|
|
|
|
|
JRD Tata Oration Fourteen |
|
|
1 Pages 1-10 |
▲back to top |
|
|
1.1 Page 1 |
▲back to top |
12th October, 2018
Oration by
Dr Rajiv Kumar
Vice Chairman
NITI Aayog
14th JRD Tata Oration
Women Empowerment:
The Key to India’s Demographic Dividend
The 14th JRD Tata Oration
Women Empowerment: The Key to India’s Demographic Dividend I 1
|
|
1.2 Page 2 |
▲back to top |
Published by:
POPULATION FOUNDATION OF INDIA
The opinions expressed in the published oration do not necessarily represent the opinion
of the PFI. The text from this publication may be quoted, in part or full, by individuals
or organisations for non-profit academic and social development purposes, with due
acknowledgments to the source. Prior permission is required from Population Foundation
of India for other uses and distribution.
|
|
1.3 Page 3 |
▲back to top |
Foreword
Family planning as an integral component within the larger development
discourse has remained at the confines for various reasons. While social,
economic and even religious connotations were ascribed to family planning or
rather the lack of it, powerful data of mortality and morbidity that often sway
public opinions and political priorities did not form part of the family planning
narratives.
On the other hand, visionary inspirational leaders from across the world
have time and again reminded us about the consequences of not addressing
population issues on time. Also, global evidences clearly indicate that family
planning is perhaps the single most cost-effective and smart sustainable
development investment that can guarantee significant returns in a short time.
JRD Tata was one of those legendary statesmen, who argued for increased
attention to population issues. He wanted the best of global thought leaders to
lead that discourse. Population Foundation of India is the independent think
tank he established in 1978 to contribute to nation building. In 1990, JRD
Tata instituted a lecture series to get the best of global brains to deliberate on
population issues.
Over the years, we have had the privilege of eminent global luminaries and
inspirational leaders deliver the JRD Oration. Babatunde Osotimehin, Amartya
Sen, Manmohan Singh, S Chandrasekhar, Somnath Chatterjee, Nitin Desai,
I.K. Gujral, Ramakrishna Hegde, Najma Heptullah, Jamshed J. Irani, K.C. Pant,
Nafis Sadik and Digvijaya Singh were some of those leaders, who enthralled us
with their thoughts, helping to shape policies and actions around population
and family planning. In this 2018 edition, we had the privilege of Dr Rajiv
Kumar, a noted economist and vice chair of NITI Aayog deliver the JRD Tata
Oration.
|
|
1.4 Page 4 |
▲back to top |
This publication presents the full text of Dr Rajiv Kumar’s lecture. We
hope that the clear and powerful message in his speech will attract
attention and interest among different stakeholders of our society and
the government to accord highest priority to family planning in the
national development agenda.
When Dr Kumar highlighted the need to achieve both democratic
and demographic dividends, we got the message that these are not
exclusive targets, but two interdependent forces of the society. When
he underlined that women constitute half the country’s population,
shoulder three-fourths of the societal responsibilities and get about a
quarter of the respect that they deserve, we realise the depth of this
issue. Dr Kumar sends a simple but strong message - women hold
the key to healthy families and a healthy population and thus to a
prosperous nation.
We are grateful to Dr Rajiv Kumar for delivering the JRD Tata Oration
2018. We are indeed inspired by his words. Together, let us strengthen
our sustained efforts to realizing the vision of JRD Tata.
12th October, 2018
New Delhi
Poonam Muttreja
Executive Director
|
|
1.5 Page 5 |
▲back to top |
Dr Rajiv Kumar
A Brief Profile
Dr Rajiv Kumar has wide experience in government, academia,
industry as well as multinational institutions. A founding director of
Pahle India Foundation, Dr Kumar was a Fellow at CPR and earlier
the CEO of Indian Council for Research on International Economic
Relations (ICRIER). He was also Chief Economist at CII and Secretary
General of Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry
(FICCI). He was a professor at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT)
and has served as the Chancellor of Gokhale Institute of Politics and
Economics, Pune.
In the government, he was Economic Advisor with Department of
Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance, and Bureau of Industrial
Costs and Prices (BICP), Ministry of Industry. He was Principal
Economist at Asian Development Bank, Manila where he spent
10 years. Prior to his appointment as Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog,
he has served on many Boards including that of RBI and SBI.
|
|
1.6 Page 6 |
▲back to top |
Above: Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice-Chairman, Niti Aayog
delivering the 14th JRD Tata Memorial Oration;
on stage (R to L) Mr. Kiran Karnik, Chairperson of
Executive Committee, PFI; Dr. Pawan Kumar Chamling,
Chief Minister of Sikkim; Ms. Poonam Muttreja,
Executive Director, PFI
|
|
1.7 Page 7 |
▲back to top |
Women Empowerment:
The Key to India’s Demographic Dividend
Honourable Chief Minister of Sikkim, Ms Poonam Muttreja, a friend of
long standing, Distinguished Guests, Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me begin by thanking Population Foundation of India and its
Executive Director, Ms Poonam Muttreja for inviting me to deliver the
14th JRD Tata Memorial Oration on PFI’s Foundation day. JRD was
an inspirational business leader for whom India was much more than
a geographical impression. He was a strong advocate for achieving
holistic economic and social progress in the country, especially in areas
such as women’s education and empowerment that remain extremely
relevant. He was in many ways the first social entrepreneur – who
thought well beyond the economic ‘bottom line’. Instead he focused on
maximising societal return as well.
Ladies and gentlemen, today, India is on the cusp of transformation.
A New India has begun to emerge, an India that is on the trajectory
of prosperity for all with continued high, sustainable and inclusive
growth that will be critically dependent on ‘democratic dividend’ and
‘demographic dividend’.
For reaping the full dividend of democracy, cooperation and
competition among states plays a key role. After all, in a federal polity,
strong states make a strong nation state. Over the last few years several
measures have been taken for promoting competitive and cooperative
The 14th JRD Tata Oration
Women Empowerment: The Key to India’s Demographic Dividend I 7
|
|
1.8 Page 8 |
▲back to top |
federalism in India. An important first step was the setting up of NITI
Aayog in 2015. States have increasingly emerged as equal partners
of the Central Government in policy design and implementation of
development schemes. Competition among them has improved the
time for the implementation of several key reforms and schemes. For
instance, some states have carried out reforms in central laws in areas
of labour and land acquisition on which the Cntre has faced some
challenges. Following the Fourteenth Finance Commission’s increase
in the share of tax revenue devolution to states from 32% to 42%, NITI
Aayog has been nudging states towards transformation by developing
inter-state rankings based on multiple indices in the areas of health,
education, water management, nourishment and agricultural reforms.
The indices are playing an important role in shifting the discourse from
inputs and processes to outputs and outcomes.
Of course, promoting competition has to be accompanied by the
provision of technical assistance in the form of human capital and
management practices. This is vital because states that are lagging
behind on development outcomes are typically also the ones with
weaker capacities. In addition to ranking states, NITI is also focused
on providing development support services and building a repository
of best practices.
Another notable initiative for fostering competitive and cooperative
federalism is the Aspirational Districts Programme, which aims to
transform 115 districts in the country that have lagged behind across
a range of specific development parameters. This programme is
helping converge the efforts of central, state and local governments in
these districts and putting in place a real-time monitoring mechanism
for assessing progress in areas such as health, education, agriculture
and basic infrastructure. Districts will be ranked continually on their
performance on a real-time basis. Those lagging behind will receive
special attention.
Let us turn now to the demographic dividend, which is all about
human capital and its development. According to the Population
The 14th JRD Tata Oration
8 I Women Empowerment: The Key to India’s Demographic Dividend
|
|
1.9 Page 9 |
▲back to top |
Reference Bureau’s latest projections, by mid-2050 India’s population
will be25% more than that of China. Currently, the population of China
is approximately 1.38 billion while India’s is 1.31 billion. By 2022,
both countries are expected to have approximately 1.4 billion people.
Thereafter, India’s population is projected to continue growing for
several decades to 1.5 billion in 2030 and 1.7 billion in 2050. China
would remain at 1.4 billion unless it revises its current population
policies.
India currently accounts for 17.74% of the world population. This
number is expected to settle at around 16.94% in 2050. On the other
hand, our share of the world’s land area is only about 2.5% and we
have approximately 4% of the world’s water resources at our disposal.
We face a real challenge. The key, clearly, is in making a massive effort
at human resource development.
While the world population is growing older with a higher dependency
ratio, India will continue to enjoy for some time a distinct advantage of
having a younger population, which should facilitate its development.
Undoubtedly, India’s hopes are pinned on the country’s young people.
Today, India’s population is already markedly younger than that of
China. The average age of India’s population is 28 years, and in China,
it is 37 years. More than 50% of India’s population is below the age of
25 and 65% is below the age of 35 years. Approximately 37% of the
population is between the ages of 15 and 35 years. This forthcoming
bulge in the working population poses both significant opportunities as
well as challenges.
It is projected that by 2050 India will be home to the largest number
of working-age people in the world. According to UNDP’s Regional
Human Development Report 2016, India’s working-age population
between the ages of 15 and 64 years will grow to over 1 billion by 2050
from 850 million in 2015.
Keeping the large young population in mind, we need to provide quality
sexual and reproductive health services with the right messages on
The 14th JRD Tata Oration
Women Empowerment: The Key to India’s Demographic Dividend I 9
|
|
1.10 Page 10 |
▲back to top |
reproductive choices. A 2014 study by leading economists found that
ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health - which
includes family planning - would yield a phenomenal return of USD
150 for every dollar invested. Every 1% reduction in fertility is likely
to result in increase in GDP by 0.25%. Additionally, every 7 dollars
spent on family planning over the next four decades is likely to reduce
global CO2 emissions by more than a tonne. These are some of the
undeniable gains of a coherent and well implemented population
policy.
The 2009 release of the Guttmacher Institute’s ‘Adding It Up’ provides
additional evidence about the economic reasons for investing in
family planning. If global investments in family planning increased
from USD 3.1 billion to USD 6.7 billion, it would more than offset the
cost of providing a recommended package of maternal and neonatal
health care. The cost of providing the recommended maternal and
new born care package would decline by USD 5.1 billion - from USD
23.0 billion to USD 17.9 billion - because the number of unintended
pregnancies would greatly decrease with better access to family
planning. And the cost of providing both services in an integrated
manner would reduce costs from USD 26.1 billion to USD 24.6
billion - a net saving of USD 1.5 billion, compared with investing in
maternal and new born care alone.
The Indian government is implementing several interventions in
the area of family planning including Mission Parivar Vikas for
substantially increasing access to contraceptives and family planning
services in 146 high fertility districts of seven high focus states. There
are additional schemes for expanding the contraceptive basket and
launching a 360-degree media campaign to generate contraceptive
demand, especially among men.
There is a lot of work to be done, especially because there is wide
variation between states in terms of population growth. India’s overall
Total Fertility Rate declined to 2.2 in 2015-16, marginally above the
replacement rate of 2.1. It was pegged at 2.7 in 2005-2006 by the
The 14th JRD Tata Oration
10 I Women Empowerment: The Key to India’s Demographic Dividend
|
|
2 Pages 11-20 |
▲back to top |
|
|
2.1 Page 11 |
▲back to top |
National Family Health Survey. While the fertility rate in 23 States
and Union Territories - including all the southern states - was already
below the replacement rate in 2015-16, it was substantially higher
in a number of states in central, east and north-east India. Bihar, for
instance, has the highest rate at 3.41, followed by Meghalaya at 3.04
and Uttar Pradesh and Nagaland at 2.74. There is an emerging North-
South divide with reference to population growth.
However, even as the country is striving to reach replacement levels
in the northern states, ageing is already under way in many southern
states, leaving the country with the potential twin burden of too many
young people on the one hand and of rapidly rising numbers of old
people - both concentrated in different geographies.
As per government estimates, India will have 340 million people
above 60 years of age by 2050 which will exceed the total population
of the US. India seems to be ageing much faster than earlier estimated.
Nearly 20% of the country’s population may be above 60 years of
age by 2050. In fact, during 2000-2050, while the overall population
of India is expected to grow by 56%, the population in the 60+
and 80+ age groups will increase by a whopping 326% and 700%
respectively. It is, therefore, crucial that we find ways of retraining
and engaging senior citizens meaningfully. There is a lot to learn from
Japan’s experience in this context where people of retirement age are
kept engaged with the world around them, gradually moving on to
work and activities that demand less responsibility.
Internal migration is also on the rise as a result of marked differentials
in population growth. It is expected that while India’s overall
population would grow for another 20-30 years, much of the growth
would happen in poorer states, resulting in a huge spike in internal
migration. This is because Kerala or Tamil Nadu are closer to Western
Europe in terms of the fertility rate, while the Gangetic belt is closer to
Africa. As per the Economic Survey of India, 2017, estimates, inter-
state migration in the country was close to 9 million annually between
2011 and 2016, while Census 2011 pegs the total number of internal
The 14th JRD Tata Oration
Women Empowerment: The Key to India’s Demographic Dividend I 11
|
|
2.2 Page 12 |
▲back to top |
migrants in the country (accounting for inter- and intra-state movement)
at a staggering 139 million. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are the biggest
source states, followed closely by Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan,
Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir and West Bengal. Major destination
states are Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and
Kerala. While every Indian has the right to work anywhere in the country,
his or her movement should be driven by choice, not compulsion.
Balanced regional development is, therefore, a must.
JAMMU & KASHMIR(2)
STATE-WISE
TOTAL FERTILITY RATE
IN INDIA (2015-16)
HIMACHAL PRADESH(1.9)
PUNJAB(1.6)
CHANDIGARH(1.6)
UTTARAKHAND(2.1)
HARYANA(2.1)
NEW DELHI(1.7)
UTTAR PRADESH(2.7)
SIKKIM(1.2)
ARUNACHAL
PRADESH(2.1)
RAJASTHAN(2.4)
BIHAR(3.4)
ASSAM(2.2) NAGALAND(2.7)
MEGHALAYA(3)
MANIPUR(2.6)
GUJARAT(2) MADHYA PRADESH(2.2)
DAMAN & DIU(1.7)
DADAR & NAGAR HAVELI(2.3)
CHHATTISGARH(2.2)
TRIPURA(1.7)
MIZORAM(2.3)
WEST BENGAL(1.8)
MAHARASHTRA(1.9)
ODISHA(2.1)
TELANGANA(1.8)
GOA(1.7)
KARNATAKA(1.8)
ANDHRA PRADESH(1.8)
LAKSHADWEEP(1.8)
KERALA(1.6)
PUDUCHERRY(1.7)
TAMIL NADU(1.7)
ANDAMAN & NICOBAR(1.5)
Children per Woman
BELOW 2.2
2.2-3.2
ABOVE 3.2
NA
The 14th JRD Tata Oration
12 I Women Empowerment: The Key to India’s Demographic Dividend
|
|
2.3 Page 13 |
▲back to top |
The most critical factor for harnessing India’s demographic dividend,
however, is nourishment. The impact of persistent malnutrition can be
devastating. Under-nutrition is the primary culprit in over 40% of under-five
child deaths. Low IQ scores and productivity in adults can be attributed to
under-nutrition, anaemia and iodine deficiency in childhood. According to
NFHS-4 some progress has been made. Yet, over one-third of all under-five
children are stunted, every fifth child is wasted, and more than 50% of the
children are anaemic. Compared to India, other emerging economies such
as Brazil (stunting – 6.1%, wasting – 1.6%), China (stunting – 6.8%, wasting
– 2.1%) and Mexico (stunting – 13.6%, wasting – 1.6%) fare much better
on nutritional indicators.
Recognising the enormity of this challenge, the government launched the
Poshan Abhiyaan in March, 2018 to provide policy and programmatic
guidance to high burden states and districts; facilitate multisectoral
planning and convergence; catalyse resource mobilisation; and develop
a real-time monitoring and surveillance system for nutrition. The overall
goal of Poshan Abhiyaan is to reduce stunting, undernutrition and low birth
weight by at least 2% and anaemia by at least 3% per annum respectively.
We have to strive to do better than these targets. As part of the Abhiyaan,
there is a focus on technology-enabled, real-time monitoring from the time
the pregnant woman registers at the Anganwadi Centre until the first 1,000
days of the infant’s life. Other notable features of this initiative include
measuring the height of children at Anganwadi Centres, setting up Nutrition
Resource Centres and mobilizing communities to create a jan andolan for
nutrition. Further, incentives will be provided to shift the focus firmly on
outcomes and performance.
A key strategy under the Poshan Abhiyaan is community outreach and
engagement. To enable this, a Strategy Group for Jan Andolan has been
created in NITI Aayog. The Group is working with all the key ministries and
stakeholders to design and identify evidence-backed messages, which will
be used for amplifying Abhiyaan. It was on the suggestion of this Group
that the month of September was observed as National Nutrition Month to
create a never-before buzz, visibility and jan bhagidari on nutrition in every
nook and corner of the country. May I use this opportunity to request the
The 14th JRD Tata Oration
Women Empowerment: The Key to India’s Demographic Dividend I 13
|
|
2.4 Page 14 |
▲back to top |
Population Foundation of India and all of us to make the elimination of child
malnutrition a top priority in our work programmes.
The second important condition for realising the demographic dividend is
women’s empowerment. It may not be too misplaced to say that women
constitute half the country’s population, shoulder three-fourths of the
responsibility to run society yet get only one-fourth of the respect and
resources they deserve. This needs to be changed by focusing on ‘4 Es’–
Educate, Employ, Empower and Enjoy.
A fundamental aspect of empowering women is ensuring that they stay in
school longer. Free education for girls should be extended until Class XII and
be made compulsory. Telangana, for instance, has announced free education
for girls from kindergarten to post graduation, while in Punjab it has been
extended till the doctoral level. The Karnataka government has decided to
make education free for all girls from class 1 to graduation level in all public
schools as well as aided private schools and colleges. Data shows that girls
who stay in school not only have their first baby at an older age but also
have fewer children. Lack of education, on the other hand, robs women
of reproductive control. Combined with younger pregnancies and higher
childbearing rates, it also constrains women’s economic choices.
According to the National Family health Survey-4, women with no schooling
have an average 3.1 children, compared with 1.7 children for women with
12 or more years of schooling. Similarly, women educated up to the 10th
standard, had their first baby at a median age of 20-21 years whereas women
educated up to the 12th standard had their first baby at a median age of
25-26 years. This five-year gap is crucial for ensuring that the health of the
mother is not affected adversely. Moreover, babies who are born with a gap of
less than 24 months are at high risk of malnutrition.
According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report
2017, India succeeded in fully closing its primary and secondary education
enrolment gender gaps. For the first time we nearly closed the tertiary
education gender gap as well. However, the high drop-out rates for girls at
the secondary school level need to be addressed. As per the Annual Survey of
The 14th JRD Tata Oration
14 I Women Empowerment: The Key to India’s Demographic Dividend
|
|
2.5 Page 15 |
▲back to top |
Education Report 2017 findings, while on average the difference between
enrolment levels of boys and girls at age 14 is declining, by 18 years, 32%
girls are not enrolled, compared to 28% boys.
States like Sikkim have made great strides in keeping girls in school for
longer through initiatives like the Small Family Scheme which encourages
girls to marry late by offering monetary incentives. A similar approach has
been adopted by the Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh, which focuses on delaying
the age of marriage of girls, delaying the age at which the first child is
conceived as well as ensuring greater spacing between the first and second
child through suitable incentives to couples.
Another crucial element of women’s empowerment is increasing the
female participation rate in the labour force. As per the last three rounds
of Annual Employment - Unemployment Surveys conducted by the Labour
Bureau in the years 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2015-16, the Worker Population
Ratio for females in the age group 15 years and above was 25%, 29.6%
and 25.8% respectively, according to the Usual Status Basis. According
to the World Bank, India’s Female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR)
was 27% in 2017, compared to 53% in Brazil, 61% in China and 57%
in Russia. The CMIE Consumer Pyramids Household Survey, however,
estimated that Female LFPR was as low as 10.7% during May-August, 2018.
This decline in FLPR from nearly 30% to a mere 12%, as reported by
CMIE, is both alarming and devastating. I have had the occasion to look
into the CMIE data in some detail. As Dr Surjit Bhalla has pointed out in
his article in Indian Express on 11th October, CMIE has estimated FLPR by
taking the total female population into account and not those who are in
the labour force i.e. between the age group of 15-65. By using the correct
methodology, FLPR though still unacceptably low, rises to 25% or about
twice as high as that estimated by CMIE. We will have to wait for NSSO
household survey-based employment data to have a clear picture.
On the issue of reproductive choice, we need to ensure that a variety of
methods are available so that women and couples can switch to methods
that better meet their changing needs. If we look at the Matlab Family
The 14th JRD Tata Oration
Women Empowerment: The Key to India’s Demographic Dividend I 15
|
|
2.6 Page 16 |
▲back to top |
Planning Health Services Project in Bangladesh, we find that once they
started offering a full range of contraceptive methods, 80% of the women
were using one of the contraceptive methods after one year, a dramatic
increase over the 40% continuation rate when only condoms and oral
contraceptives were available. Awareness levels also need to be increased.
Civil society organisations have an especially important role to play in this.
According to the National Family health Survey-4, only 54% of women were
aware of other available contraceptive options while 47% had knowledge of
the potential side effects of their chosen method.
Another challenge that needs to be addressed in this context is that Indian
men have not taken up the responsibility of managing fertility adequately.
By far, the most popular contraceptive method, at 36%, is female sterilization.
Although male sterilization is less invasive and risky, it is one of the least
chosen contraceptive options at 1% or less. Male condom usage is low as
well, at 5.6%. The almost complete dependence of the Indian family planning
programme on women is evident from the fact that the male to female ratio
for sterilization stood at 1:52 in 2016-17. It is most unfair for women to bear
this responsibility as well.
Some states in the country are making efforts to correct this trend. These good
practices need to be scaled-up and replicated. Jharkhand, for instance, is
organising ‘Saas Bahu Pati Sammelan’ meetings for improving communication
about family planning and ensuring that men are involved as much as
women.
As emphasised by our Honourable Prime Minister, a New India can be
built only when women are empowered and given equal opportunities in
social and financial matters. In his words “India is moving from women’s
development to women-led development”. To enable this, several initiatives
have been implemented by the government over the last few years. The
government’s flagship program, Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao has been expanded
to 640 districts for creating awareness and improving the efficiency of welfare
services for girls and women. For improving the health and nutrition of
mothers, the Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana has been launched. It
provides Rs 6,000 as financial aid to pregnant and lactating mothers for their
first live birth.
The 14th JRD Tata Oration
16 I Women Empowerment: The Key to India’s Demographic Dividend
|
|
2.7 Page 17 |
▲back to top |
Indian women spend nearly 374 hours every year on collecting firewood.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, 50 million LPG connections
have been provided to BPL households in only 28 months since the launch
of the scheme. The scheme’s target has now been revised upwards to 80
million. Yet more needs to be done to ensure that rural households have a
bigger set of choices for replacing their dependence on buying biomass for
cooking.
The passing of the Maternity Benefit Bill in 2017 was a historic move to
entitle working pregnant women to 26 weeks of paid leave. The underlying
objective is to empower women, and provide them with legal and
constitutional safeguards. Under the MUDRA scheme, the government
provides credit to micro-units, many of which are owned by women. In
fact, around 79% of MUDRA loan beneficiaries are women entrepreneurs.
NITI Aayog has an important role to play in monitoring the implementation
of a number of these schemes and suggesting the necessary course
corrections.
Finally, we must stamp out trafficking of women and children. Data
from the National Crime Records Bureaus indicates that there were
8,132 reported cases of human trafficking across India in 2016. In the
same year, 15,379 people were trafficked of whom 9,034 victims were
below the age of 18. These are surely gross underestimates. In addition to
localised forms of slavery, there are growing instances of trafficking across
international borders. In northeast, for instance, organised trafficking
syndicates have been reported along the open and unmanned international
borders, duping or coercing young, educated girls who are looking
for employment outside their local area into sexual exploitation. It is
important that different contexts of localised and cross-border trafficking
and modern slavery are recognised and necessary reforms be undertaken.
This would have to include measures to sensitize the police, equip them
better for checking cross border movement and discourage underreporting.
Regional cooperation is also of the essence because over 150,000 people
are affected by human trafficking in the South Asia region every year,
most of whom are women and children. Of course, we, as citizens, also
need to take cognizance of this problem and help to end this scourge.
Campaigns like No More Missing are aiming to do just that by building a
neighbourhood watch system.
The 14th JRD Tata Oration
Women Empowerment: The Key to India’s Demographic Dividend I 17
|
|
2.8 Page 18 |
▲back to top |
JRD Tata famously said “‘I do not want India to be an economic
superpower. I want India to be a happy country.” India can undoubtedly
achieve both but only if we ensure a relentless focus on nourishing,
educating and empowering our women and children as well as freeing
them from all forms of oppression. We must continue to invest in
nutrition, education and health, including reproductive health, as these
are some of the best investments any country can make.
Investing in women empowerment has multiple positive externalities
which work through the family and broader society. Therefore, perhaps
focusing on women empowerment may yield higher welfare gains than
from measures for population control.
The 14th JRD Tata Oration
18 I Women Empowerment: The Key to India’s Demographic Dividend
|
|
2.9 Page 19 |
▲back to top |
About PFI
Population Foundation of India is a national NGO, which promotes and
advocates for the effective formulation and implementation of gender sensitive
population, health and development strategies, policies and programmes. The
organisation was founded in 1970 by a group of socially committed industrialists
under the leadership of the late JRD Tata and Dr Bharat Ram.
PFI addresses population issues within the larger discourse of empowering
women and men, so that they are able to take informed decisions related to their
fertility, health and well-being. It works with the government, both at the national
and state levels, and with NGOs, in the areas of community action for health,
urban health, scaling up of successful pilots and social and behaviour change
communication. Besides implementing projects, PFI has played a significant
role in giving grants to Indian non-government organizations implementing and
scaling up innovative projects.
PFI is guided by an eminent governing board and advisory council comprising
distinguished persons from civil society, the government and the private sector.
Our Mission
Advance gender-sensitive, rights based population and family planning policies
and actions for a just, equitable and prosperous society.
Reproductive health and family planning can positively influence and advance
the newly laid out Sustainable Development Goals by addressing multiple targets
and ushering in an era of development.
Access to voluntary family planning has the potential to save lives and help break
the cycle of poverty, stabilize population growth and ease the pressure on the
environment. It is the most cost-effective development investment.
|
|
2.10 Page 20 |
▲back to top |
Population Foundation of India
Head Office: B-28, Outab Institutional Area, New Delhi - 110016
T: +91 11 43894 100, F: +91 11 43894 199
Regional Office, Bihar: 123A Patliputra Colony, 1st Floor, Patna - 800013
T: +91- 612- 2270634
Regional Office, Uttar Pradesh: C-3, Nirala Nagar, Opp. Thandi Park, Lucknow - 226020
T: +91-522-4005091
Regional Office, Rajasthan: C-9, Shiv Marg , Shyam Nagar, Jaipur - 302019
T: +91-141-4104771
Website: www.populationfoundation.in
Facebook: @PopFoundlndia
Twitter: @PFl3
lnstagram: @popfoundind
The 14th JRD Tata Oration
20 I Women Empowerment: The Key to India’s Demographic Dividend