION OF INDIA
NEW DELHI
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CPREFACE)
Family Planning programme has been reoriented in
the recent years. Family Planning activities are now
considered to be an integral part of Reproductive and
Child Health Services. This has been made an official
policy of Government of India since October 1997.
The International Conference on Population and
Development ( ICPD) held in Cairo in September 1994
can be considered as a water-shed in the direction of
redefining the linkages between population and
development and reorienting populatIon policies and
national programmes of famIly planning. It recognized
the growmg global awareness that population, poverty,
patterns of production and consumption, gender equity,
reproductive rights and health of women are so closely
interconnected that none of them can be considered and
acted upon in isolation. Though it recognized that large
populatIOn sizes and continuing high population growth
rates in developing countries, including India, are posing
serious hurdles to development, the solutions for these
problems, it was pointed out, did not lie in vertical target-
oriented time-bound programmes of family planning
which treated women as irresponsible reproductive
machines to be controlled through various cunning
schemes of family planning, but treating them as human
bein~s to be empowered to take their own decisions on
famIly size wIth programmes for gender equity,
reproductive rights and reproductive health. Family size
decisions, with regard to spacing between births and
limitation are to be taken by couples within the context
of improvement of gender equity, reproductive rights and
reproductive health and not from macro level
considerations of reductions in the fertility levels of a
population of the country to suit the planning needs of
the governments at large. The ICPD Programme of Action
has, however, recommended that family planning services
should be universally available to all couples of the globe
by the year 2015 as a part of the broadened approach to
reproductive health ana rights.
The era of "motivating" couples for adoption of
small family norm telling them of the advantages of
lowered fertility levels to their own family and the country
as whole is over and most of the couples by themselves
seem to opt for better spacing between b~rths and
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limitation of family size to two or three children mainly
with a view to improve their own health and the health
and surviv31 chances of their children. The POA
recommendation of offering contraceptive services to all
couples before 2015 can be Implemented in India without
any targets on number of couples to be recruited by the
programme.
The Foundation has also been making a number of
suggestions for consideration of the Government, from
time to time, to strengthen the national family welfare
programme, currently implemented in a wider rubric of
Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) Programme. PFI,
as a national apex level body, believes that NGOs working
at the micro-level not only have a better understanding of
the peoples' problems but also can meet the unmet
demand of the services at the micro level. It has
undertaken the training of health and social workers of
NGOs working in the slums of Delhi, with financial
support from the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
As a funding agency too, the Foundation has funded
projects focussing on promoting and providing
Reproductive and Child Health Services including family
planning in Delhi slums and other parts of States like
Maharashtra, Gwalior, Cuttack etc.
As a part of its advocacy programme, the JRD Tata
Memorial Oration in memory of the founder of the
Foundation was started in 1995, the Silver Jubilee Year
of the Foundation. We had the privilege of havin~ Dr
N afi s Sadik, Executive Director, U ni ted NatIOns
Population Fund, deliver a special address at a Seminar
organised as a part of the event. It is in the fitness of things
that in the new Millennium, Dr Nafis Sadik is delivering
the fifth JRD Tata Memorial Oration. The Subject of her
lecture today is "A 'New Women for India'- A New India
for Women".
I am sure, this fifth JRD Tata Memorial Oration wiJI
stimulate the Government and Non-Governmental
Organisations to come forward together through a
coordinated approach to achieve better results through
appropriate gender empowerment programmes for
population stabilisation and Reproductive Health
progammes.
New Delhi
3rdJanuary 2000
Dr K Srinivasan
Executive Director
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( FIFTHJRDTATAMEMORIALORATION)
Speech by Dr. Bharat Ram, Chairman
Distinguished speaker of the day, Dr. Nafis Sadik,
respected guests, Ladies and Gentleman -
It is my privilege to welcome all of you, especially Dr.
Nafis Sadik, for being with us today at the fifth JRD Tata
Memorial Oration.
JRD Tata, in whose memory we all have assembled
here today, was a man of deep commitment to national
growth and development. We all know about his great
contributions to the industrial growth oflndia and to Civil
Aviation, but his concern and contributions on social
issues, such as poverty, unemployment and ever growing
population are no less important. Mr. Tata was a colossus
among the Indians who enriched the national life in the
20th Century in many ways. During his long and
cl}equered life, Mr. Tata had promoted and fostered several
causes in the service of science and nation. The number
of institutions and causes he was associated with is truly
legion. In his honour the Population Foundation of India
has instituted the "JRD Tata Memorial Oration" series
commencing from 1995. He believed that family planning
programme is an important determinant for humanizing
any population.
This year, we have the honour and privilege of having
with us Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director, UNFPA and
Under Secretary General, United Nations, to deliver the
fifth JRD Tata Memorial Oration. Dr. Nafis Sadik needs
no formal introduction to anyone in the field of Population
and Family Planning Programmes. Dr. Sadik has
consistently called attention to the importance of
addressing the needs of women, and of involving women
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directly in making and carrying out development policy.
In June 1990, the Secretary General of the United Nations
appointed Dr. Sadik as Secretary General of the
International Conference on Population and Development
(ICPD) 1994. At the International Conference, Dr. Sadik
said:
"When the essential needs of the individual are
- addressed, those of larger groups the family, the
community, the nation and indeed the planet are more
likely to be kept in the right perspective. One of the
challenges to the Conference is to find the balance
between individual rights and responsibilities on the one
hand, and the rights and obligations of the wider society
on the other."
The International Conference on Population and
Development held in Cario was a watershed in the
population movement in the world, especially for the
developing countries. The discussions and
recommendations in the Conference focussed on three
important issues:
Population issue including family planning and
reproductive health should be viewed in the context of
empowerment of women and providing them with more
choices through expanded access to education and
health services and promoting skilled development and
employment.
Family planning programmes should not be viewed as
instruments for achieving the demographic goals set
by government but as part and parcel of providing
reproductive health care to women and couples.
At no stage in the programme of reproductive health
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and family planning, women's rights are to be violated
by incentives, coercion directly or indirectly.
In line with the deliberations of the International
Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held
at Cario in 1994 and consequent upon change of policy
by the government of India, the goal of family planning
programme shifted from purely demographic parameters
to wider concerns of reproductive health and development.
The 'Reproductive Health Package' assumes that
reduction of fertility is a natural consequence of lowered
infant mortality, better reproductive health, higher female
literacy and above all, improvement in the quality of
serVIces.
As a result of shift in emphasis, the Foundation decided
to focus its attention in the following areas:
i. Developing specific population policy goals for each
State and mobilising political support for these goals
among the prominent political parties in each State.
ii. Developing and supporting Action Research
Projects in selected areas, with the support of other
non-governmental organisations and promoting
reproductive health, including maternal and child
health care, control of STD's, Child nutrition and
spacing methods for men and women.
iii. Working in close collaboration with other donor
agencies with similar objectives.
iv.Launch Advocacy programmes on RCH and
Population stabilisation for leaders from
different strata of society.
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v. Developing and disseminating data base on RCH
and population persuasion at the district level, and
vi. Developing methods of monitoring and evaluation
of such programmes not only in terms of
demographic impact but also in terms of their impact
on maternal and child health care, quality of services
and making them sustainable.
To have greater impact of the above activities,
Foundation decided to focus its attention on the four large
Northern States Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and
Madhya Pradesh which account for 40% of India's
population. These are the states in which fertility levels
are still relatively high and education and women's health
care have been neglected. The excessive population
growth in these states has affected the national population
scene.
The Foundation had earlier organised Round Table
Conferences on Population Stablisation and related
Development Issues in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh
held respectively at Lucknow and Bhopal. The two
Conferences, attended by political leaders of the states,
administrators, social scientists and others engaged in
development work in the two states, discussed in detail
some of the major constraints that have inhibited the
efforts of development and population stabilisation. In
the case of Uttar Pradesh, the Conference made a number
of recommendations which were submitted to the Uttar
Pradesh Government, a major recommendation being the
need for a population policy of the state.
As a result of the recommendations made by the
Conference, the Madhya Pradesh Government, constituted
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a Committee to formulate a population policy for the
State. The Executive Director of the Foundation, Dr. K
Srinivasan has been nominated as an expert on this
Committee. The next Conference in the series for Bihar
will be soon held at Patna.
To equip and strengthen NGOs working in slum areas
of Delhi, the Foundation has set up a Training and
Resource Development Centre (TRDC) for training the
middle level workers in Reproductive and Child Health
(RCH). The objective of training, which has been founded
by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, is
to develop a cadre of workers for NGOs with technical
knowledge and practical skills to develop, implement and
monitor Reproductive and Child Health programmes.
Under a project funded by UNICEF, the Foundation
has started training Panchayat Raj members in Haryana.
A total of 69,000 elected members of Panchayats in
Haryana are in the process of being trained. The project
aims to develop the capacity of Panchayat members,
especially women members to become aware of their role
and responsibilities in fulfilling the basic development
needs of the people and ensure social justice. The
members are being trained on issues related to
reproductive and child health, family planning,
population, water and environment, nutrition, control of
communicable diseases and resource planning.
As a part of its advocacy programme, the Foundation
instituted in 1990 'Encounter with Population Crisis'
lecture series inviting important international and Indian
celebrities to deliver lectures once a year to focus on
critical issues related to population and to carry the debate
forward. The inaugural lecture was given by Dr. Norman
E Borlaug, Nobel Laureate and Father of the Green
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Revolution, followed by Dr. M S Swaminathan, Dr. Ashok
Mitra, Dr. Abid Hussain and Mr. Vasant Sathe.
In the Silver Jubilee Year of the Foundation, the
'Encounter with Population Crisis' the annual lecture series
was rechristened as 'JRD Tata Memorial Oration' in
memory of the founder of the Foundation. The first of
these lectures was given by Mr. Ramakrishna Hegde,
followed by Mr. Chandra Shekhar, Dr. Najm'" Heptulla
and Mr. I K Gujral, former Prime Minister of India.
We have today with us Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive
Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to
deliver the fifth JRD Tata Memorial Oration
I would .like to say a few words in her honour -
Dr. (Mrs) Nafis Sadik is the Executive Director of the
United Nations Population Fund (UNFP A) and holds the
rank of the Under Secretary General. On her appointment
in 1987, she became the first woman to head one of the
United Nations major voluntarily funded programmes.
As Chief Executive of UNFP A, the world's largest
source of multilateral assistance to population
programmes with a programme level of approximately
$309 million in 1996, Dr. Sadik directs a worldwide staff
of about 800.
Dr. Sadik was educated at Loreto College (Calcutta)
and received her doctor of medicine degree from Dow
Medical College (Karachi). She served her internship in
gynaecology and obstetrics at City Hospital in Baltimore,
Maryland (USA). Dr. Sadik completed further studies at
the Johns Hopkins University (USA) and held the post of
research fellow in physiology at Queens University,
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Kingston, Qntario (Canada).
From 1954 to 1963, Dr. Sadik served as civilian medical
officer in charge of women's and children's wards in
various Pakistani armed forces hospitals, directing a
medical staff of upto 50 officers. In 1964, she was
appointed Head of Health Section of the Government's
Planning Commission, responsible for developing,
preparing and evaluating a five year health and family
planning programme as part of the nations overall
development plan.
In 1966, Dr. Sadik became Director of Planning and
Training of the Pakistan Central Family Planning Council,
the Government agency charged with carrying out the
national family planning programme. She was appointed
Deputy Director General in 1968 and Director General in
1970. Dr. Sadik joined UNFPA in October 1971, and
became Chief of the Programme Division in 1973. From
1982 until 1987, sh~ was Assistant Executive Director.
Dr. Sadik is a recipient of a number of Awards and
Honours including International award from the National
Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association
(NFPHRA), USA in 1993 and Paul Harris fellow 1997 by
Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, in appreciation
of tangible and significant assistance given for the
furtherance of better understanding and fostering of
relation among people of the world.
I would now request Dr. Nafis Sadik to address the
audience. Dr. Nafis Sadik...
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- (A NEW WOMAN FOR INDIA A NEW INDIA FOR WOMEN)
Dr Nafis Sadik, Executive Director, UNFPA
Dr. Bharat Ram, Chairman, and Dr. K Srinivasan,
Executive Director, Population Foundation of India,
friends -
It is a great honour to be invited to deliver this
lecture in honour ofMr. J R D Tata. J R D was not only a
great industrialist, he was a great humanist, a man of
purpose and, above all, a man of vision. His vision was of
an India in the forefront of the world's industrial powers;
a new India, built by employment in a growing modern
sector, supported by secure and healthy families,
empowered by universal education and health care. In his
vision, India's fundamental values would be preserved,
strengthened and adapted to the modern world.
JRD believed that no woman should have more
children than she was ready and able to support. He was
one of the pioneers of family planning services in the
workplace, and he did much to promote the idea that
voluntary family planning should be a normal part of
everyday life, as it is for millions of men and women today,
especially in the industrial world.
The marriage of economic and social development
goals in India's development planning owes much to JRD
Tata as a pioneer of the modern economy. He understood
well that economic growth was only one part of
development. As he said-"No success or achievement in
material terms is worthwhile unless it serves the needs
and interests of the country and its people." Accordingly,
this year's national report on progress towards
reproductive health goals states, "Human development is
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the foundation of sustainable development".
An Evolving Policy
India's evolving population policy owes much to the
thinking of another great Indian, Amartya Sen who got
the Nobel prize in Economics last year. In 1994, he
pointed out "Central to reducing birth rates is a close
connection between women's well-being and their power
to make their own decisions and bring about changes in
the fertility pattern. ..reductions in birth rates have been
typically associated with improvement ofwomen's status
and their ability to make their voices heard-often the result
of expanded opportunities for schooling and political
activity. "
That is exactly what we are seeing in India today.
Literacy among India's women is 58 per cent today, compared
with 8 per cent in 1947.The panchayat revolution is bringing
unprecedented numbers of women into the political process,
ending forever the idea that women are not interested or
cannot contribute to political life at all levels of the socio-
economic sectors.
In 1996, India took a bold step towards giving women
the power to make their own decisions, renouncing
demographic goals and targets in favour of a comprehensive
approach to reproductive health. In the intervening three
years there has been a mighty effort to establish reproductive
health services as part of primary or basic health care. The
new approach calls for new premises, new equipment and
the accompanying training and supervision that is required.
Beyond these elementary steps, the move from family
planning to reproductive health calls for a fundamental
change in approach, treating the users of health services as
valued and respected clients. In comprehensive reproductive
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health care, service users become the masters rather than
the servants of policy. The Policy is meant to serve the
individuals and not to dictate the individuals.
This is such a fundamental change that it will take
some time to implement, and it is not surprising that progress
has been varied.Nevertheless, the first steps have been taken,
and with political commitment, good leadership and good
will, India can look forward not only to better reproductive
health, but to smaller families and slower population growth
rates as a result.
The drastic nature of the change and the energy with
which it has been pursued show that India's leaders
understand the importance of this decision. The move from
family planning to reproductive health, and the move from
demographic targets to goals based on broad indicators of
social development, have the potential to transform not only
the lives of millions of women, but the development
prospects of India itself.
Empowerment-a Distant Dream
As Amartya Sen correctly perceived, freedom to make
decisions about fertility is the cornerstone for women's
empowerment. This year's national report on reproductive
health is frank about the distance that remains between desire
and reality. It points out that empowerment is a distant dream
for many women. In its words "the process of political
empowerment that has been initiated needs to be translated
into supporting reproductive rights."
The fact is, in many parts ofIndia, women are second-
class citizens in their own country. The progress of recent
years, and the contrast between different parts of the Union
only throw into high relief the stark reality of suffering and
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deprivation. Women lag in all quantifiable areas of
development, and in many sectors which cannot easily be
measured. In addition they suffer active discrimination and
violence at all stages of their lives.
Women work all day, every day, inside and outside the
home. They are responsible for the upkeep of the home; for
food, fuel and water; for children's health care and education
and often for the income to pay for these things. Recent
studies here have shown that women in agriculture work
twice as many hours as men. Yet they gain status and respect
for only one among their many activities-the bearing and
raising of male children. Even in child-bearing, women can
expect scant support. India's maternal mortality rate is 570
per hundred thousand live births, well above the average for
developing countries. About two-thirds of these deaths are
easily preventable.
Most ofIndia's women are poor-and most ofIndia's
poor are women and their children. Yet poverty is not the
whole story. The experience of Kerala and increasingly the
other States from South; even Rajasthan, which is making
great progress, showthat basic health care, literacy and social
integration can be achieved at relatively low cost, given a
high level of political investment and leadership. Female
literacy in Kerala is 86 per cent; maternal mortality is below
200 per hundred thousand; and infant mortality is 16
compared with a national average of 73.
Much of the suffering oflndia's women can be traced
to active discrimination starting even before birth. Relative
neglect, or as Amartya Sen calls it a "process of quiet
violence", decreases girls' chances of survival. Poor health-
care and nutrition in infancy, together with sex-selective
abortion, results in a skewed ratio of girls to boys, 93 to
100.Kerala again shows that this is not inevitable-the Kerala
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ratio is 103 to 100, close to the biological norm. And, I must
also point out that these problems are not only in India, they
are found in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal too.
In addition to neglect, India's women can expect actual
violence and harassment in the home, on the street and in
the workplace. UNICEF reports that every 26 minutes a
woman is molested; a rape occurs every 34 minutes.
Estimates of violence vary, but the reality is that it exists, it
is very widespread, and it is very widely tolerated. It even
has an affectionate nickname, "Eve-teasing". What is
happening to women in India, however, is not teasing, it is
dehumanising. It reminds me of the former regime in South
Africa, where a whole class of people were simply treated
as if they were not human. Unlike the old South Africa,
women in India today have a constitutional right to protection
against violence: but in practice they have no such protection.
Women in India live under a form of gender apartheid that
is no less real for being undeclared or tolerated.
It is time for the goodmen oflndia- -the leadersand
the teachers, the responsiblemen of affairsand in government
at all levels, to stand up against the dehumanisation of almost
half of the population. This is an evil that, if neglected,
eventually will dehumanise all of us. There is nothing in
India's diversity of traditions, cultures or values which
supports it. India is changing; and there is no room in the
new India for violence of any kind against women.
The second-classstatusof womenin manyparts oflndia,
and the evils thatflow fromit are familiar.Theyare throwninto
new prominence,however,by a new menace to India's people
and India's development,the threat ofHIV/AIDS.
New estimates show that around 4 million Indians have
the HIV infection. In some states, particularly in the South
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and West of the country, HIV has a significant grip on the
urban population, with over one pregnant woman in 50
testing positive for HIV. In the North East, HIV infection is
spreading rapidly among men who inject drugs and spread
it to their wives. Other states of India detected their very
first HIV infections just in the last year or two.
The picture is not complete, but we know enough to
see that HIV/AIDS is not confined to a few weak or immoral
people. It is a national crisis, it affects everyone, and it will
become much worse if not approached with courage and
determination.
Yet AIDS is still widely seen as some sort of
punishment for immorality, especially on the part ofwomen.
A recent study shows that faithful wives, who are infected
by their husbands, are frequently blamed by their in-laws
for the disease. This kind of attitude against women exist in
many parts of the world.
The stigma affects health care. Hospitals are reported
to turn away HIV-infected patients or to serve their needs
badly. In a recent study, health workers say that treating
patients with HIV is a waste of time and money because the
patients will die anyway -though they do not feel the same
way about other chronic or fatal diseases.
These negativeperceptionscan be defeated. TamilNadu
has conducteda vigorous anti AIDS campaign. Surveys show
that casual sex has fallen and condomuse with casual partners
rose to 50 per cent in 1998fromjust 17percent in 1996.
A New Woman in The Minds Of Men
The fight for reproductive rights, against gender
violence, and against HIV/AIDS are essentially the same
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battle. The battle will be fought and won in the same place-
in the minds of men, and to a lesser extent, in the minds of
women. Most women already know the dangers of early and
repeated pregnancy; they already know that malnutrition and
anaemia threaten the safety of their pregnancies; they already
know that unsafe abortions can kill them; they already know
that abstinence and safe sex can protect them from both
unwanted pregnancy and HIV infections. It is not clear
whether men know these things, or, if they do know, whether
they care. That is the crucial difference in India today.
The first response is clear. At the same time that the
national population programme extends reproductive health
care, education, and protection against violence to women,
it must work on boys and men to take their full share of
responsibility. The message to men, and boys (from an early
age), must be-respect all women. Whether they are sisters,
daughters, cousins or strangers; wherever they are from,
whatever their state in life, all women deserve your respect.
If you learn respect for all women, you will earn respect
from your wife and your daughters. And that is worth more
than gold.
The second response must be to instill in women
respect for themselves and for each other. No woman
deserves harassment or violence. No woman deserves an
unwanted pregnancy. No woman deserves to be infected with
sexually transmitted diseases. Self-respect is basic to health
and strength of the family, to the new Indian woman and to
the new India.
India's new direction in its population programme will
help create a culture of respect for women. But first the
programme must respect itself and those who work for it.
Workers in reproductive health are some of the most valuable
public servants in the new India- they themselves deserve
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respect as professionals: good training, support and
supervision, and earnings that reflect their true value.
Removal of quotas and targets should not mean loss offocus
or direction: there are good standards for quality of care and
results will be measured in maternal and child survival, and
in healthier, smaller families.
Conclusion
The renewed approach to population will help India
achieve its ambitions for economic as well as social
development. As Mr. JRD Tata correctly perceived, the most
important of these ambitions is human well-being. The new
population policy will benefit first and foremost the half of
India's population that most needs help. The progress of
women towards equality and dignity-the emergence of a new
woman for the new India-represents the very essence of
JRD's vision of development. I wish you success in achieving
it not only for India but women the world over. I thank you.
,.. ..
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( GENERAL DISCUSSIONS AFTER ORATION)
After the Oration, a few questions were asked for
the speaker's reactions. Besides, some suggestions were
made on Population and Development programmes. Some
of them are as under:
An Economist of Society for International
Development, New Delhi. raised the point about the
social clause imposed by WTO regarding the child labour,
which is of great importance for the developing countries
in formulation of the population policies. The
considerations being shown by WTO regarding child
labour are understandable since the social clause has its
impact also on social policies including population
policies.
Mrs Rami Chhabra, Member, Advisory Council. PFI,
said that Dr. Nafis Sadik is a very strong votary for integrated
approach to population issues and also for a broader
perspective, but we are also concerned by the fact that at the
ICPO itself, it was a very narrow package that got support.
However, in the five-year review that took place recently,
much of the broader package that has been talked about and
the support that has been asked for today is 17billion dollars,
which indeed is' a narrow package to implement all the
developmental concerns expressed at ICPO. We also know
that contribution from the developed world is going down
and it is the developing world which has been asked to
contribute more funds for such a broad based integrated
package. Therefore, there are concerns that while we talk
about the broader package, what we really are concerned with
is the narrow financial support, becoming narrower.
Ms. Padma Seth, former Member of the National
Commission for Women, while appreciating the contents
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of Dr. Nafis Sadik's address, said that women should not
be treated as OBCs. They should be given proper
acknowledgement and respect in the society. They should
be empowered to demand their rights not only in relation
to health but also in relation to other aspects for their
overall development.
Dr. D P Singh, Member, Governing Board, raised a
point about rapid growth of population in developing
countries. He said, "we have become from one-third of a
billion to one billion now in 50 years. In many developed
countries, there is a negative rate of population growth.
The package for population stabilization programmes
must essentially has an economic aspect. Unless you have
that, all these discussions about empowerment, education
and social development, are not of worth. The only answer
to a country like India is to set up mother projects with
economic development as a base." He strongly supported
the idea of giving incentives to the people for population
control, apart from education, social security,
empowerment etc.
Dr. Mohini Giri, Chairperson, Guild of Services,
while appreciating the lecture, emphasised that health
should be considered as a fundamental right.
In reply, Dr. Nafis Sadik said that these views are
very much being discussed. If surveys are done in the
developing countries, it would reveal that women have
more than the desired number of children regardless of
religion, caste and culture because of lack of access to
the services and above all, their low status in the society.
Women cannot go against husbands, families, and what
society expects from them. Male preference is more in
countries like China, India, Thailand and Korea. It is not
in Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia. Attitude towards
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women is generated from the society; parents do not
educate their girls because normally they consider
daughters as financial liability and their financial security
comes from the person who is going to marry her. Higher
education is preferred for the boys as they are the future
bread-earners of the family. These aspects are
predetermined by the society practically throughout the
world. What emerges specifically out of all is that woman
do not have any decision-making power within household
as well as in the society. This vicious circle has to be
broken by the society itself. The girls should be educated,
empowered and provided with the opportunities for self-
dependent and self-development.
Dr. Sadik added that the recommendations of the
convention on Child Labour are very much discussed in
the developing world. This is to make sure that the
conditions in which the children work do not hamper their
education, health and they should be provided congenial
environment to work. The WTO clauses are something
different. The ILO conventions are discussed in great
detail before their implementation.
Answering to Mrs Rami Chhabra's question, Dr.
Nafis Sadik said that the package at Cairo was meant for
Reproductive Health Services, and all other related
services were included in the packages discussed in other
International Conferences.
She further emphasized that fertility has declined
everywhere in the world, including the developing
countries like India, where the programme is of long
standing. The Southern States in India have already
achieved replacement levels of fertility. India has a
successful socially oriented programme. The family size
is going down and contraceptive usage has increased
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tremendously. In India, the incentives for targets and
quotas have produced very distorted reporting. Ifwe make
efforts in getting half the population to participate in
development through education, basic health, involvement
in political processes and in decision-making within their
families, the problem can be tackled in a realistic manner.
But it has to be approachetl according to individual needs
and requirements. All governments who participated in
the ICPD conference have signed the Charter of Human
Rights, but when it comes to implementation, they are
not really responsible for the same at the micro level. The
international norms and conventions can be reached to
the people only through the national levels and to the
local levels.
..
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Copyright 1999 POPULATION FOUNDATION OF INDIA
(Formerly Family Planning Foundation)
Published by :
H.P. Nagpal
Secretary and Treasurer,
Population Foundation Of India,
B-28, Qutab Institutional Area, New Delhi- 110016
Composed and Printed by :
GRAFFITI
11737, Street No.3,
Sat Nagar, Karol Bagh,
New Delhi- 110005
Tel.: 5816308, 5816396
Editing
Geeta Malhotra