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Focus 1990 January - March |
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Symposium Highlights Weaknesses and Potential
of Communication Strategies in Family Welfare
A quick and intensive review
of different aspects of family
planning communication, basic
strategies and structure, res-
ponse to the dynamics of
change, capacity to bring about
desired behavioural change
etc., was undertaken at a one-
day high profile symposium on
"Communication Strategies in
Family Welfare", held in New
Delhi on February 12, 1990.
A number of national and
international communication
specialists participated in the
symposium organised by the
Family Planning Foundation in
collaboration with Population
Communication (International),
New York, and with assist-
ance of UNFPA (India).
The symposium coincided
with the first ever meeting in
India of the Population Com-
munication (International). In
addition to the experts of this
prestigious organisation headed
by Mr. David 0 Poindexter.
international
communication
luminaries like Dr. Everett M.
Rogers, Chairman of the An-
nenberg School of Communi-
cation, University of California,
USA, Dr. Royal D. Colle,
Chairman of the Department
of Communication, Cornell
University and Ms. C. Guitodi
Alwares, Folk Media expert
from the Philippines participat-
ed in the symposium.
"Humrahi"
The Population Communi-
cation
(International)
holds only one meeting each
year outside New York
in a country where they
have a collaborative pro-
ject in hand. In India, they
are collaborating with the
Family Planning Founda-
tion in promoting the pro-
duction of a Family Plan-
ning Soap Opera, HUM-
RAHI carrying the mes-
sage of family welfare as
an
entertainment-cum-
educational
experiment.
Family Planning Founda-
tion would undertake a
scientific evaluation of the
impact of this Soap Opera,
which may, in the years to
come, become a fore-run-
ner of such programmes
aimed at securing desired
behavioural change in sup-
port of socially important
issues.
Among the more important
Indian participants were,
Dr. P. C. Joshi, who had au-
thored a monumental report on
Software for the Doordarshan
programmes, Mr. George Ver-
ghese, Chairman of the Media
Foundation, Mr. Gerson da
Cunha, formerly of the Lintas
India and UNICEF and a pro-
minent expert from the world
of CommellCial Advertising,
Dr. N. Bhaskara Rao, President
of the Operations Research
Group, Dr. Krishan Sondhi,
Adviser, Planning Commission,
Mr. A. R. Shinde, Director-
General, All India Radio,
Mrs. Rami Chhabra, formerly
Adviser Media in the Union
Ministry of Healt_h and Family
Welfa-re, Mr, Roger C. Pereira,
Social Communication Spe-
cialist, Mrs. Tara Sinha, Adver-
tising Specialist, Ms. K. Su-
jatha Rao, Directbr (Media) in
the Union Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare, and a
team of Doordarshan experts
headed by Mr. A. S. Tatari,
Addi tional Director-General,
Doordarshan.
. Mr. J. R. D. Tata, Chairman,
Family Planning Foundation
also attended the afternoon
session of the symposium when
a profile of new strategies was
debated.
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The symposium was divided
into morning and afternoon
sessions-morning session was
chaired by Dr. P. C. Joshi and
afternoon session by Mr. Gerson
da Cunha.
There were as many as six
present9-tions, one each from
Mr. V. N. Kakar, formerly
Chief Media, Union Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare,
Mr. P. K. Nijhawan, formerly
Chief Editor in the Union Min-
istry of Health and Family
Welfare, Dr. N. Bhaskara Rao,
. President, Operations Research
Group, ·Mr. M. P. Lele, Deputy
Director-General, All India Ra-
dio, Dr. Royal D. Colle and
Dr. Everett M. Rogers, on dif-
ferent aspects of family plan-
ning communications, strategies
and practice. Most of these
papers were critical and based
on recent insights, underscoring
the limitations of the com-
munication strategies followed
so far and the immense possi-
bilities that imaginative com-
munications offered to stimu-
late dynamic change and aid
the diffusion process.
Settfng the Tone
Welcoming those present and
setting the tone of the sympo-
sium as a whole, Mr. Harish
Khanna,". Executive Director,
Family 'Planning Foundation
said that family welfare pro-
gramme ·'had" nor··succeeded to
attain the desired levels in
spite of massive communi-
cation support at all levels
inasmuch as it had failed to
transmute general awareness
of contraception into indi-
vidualised practice. In his
view, if population was a criti-
cal factor in the Indian nation's
fight against' poverty, the most
i.mportant . issue was whether
we had ably mobilised all criti-
cal illputs. He said that a lot
of l.tne'asy concern had been
exptessed in various fora in
r~cent times about the failure
of the communications to ob-
tain widespread social accept-
(Seated trom left to right) Mr J.R.D. Tata, Mr. Gerson da Cunha
and Mr. Harish Khanna
ability for family welfare.
He hoped that aside of the
symposium, the informal ex-
change of views and experi-
ences between communication
specialists, educationists, writ-
ers, producers, directors, re-
searchers, broadcasters, aca-
demicians etc. would be a
very useful aspect of the
symposium.
Interaction Between Culture
and Technology
The deliberations highlighted
a number of shortcomings in this
important area during the last
40 years. That it had respond-
ed to the developing situations
in an ad-hoc manner and that
there had been a basic dicho-
tomy between concept and
practice emerged as a major
conclusion. It was strongly felt
that this needed to be recti-
fied in the Eighth Five Year
Plan in order to obtain maxi-
mum interaction between cul-
ture and technology.
By and large, it was felt that
family planning could succeed
in India only if it was adaptive
rather than adoptive. We must
transplant in our own world-
view, certain dynamic ideas
which people could adapt them-
selves to without changing
theix- value system.
The general consensus was
that the. media approach has
now to be area-specific, region-
specific and culture-specific
and the expanding world of
Radio and Doordarshan afford-
ed enough opportunities in that
field.
Another important suggestion
was that the administrative
structure of family planning
communications should be so
changed a..,to enable the media
administrator to stay long
enough in his position and res-
pond to different situations in
a sustained manner.
All in all, the symposium
spawned useful suggestions
which if pursued earnestly,
could go a long way in build-
ing a viable communication
strategy capable of overcoming
existing shortcomings, many of
which flow from strong varia-
tions in population groups.
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u IV, Report Praises India for Immunisatlon Scheme
40 PerCent of Child Deaths in Subcontinent
Despite many achievements
on the economic front, the pro-
blem of absolute poverty in
the world still has its centre
of gravity in' South Asia, says
the 1990 state of the world's
children report from UNICEF.
India, Pakistan and Bangla-
desh account for about 40 per
cent of all the young children
who die in the world each year,
45 per cent of those who are
not in scho0l, and over half of
those who live in absolute
poverty.
The percentage of children
who are malnourished and the
percentage of babies born with
low birth weights in still signi-
ficantly higher in South Asia
than in any other region of the
world, including sub-Saharan
Africa.
The challenge of South Asia
is therefore, that of finding
efficient ways and means of
converting its steady economic
progress into equivalent im-
provements in· the health,
nutrition and education of its
children, it says.
The report places India at
the 37th spot in a list of coun·
tries ranked in descending
order for their estimated under
five mortality rate in 1988.
India's rate of 149, compared
to 282 in 1960, placed it in the
"high" category. Afghanistan,
with an under 5 mortality rate
of 300 tops the list while Fin-
land has the lowest at just
seven.
According to the report, the
percentage of one-year-old
children fully immunised has
gone up dramatically between
1981 and 1987-88. For instance,
the percentage covered by
DPT shot up from 31 to 73 per
cent.
On the whole, the report
makes many favourable refer-
ences to India. For instance,
it notes that it is one of the
cQuntries where levels of mili-
tary spending have begun to
fall for the first time. in 50
years.
In the area of child nutrition,
the report takes note of the
achievements in Tamil Nadu,
where the regular monitoring
of child growth and education
of parents had reduced mal-
nutritio'n on a significant scale
. at an afford,able cost,
> o (Continued)
Causes of child deaths
Almost two thirds of the 14 million child deaths each
year are accounted for by just four specific causes -
diarrhoea, respiratory infections, measles, and
neo-natal tetanus. The great majority of these
.. deaths could now be prevented at very low cost.
• For the purposes of this chart, one cause has been allocated
for each child death. In practice, children often die of multiple
causes and malnutrition is a contributory cause in approximately
one third of all child deathS. Measles deaths are sometimes
Source..WHO ~nd UNICEF eshmates.
ascribed to acute respiratory infection as a severe case
of measles renders a child highly susceptible to other infections
and pneumonia is often the ultimate reason for a death for which.
measles is primarily responsible.
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The WorId Bank-aided pro-
ject in Tamil Nadu had reduced
child mortality by about half
in 9000 villages at a cost of less
than Rs. 170 per child per year.
it says.
The report also mentions
India's efforts in the elimination
of guinea worm disease. with
the number of reported cases
reduced from 44,800 in 1983 to
only 12,000 in 1988.
According to the report, the
achievements of recent years
have shown what can be done
jf the will is there.
Immunisation, which pro-
tected fewer than 10 per cent
of the developing world's child-
ren a decade ago, now reaches
70 per cent and is saving the
lives of about two million a
year.
In addition, says the report,
there are an estimated 1.5 mil-
lion children who are "walking,
running and playing normally
in the villages and neighbour-
hoods of the developing world
today who would be crippled
by polio were it not for the
immunisation efforts of the
last decade."
Most Important of All
Investments
Releasing the report Mr. Karl
Eric Knutsson, Regional Direc-
tor of South Central Asia, said
that only high level political
commitment can put today's
low cost solutions into practice
on the necessary scale.
The UNICEF, Mr. Knutsson
said, has called for a world
summit for children to be held
in September 1990 at the UN
headquarters in New York. It
would be the first time that
heads of state would be meet-
ing to discuss a' major social
issue. The summit would also
give a boost to the new con-
vention on the rights of the
child which, according to
UNICEF, should become "the
standard below which any
civilised nation, rich or poor,
will be ashamed to fall.
Jt. is time that the needs of
the children were given this
kind of priority, says UNICEF's
Executive Director James P.
Grant in the report. "Protect-
ing the physical and mental
Grim Scenario
II< Nearly 8,000 children
die every day for lack of
immunisation; 7,000 die
every day due to dehy-
dration caused by diar-
rhoea and about 6,000
die every day from
pneumonia.
• The five common ill-
nesses, namely, pneu-
monia, tetanus, measles,
whooping cough and
dehydration account for
over half of all child
deaths and child mal-
nutrition in the modern
world.
• On the present trends
more than 100 million
children will die in the
present decade.
• Making available today's
low cost solutions (va-c-
cines, oral rehydra tion
or antibiotics) to all
these child health prob-
lems would cost approxi-
ma tely $ 2.5 billion a
year. This is as much
as Soviet Union spends
on vodka or the US on
advertising cigarettes.
development of children is the
most important of all invest-
ments in the social and eco-
nomic development of our so-
cieties. Doing what can now·
be done to achieve that goal is
thp,refore an issue worthy .of
its place on the agenda of the
world's political leaders, the
world's press and world's pub-
lic," the report emphasises.
Year of the girl child
Ms. Emile Watnabbe, Direc-
tor, India Country Office of
the UNICEF said that 1990 has
been declared as the year of
the girl child by the SAARC '
(South-Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation).
The UNICEF, Ms. Watnabbe
said, will actively cooperate
with the Government of the
SAARC countries to make the
year of the girl child a success.
The enrol men t g.:l girl child-
ren in primary schools in India
had increased only by one per
cent between 1980 and 1985
and special efforts needed to be
made to improve the education
of girls, she said.
LOW COST PREGNANCY
TEST DEVELOPED
A tVv"o-minutepregnancy test
which is expected to cost less
than Rs. 5/- has been develop-
ed by the National Institute
of Health and Family Welfare.
It is ready for large-scale test-
ing and is expected to be
marketed in about six months.
The Pregelisa test kit was dis-
plJ:yed at the Health and Me-
dicare India exhibition held
recently at Pragati Maidan,
New Delhi.
According to Mr. J. P. Gupta,
Director of the Institute, the
advantage of the test is that
it is cheap, easy to undergo
and can indicate pregnanqy
even in the very early stage
of conception before the first
menstrual cycle is missed.
Dr. Helen Simon, Head of the
Depart:tpent which developed
the test, says it is based on
immobilisation of antibodies
against the beta sub-unit in
the human chorionic gonado-
trophin which is secreted
through the urine by pregnant
women. The kit could be used
by a non-medical person as
the procedure is very simple-
a change in colour of the sam-
ple urine indicates pregnancy.
-The Hindu, March 10, 1990
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Nobel Laureate Bar/aug Warns
Tame the Population Monster or Perish
"Research is meaningless
unless it reaches the people
and empowers them to 0ver-
come their disadvantages and
to change their lives," said the
renowned Nobel Laureate,
Dr. Norman E. Borlaug while
delivering a lecture on March
11, on 'Population: A Challenge
to Contemporary Development
Strategies' organised by the
Family Planning Foundation.
The audience included scien-
tists, demographers, social
scientists, economists, represen-
tatives of business and industry,
educationists and representa-
tives of the youth.
rate of exponential multiplica-
tion, the present population of
5.6 billion will go on increas-
ing because we are ·adding 88
million every' year, Le., about
167 every minute. "Where will
it all end?", he asked.
Dr. Borlaug expressed grave
fears that if the world did not
succeed in taming the 'popu-
lation monster', our civilization
sions were on the decline and
there was a powerful senti-
ment all the world over against
armament. He expressed the
hope that if the vast resources
deployed for weapons could
be diverted for Bread and
Peace, the world could be
saved from the impending
catastrophe.
He noted that environmental
issues like the green-house
effect, depletion of ozone, de-
gradation of forests and des-
Recalling his acceptance
speech in 1970 when he receiv-
ed the Nobel Peace Prize for
'helping more than any single
person of his age to provide
bread for a hungry world,' he
said that excited by the possi-
bility of increasing crop yields
of cereals as he was, he had
hoped that the world could be
fed at least for 30 years. How-
ever, in 20 years out of these
30 years, while great gains had
been achieved in the production
of food, rapid increase of the
world population had more or
less demolished this edifice of
confidence. The future scena-
rio, according to Dr. Borlaug,
was even more awesome.
"Let us imagine for the sake
of argument that the first man
and woman set foot on our
planet some 306 million
years ago-the
estimated
age of the foot prints dis-
covered in volcanic ash in
Tanzania-the war ld achieved
its first billion in 1850. the
second in 1930. the third in
1960, the fourth in 1975 and the
fifth in 1987, Le., barely in a
period of 12 years." At this
Mr. J.R.D. Tata, Chairman Family Planning Foundation presented
a plaque to Dr. Norman E Borlaug. On extreme right is
Dr. Bharat Ram, Vice Chairman of F.P.F.
will face great jeopardy.
Making an impassioned plea
for realism, he pointed out that
since most of the increase was
taking place in Africa, Asia and
Latin America, the already di-
vided world might be further
polarised between the rich and
the poor.
However, striking a mild
note of calculated optimism,
Dr. Borlaug observed that the
present time appears more
propitious, because global ten-
truction of precious ecology
were inexplic1\\bly bound with
the basic population issue, be-
cause presently "human num-
bers are crowding our habitat"
and, therefore, unless a deter-
mined effort is made fairly
fast, the advantages deli-
vered by science and techno-
logy to our generation would
turn into disadvantages."
'I am basically an optimist
and place great faith in the
youth, whom I always exhort
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tu shun mediocrity and reach hundreds of millions from star-
for the stars', said the Nobel vation. He described him as lVIAJOR NEW
Laureate. He added: 'Edu- a man of action who was also INITIATIVES NEEDED
cation, especially, the education like him obsessed with popu- TO STABILISE
and empowerment of women lation. Mr. Tata recalled that POPULATION
held the key to securing mas- as far back as in 1951, he had
sive support for the cause of himself sounded the alarm
popula tion stabilisa tion.'
about the serious implications
India has failed to achieve
Referring to some recent
developments in bio-technology
and molecular genetics, Dr. Bor-
laug expressed the .view that
even if they succeeded in these
efforts, it, would only buy us
peace for another 10 years, no
more. Therefore, what was
most urgently required ,·was a
powerful effort to contain the
population.
Criticising the recent up-
surge of Pro Life movement in
the USA, Dr. Borlaug noted
that while such protagonists
talked about the right to life,
they seldom spoke about the
quality of hfe. 'Eternal misery,
deprivation, malnutrition, de-
nial of opportunities evidently
oi uncontrolled population,
which q.ad the potential of
eroding the foundations of the
nation's achievements. How-
ever, even great leaders paid
little heed. He went on to say
that although, many battles
had been won, the great 'war
had still to go on, because
once our present population of
800 millions swells to a billion
i-nthe next decade, the situa-
tion might well go out of
control.
'Mr. Tata: cautioned that un-
less we adopt bold and realistic
policies WhIChtake full note of
the inherent population mo-
mentum, and act fast and with
strong determinatIOn, poverty
its goal of a small family norm,
despi te a hefty financial allo-
cation and three decades of
subsidised family planning
programmes, says a new study
by the PopulaJion Crisis Com-
mittee, a Washington DC based
research organisation.
India will have to undertake
major new initiatives and al-
most double its budget from
two billion dollars to four
billion dollars a year if it is
to succeed in stabilising its
population by the year 2000.
says Dr. Sharon L. Camp, vice-
president of the PCC and senior
author of the study, "Report
on world progress towards
population stabilisation."
made .,~'amuckery of the pro- will not end and progress to- She listed lack of politlcal
tests of these well-meaning wards a' 1:>etter life, which will, ineffective implementa-
groups', he observed.
every India;l deserves, will be tion and absence of popular
In a nostalgic lookback ,at
his fruitful association with
the green revolution in India,
Dr. Borlaug remarked that by
adopting modern technology
and empowering the Indian
farmer, wheat output had been
raised from 11 million tonnes
to 55 million tonnes in a de-
cade. Not by technology alone,
he recalled, but by a unique
combination of political will,
scientific innovation and grass-
roots action had· the agrarian
.revolution in India succeeded.
.A similar approach to tackle
the population problem in India
was called for.
halted.
The highlight of the stimu-
lating question and answer ses-
sion that followed was the vigo-
rous intervention by Mr. Vasant
Sathe, a former Minister, who
expressed the view that unless
factors like child survival and
son preference were tackled
effectively, persuading the
fertile couple to stop at one or
two may not succeed.
The function ended with the
presentation of a plaque to
Dr. Norman Borlaug with the
inscription: "Presented to
Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, Nobel
Laureate. In token of deep
sup,port as the main reasons for
the lack-lustre performance of
the family planning pro-
grammes in India and most of
the developing world.
The study, which deals with
a country-by-country plan for
population stabilisation at an
estimated cost of $ 10.5 billion
a year by the turn of the cen-
tury, underlines the crucial
importance of the 1990s as
"mankind's last opportunity" to
prevent the doubling or tripling
of world population by the year
2000.
To stop population growth
short of ten billion as projected
J.R.D.'s Plea for Realistic
Policies
admiration for work of lasting by the United Nations, world-
significan<:e in the domain of wide birth control methods
agriculture and sustainable must grow from the present 50
Mr. J.R.D. Tata, who presid- development by Mr. J.R.D. to 75 per cent of couples, and
ed, paid rich tributes to the Tata, Chairman. Family Plan- average family size must de-
historic contribution made by ning Foundation. )\\!ew Delhi: crease from about four to two
Dr. Norman Borlaug in saving India: Man~h 11. 1990."
children, says Dr. Camp.
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VICE-PRESIDENT'S
ADVICE TO LADY
PARLIAlV!ENTARIANS
Vice-President Shankar Dayal
Sharma urged women parlia-
mentarians to "assert" them-
selves and take a lead role to
see that women get their rights
and grow up properly, are well
educated and are able to attain
the "highest" in a democracy.
The Vice-President while
inaugurating the Asian Women
Par liamen tarians Conference
on Population and the Status
of Women at New Delhi on
March 12, 1990,said that women
parliamentarians should not
underrate their strength. He
said, men know it that it is
never correct to underrate the
strength of the "stronger and
fairer sex."
Women must get proper edu-
cation in all fields so that not
only women but the whole
world makes progress. The
nation that keeps women un-
educated and underemployed
and not trained for sophisti-
cated jobs is "committing a
blunder" and following a
"short-sigh ted policy".
Lady parliamentarians have
this responsibility of reducing
the gaps in education and mor-
tality of women as also gaps
in the number of women par-
liamentarians in any legis-
lature.
They are also responsible to
see that there is no discrimina-
tion between male and female
child and the female child is
well fed, well-educated and
made to bear a child only when
she is physically capable, he
said.
Women should have avenues
open so that she can progress
to the highest either in elec-
tion, education, research, or
any field she chooses. Being a
chancellor of a large number
of universities, he said, he had
seen girls outshine boys in
academic excellence.
Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive
Director, UNFPA said, "If de-
velopment is to succeed making
investments in. women will
have to become a development
priority."
She said, "though women are
at the heart of development
and though they make an
indispensable contribution as
productive members of their
societies, the tragedy is that
this contribution often goes
unrecorded, or at best insuffi-
ciently recognised. As a result
they qre often viewed as bur-
den when in fact they should
be seen as an invaluable re-
source to their soCieties, a
resource in which it .is well
worth investing.
But to make investments in
women there is an urgent
need to "change the attitudes
of decision makers' and leaders
themselves in favour of equa-
lity of status for women.
Education is the key to
women's effective participation
in every sphere of their pro-
ductive and reproductive lives.
Educating women as part of a
package including health, equal
right and access to family
planning services has shown in
China and Sri Lanka to have
powerful and long lasting
benefits.
Mr. Sat Paul .Mittal, MP,
Chairman, Indian Association
of Parliamentarians on Popu-
lation and Development and
Secretary General of the Asian
Forum of Parliamentarians on
Population and Development
said that leadership role
should be given to the women
in population matters.
-The Hindustall Times.
March 13, 1990
WORLD'S POOREST
COUNTRIES GETTING
POORER
A new UN report issued on
March 23, 1990 paints a bleak
picture of the world's 42 poorest
countries becoming poorer, with
economic growth lagging be-
hind the popUlation explosion.
It put the. blame on domes-
ti~ policy failures and a lack
of international assistance and
urged "enormous endeavours"
to reverse the decline.
Economic growth outpaced
population increases in only
five countries-Bhutan, Bos-
wana, Cape Verde, Maldives
and Yeme~1.
A special UN conference to
deal with the situation in the
least developed countries· and
consider possible action is to
be convened in Paris next
September.
The Secretariat of the United
Nations Couference on Trade
and Development (UNCTAD)
which compiled the 250-page
report, called for a relief pro-
gramme that would double
development assistance and
eliminate bilateral debt.
Agricultural
production,
affected in some countries by
drought or disastrous floods,
only grew by two per cent an-
nually, half of the targeted
growth. At the same time, the
population increaied by 2.4 per
cent every year to a present
est~mated total of 440 million.
If present demographic trends
continue, the population of the
Third World is expected to in-
crease to 4.8 billion by the
year 2015"'-Cl65 per cent in-
crease-with the population of
the poorest .countries almost
doubling to 882 million.
-Economic Times,
March 26, 1990
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Study Reveals Interesting Facets
Adoption of Family Planning by Different
Communities in a Rural Area
community in terms of
providing health care,
delivery and infant care
education and services
rather than being ob-
A field studv "Variable Per-
ceptiOl)S ,)f Family Planning
Methods and Quality of Ser-
vices Among Different Com-
munities and the Governing
Socio-Economic
Factors",
throws up some interesting
facets about the attitudes and
perceptions of three major
communities, viz. Hindu, Mus-
lim and Christian, towards
family planning.
The study sponsored by the
Family Planning Foundation,
was undertaken by Dr. (Mrs.)
S. Sandhya on behalf of the
Centre for Economic and· So-
cial Studies, Hydera·bad with a
view "to studying intensively
the perception of eligible cou-
ples, service providers and
opinion builders/religious heads
from two low performance
(vis-a-vis family planning)
areas (PHCs) in Medak Dis-
trict" of Andhra Pradesh.
Among the important find-
ings of the study are:
labourers live in nuclear
families.
sessed with family plan-
ning target achieve-
ments.
(iii) The general religious
ri tuals as well as the DO YOU STILJ;j~FUL
beliefs of men with re-
gard to adoption of
COMFORTABLE,
family planning, are MR. AGARWAL?
influencing
adoption
negatively in all com- Two American journalists had
muu~ities, though in been travelling across Iran and
varying degrees. To Afghanistan by Land Rover-
counter this a powerful you could do it in those days-
community-specific ex- headed for Pakistan and India.
tension education need The descent from the 7,000-foot
to be launched among altitude of Afghanistan to the
resistant groups. ANMs plains of Pakistan was preci-
playing a pivotal role in pitous, and the advent of the
this effort should receive blast-furnace air of the low-
special recognition of lands came as a shock. And
their efforts in these even more shocking was the
groups. Further, there overwhelming press of people.
was more chance of Coming from ·the highlands of
Muslim ANMs/Village Afghanistan, with its crisp,
Health Guides succeed- cool air, crystal sky and scant
ing in the motivation pop~lation, the shock of 'the
efforts in their Com- . rapid change of environment
muni ty than others.
was as much psychological as
(iv) Decision-making index physical~and a phenomenon
(i) Despite advocacy to the
of women influences never to be forgotten. Later
contrary of the local
family . planning adop- they were discussing this ex-
religious leaders, fami-
tion positively among perience with an Indian friend,
lies under increasing
Hindus and Muslims. Mr. Agarwal. "Don't you find
economic burden-no
Husband-wife communi- the pressure of population a
matter to which com-
cation regarding the bit overwhelming" he was
munity they belong-are
number of children to asked. Surprised and amused,
amenable to family
have, when to have next he replied, "No indeed. Actual-
planning motivation.
child and when not to ly I love the feeling of people
(ii) Women belonging to
labour class adopted
family planning more
frequently than house-
wives, although the for-
mer had a larger num-
ber of conceptions than
the latter. The propor-
tion of adopters was
higher for those ,who
live in nuclear families
than those who live in
non-nuclear
families
among Hindus and
have any more child,
influences adoption po-
sitively among the three
religions. This also in-
fluences positively the
interaction with the
service providers.
(v) A close interaction bet-
ween the couples and
the family planning
workers shows a posi-
tive impact on family
planning adoption. So
the emphasis should be
all about me. I don't really
fdel comfortable unless there
is someone at my right shoulder
and someone at my left
shoulder."
That was in mid-1950s. The
population of India then was
about 400 million; today it is
835 million. And in the mid-
1950s the population of Pakis-
tan was 44 million; today it is
110 million. One can only
wonder if Mr. Agarwal still
feels comfortable.
Christians; which may
be because most of the
more on the interaction
of workers with the
-World Development Forum;
Vol. 8. No.1
Published by the Family Planning Foundation. 198 Golf Links. New Delhi 110003. Tel: 621135. 697583. 619278
PriPltedat the Statesman Press.The Statesman Ltd.• Connaught Circus. New Delhi-11 0001.
~ditorial Direction Et Guidance: Harish Khanna
Editorial Consultant: J. L. Saaz