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PFI 25 Year Souvenir |
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1.1 Page 1 |
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,'\\..: ,POPULATION -" ", - '. ".
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POPULATION
FOUNDATION OF
INDIA
THE STORY OF
years
B-28, Qutab Institutional Area
Tara Crescent, New Delhi-ll0016
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NEW
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
fj)r K Srinivasan, 61, one of India's internationally reputed experts on Population and until recently a
member of the its Advisory Panel of the Population Foundation of India took over as its new Executive
Director on August 7, 1995. Thus, he succeeds three eminent personalities, who headed the Population
Foundation as Executive Directors before him during the last 25 years.
The founding Executive Director who remained in office from September I, 1971 to August 31, 1985
(14 years) was Prof J C Kavoori who continues to take keen interest in this field. Then from February 12,
1986 to September 27, 1986 (71/2 months) this office was adorned by Mr P Padrnanabha, a former Registrar
General of India who is even now associated with the Foundation as one of the members of Advisory
Panel. The third and last to occupy this top post before Dr Srinivasan, was the late Mr Harish Khanna
who remained in office from September 29, 1986 to July 23, 1995 (approximately 9 years) till the death
removed him from the scene. He was not only a retired, senior member of the Indian Administrative
Service but also a top-bracket expert of social communication and mass media.
That Dr Srinivasan truly belongs to this galaxy of eminent population and family planning experts
is borne out by the fact that he had a brilliant academic record, earning his M.Stat. from the Indian
Statistical Institute, Calcutta, M.S. in Hygiene from the Harvard University in the United States and
Ph.D in Demography from the Kerala University. He launched upon his formal career in 1959 in the
Gandhigram Institute in Tamil Nadu. But wl;lat is significantly of note about him is that he made rapid
progress professionally and in a matter of less than two decades ros~ to be the Director of India's prestigious
International Institute for Population Sciences (lIPS), Bombay. He occupied this top post in his discipline
for over 14 years (1978-1992) , giving, as it were, a new direction to the teaching and research activities of
that Institute. It was mainly due to his work and efforts that the Institute became a 'Deemed University'
and got much deserved recognition among the demographers in India and abroad ..
In between he held a number of important jobs and international assignments, holding senior
fellowships and visiting professorships in the universities of note in the United States. He also worked
with the United Nations at ESCOS, Bangkok from 1969 to 1975.
His career is truly laden with several honours and awards, the most prestigious of which being the
Scroll of Honour awarded to him by the Government of People's Republic of China in 1983, for outstanding
support in developing population research in China.
Dr Srinivasan is the author or co-author of ten books and has about 100 technical and research
articles or papers to his credit. Not just that. He is currently the Chief Editor of "Demography India" a
representative-intellectual forum for demographers and social scientists working in the field of population.
His recent book "Regulating Reproduction in India's Population" (Sage India, 1995) has been well received
well by the population community at large.
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CONTENTS
1. HISTORICAL
5
(a) Problem and Perspective
6
(b) One Billion Plus
8
(c) Early Awareness
8
(d) Two Pioneers
10
(e) The National Family Planning Programme
11
2. FAMILYPLANNING FOUNDATION
15
(a) Governing Board
17
(b) Advisory Council
17
(c) Advisory Panels
18
(d) Areas of Concern
19
(e) Support from Institutes of Higher Learning
21
(f) Three Appraisals
21
(g) New-ThrustAreas
22
3. SOME SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTs
23
(a) Moulding Public Opinion
23
(b) Promotion and Advocacy
24
(c) Symposium on Communication Strategies
in Family Welfare
28
(d) Bio-medical Research
29
(e) Identification of Socio-cultural Determinants
29
(f) Diagnostic Studies on Population Status
30
(g) Infant Mortality in Relation to Fertility
30
(h) National Seminar on Infant Mortality in Relation
to Fertility
31
(i) Family Planning in the Organised Sector
31
G) National Symposium on "Family Welfare in the
Organised Sector: Search for New Strategies"
33
(k) National Seminar on "Family Planning in the
Nineties: Search for New Approaches"
33
ro~~~
M
(m)Sensitisjng Youth in Human Survival Values
35
(n) Population Sensitisation of Indian teenagers and
Promotion of Reproductive Health Education
35
4. NEW- VISION PROJECTS: TESTING OUT DIVERSEPOPULATION
STRATEGIES
37
(a) Decline in Infant Mortality and Fertility:
Intervention Phase
39
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(i) Tikabali in Orissa
39
(ii) Jaunpur in Tehri Garhwal; and
39
(iii) Damoh in Madhya Pradesh.
40
(b) Integrated Health and Family Welfare District Projects
40
(i) Nav Chetna Project, Lalitpur, UP
41
(ii) Sanrachna Project, Kanpur Dehat, UP
41
(iii) Parivar Seva Sanstha Project, Tonk (Rajasthan)
41
(iv) ACORD-PFI Project, Bharatpur(Rajasthan)
40
(c) Slum and Urban Area Projects
42
(i) Community Participatory Strategies Project, Dharavi, Bombay 42
(ii) Fertility Reduction Project, Hyderabad (A.P)
43
(iii) Responsible Sexual Behaviour Youth
Project, Bangalore (Karnataka)
43
(iv) Fertility Reduction Project, Dakshinpuri, Delhi.
43
(d) New Organised Sector Projects
44
(i) Spacing Methods Industrial Women
Project, Kalka-Simla belt
44
(ii) Reproductive Health Extension Project,
Kota (Rajasthan)
45
(iii) Reproductive Health Extension Project,
Rayagada (Orissa)
45
(iv) Community-based Health Services Network,
Faridabad (Haryana)
45
(v) Reproductive Health Extension Project
in a Contiguous Industrial Belt (Western UP)
46
(e) Involving Indian Medicine Practitioners Project,
Udaipur (Rajasthan)
46
(f) Strengthening Voluntary Action: A CPR Study
46
(g) Fertility Decline in Tamil Nadu : A Study
47
(h) Whereto From Cairo ?: A Report on Three Workshops
47
5. NEW PARAMETERS: NEW PATHWAYS
50
(a) New Guidelines
51
(b) How to Apply?
52
(c) Two new District Projects
53
6. MISCELLANEOUS
54
(a) Foundation has its own Home
54
(b) Renewed Interest in Selective Bio-medical Research
54
(c) Important Visitors
55
(d) Documentation Centre and Computerised Cell
56
(e) Support Communication Cell
57
(f) Sources of Income
58
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he Population Foundation
Tof India, formerly known as
Family Planning
Foundation, came to be
25 years old in 1995. It was,
therefore, felt that on this
landmark occasion, it would be
only fitting to look back and
review its multifarious
activities as well as its
important achievements in the
last quarter century as also
present some insights into its
expanded range of work, and
projections for the more
challenging years to come.
The Family Planning
Foundation, in its new
incarnation as Population
Foundation of India, has from
the very beginning come to be
looked upon as a premier non-
governmental initiative in
India. As such, it is wedded to
articulating profound'
population concerns aimed at:
(1) Influencing national
population policy; as also
(2) serving as a catalytic agent
to cause action at different
levels, purposefully
directed towards the
ultimate goal of population
stabilisation - the strength
of a progressive economy
and a healthy nation.
Within chosen parameters,
the Foundation's main focus
has been on initiating and
promoting path-finding
research in the bio-medical
field, socialisation patterns,
community behaviour, etc., all
underpinned to, borrowing the
words of the Founder
Chairman, Bharat Ratna, the
late Mr JRD Tata, "advancing
the cause of human welfare
through family planning". In
fact, some of the researches
funded in the earlier years
came ultimately to provide a
basis for full-fledged research
programmes in the
development of contraceptives,
vaccines, and developing socio-
demographic profiles of the
country, etc. Similarly, its many-
dimensional population
surveys and studies'
underscored the human
dimensions of demography.
The Foundation's founding
fathers had all along believed
that a movement of social
development such as family
planning should not remain the
sole concern of the Govern-
ment. Hence, it was felt that its
efforts ought to be supported
and, where necessary, even
supplemented by private
voluntary enterprise. That,
incidentally, is the raison d' etre
of all international family
planning programmes-
assigning an increasing role to
non-governmental and
voluntary organisations.
Population issue has over
the years acquired many new
and perhaps far more complex
dimensions. The new name of
the organisation, signifies
recognition of a broader vision
of population which
encompasses different facets of
development as well as the
scope of the Foundation's
activity. This changed stance
seeks to enable it to work for
and even help develop new
models and replicable
population stabilisation
The new name of the
organisation, signifies
recognition of a broader
vision of population
which encompasses
different facets of
development as well as
the scope of the
Foundation's activity.
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1.7 Page 7 |
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...population
stabilisation is no
longer the sole function
offamily planning; it
has become the function
of overall social
development.
strategies. Admittedly, this is
central to programmes of
poverty alleviation and
environmental regeneration as
well as of sustainable
development initiatives of the
nation, through integrated
approaches. Thus, population
stabilisation is no longer the
sole function of family
planning; it has become the
function of overall social
development.
The appropriate lines in the
unanimously passed resolution
heralding the new
nomenclature, read:
"....Change in the
population environment
and emergence of vital
concerns like human
development, environment,
migration, etc., which have
a profound impact on
population scenario, .....
have necessitated a change
of stance with renewed
commitment to larger
objectives."
To recollect, this important
turning point came in the 87th
meeting of the Governing
Board of the Family Planning
Foundation, held on March 3D,
1993, under the chairmanship
of the late Mr JRD Tata. Sadly
enough, this turned out to be
the last Governing Board
meeting which Mr. Tata
presided over, though happily
enough, this important change
enabled him to bring to fruition
his life-long' grand obsession'
with population stabilisation as
the main motor-force of India's
multifaceted development. The
change of name, thus, virtually
marks the end of a chapter and
the beginning of a new one,
preparing the Foundation for a
still bigger encounter with
India's and, in many ways, the
world's number one problem
- over-population! For, what
India does, has echoes in the
entire region.
In brief, the Foundation in
the twenty five years of its
existence has participated in all
the three facets of what one
may call the developing world's
population encounter. In the
first phase, it sought to
promote, through research and
demonstration projects, family
plmming among the needy
couples as a means of ushering
in small family norm in the
country as a whole. In the
second phase, it sought to
promote, again through action
research, family planning as a
necessary and integral part of
maternal health and child care.
But now, in the third phase, it
has started to look at
population stabilisation in a
much larger perspective, viz.,
that of sustainable human and
social development.
a. Problem and Perspective
India is today home to almost
one-sixth of the human race,
comprising more than 925
million men, women and
children. Nearly 38 per cent of
this population is of young age
which means there is a strong
inbuilt momentum for growth
which shall have to be managed
by wise and determined action.
An epigrammatic but dubious
distinction is that one out of
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1.8 Page 8 |
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every six person in the world
today is an Indian-dubious
because probably for that very
reason we still remain poor,
disease-prone and backward in
the scale of social development.
All this used to gall Mr
Tata who believed India had
the right and ability to break
this vicious circle and venture
forth into an era of
opportunity and well being.
The result ofthis uncontrolled
population has been that the
general quality of our populace
leaves much to be desired. And
then, there are clear enough
portents that if we ore not
successful with our population
stabilisation strategies in the
20
19
18
17
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14
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1901-1951 1951·1961
* Births minus Deaths
next 2-3 decades, then not only
shall we replace China as the
most populous country some
time into the 21st century, but
also fall much behind other
developing nations as a front-
rank nation in the next
millenium. Today, of all
countries, India adds the
maximum number of new
mouths to its population - 18
million; without adding
concommitantly to its national
production.
For average annual
increase in India's
population on decadal
basis*, see the graph
below:
The result of this
uncontrolled population
has been that the
general quality of our
populace leaves -much to
be desired.
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Pandit Jawaharlal
Nehru / the leader of
young India at that
timet caused the Indian
National Congress to
appoint a National
Planning Committee in
1938
Between 1871 and 1921
Indian population population
size changed very little because
Malthusian visitations had been
occurring at ahnost regular
intervals, bringing in their
wake endless misery, death
and disease. The 1931 Census
marks a watershed in the
phenomenon of population
growth since at that time it
began to be quite evident that
India was in for great spurts of
population growth in the years
and decades to come mainly
due to the new developments
in the field of medicine that
effectively brought down the
death rates while the birth rates
remained high as before.
b. One Billion Plus
Reality must be faced that only
after five years from now when
the new millenium dawns, we
shall have crossed the one
billion mark. This fact
underscores the exponential
nature of the growth of
population in the country,
possibly leading to grave
consequences. Today, we are
not only too poor, too disease-
prone and too numerous in
relation to our resources, but
are also living longer than
before. Thus pressures on the
life supporting systems are
beginning to become
intolerable. The graph on the
page opposite illustrates this
fact in a tell-tale manner:
c. Early Awareness
Mr JRD Tata was among the
first Indians to sound the alarm
bells. In fact, some academics
like P.K.Wattal in his book
"Population Problem in India"
had noticed the danger signals
as early as 1916. Around that
very time, Col. A.Russel, the-
then Director General of Health
Services in India, had gone on
record to describe India as
'badlyover-populated'.
Adopting birth control
measures appeared to be the
immediate way out.
It is important to note that
Raghunath Karve, a son of the
celebrated Maharishi Dhondu
Keshav Karve of Maharashtra,
was the first one to open a
family planning clinic in the
country in Bombay way back in
1921. The enlightened
Wodeyars, the rulers of Mysore,
followed suit about a decade
later, opening a family planning
clinic in Mysore in 1930. What
this chronology indicates is that
enlightened individuals and
public agencies alike had
woken up to the need of family
planning even before the
Census of 1931.
However, a serious
population debate really started
to capture the public
imagination in the fourth
decade of the 20th century.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the
leader of young India at that
time, caused the Indian
National Congress to appoint a
National Planning Committee
in 1938. This committee was
assisted on population by a sub
committee headed by no less an
academic than Dr Radha Kamal
Mukerjee. It is this sub
committee which, among other
things, drew for the first time,
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POPULATION GROWTH, CRUDE BIRTH, DEATH RATES
AND SEX RATIO-INDIA 1901-1991
60
1029
1037
50
CBR49.2
/'
CDR42.6
40
1053
1058
Standing Committee of
Experts 1989 - Projections
Life Expectancy at birth
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2.1 Page 11 |
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The cause received
greater fillip from a
young, energetic,
enlightened and
patriotic industrialist
named Jehangir Ratanji
Dadabhai Tata who
came to head the house
of Tatas.
the nation's attention to the
perils ofunbridled population
growth overtaking the nation's
resources, and specifically laid
down the policy guideline: "It
is desirable to spread cheap and
safe methods of birth control in
the country." In the given
cultural milieu, that indeed was
a revolutionary step.
d. Two Pioneers
In this context, one cannot but
pay one's grateful homage to
the pioneering exertions of two
eminent Indians, viz. Lady
Dhanvanthi Rama Rao and
Mr.JRD Tata who soon became
virtual crusaders, world-wide
in the cause of birth control.
Not just that, private initiative
in the field of population and
family planning got really
concretised in their persons. It
was Lady Dhanvanthi Rama
Rao who, along with Margeret
Sange~foundedthe
International Planned
Parenthood Federation (IPPF)
in India in 1952. India's
crowning glory came when she
took over as the President of
IPPF in 1963. The Family
Planning Association of India
(FPAI) as an affiliate of the
International Planned
Parenthood Federation too
owes its birth to this energetic
and committed woman leader
and her band of devoted
women workers. Mrs Avabai B
Wadia who has given the best
part of her life to FPAI was one
of her most committed
partners. Mrs Wadia had the
unique honour of being elected
as the President of IPPP for two
terms. A happy coincidence
indeed that Lady Rama Rao
was also one of the founder
members of the Governing
Board of Family Planning
Foundation!
The cause received greater
fillip from a young, energetic,
enlightened and patriotic
industrialist named Jehangir
Ratanji Dadabhai Tata who
came to head the house of
Tatas. A restless soul, he was
always ready to support new
initiatives to make India strong,
modem and progressive.
It was at Mr Tata's personal
initiative that a component of
family planning was included
in the health cover of the Tata
Iron and Steel Company
(TISCO) workers at
Jamshedpur in 1950. But what
he did in 1951 i.e. only a year
after, really takes the cake, for,
no industrialist in the world
had done this kind of thing
until then. He strongly
advocated to the shareholders
of TISCO to seek solution of the
population problem as it was
then emerging. In his
Chairman's annual address that
year, he pointedly said:
"I am aware how closely
this population problem is
bound up with the
traditional concepts of a
people with so ancient a
civilisation as ours, but 1 am
not one of those who
believe that nothing
effective can be done. In
fact, the problem is capable
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2.2 Page 12 |
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of being tackled in a
number of ways once its
magnitude and urgency are
recognised. "
In this very speech he
proposed perhaps far ahead of
his times that the Government
of India constitute without
delay a high-powered
Population Commission in the
country consisting of eminent
scientists, economists and
sociologists.
e. The National Family
Planning Programme
Between 1938 when the Indian
National Congress formally
proposed placing family
planning on the nation's
agenda and in 1947, when India
became the master of its own
destiny, had intervened such
cataclysmic events as the
Second World War, 'Quit India'
movement and migration of
huge populations as a sequel to
the Partition of India. That
inevitably postponed any
worthwhile initiative on the
part of the nation to fight the
worsening population problem.
However, when in 1951, India
actually launched upon the
path of planned development
and the first Five-Year Plan got
underway, the idea of
introducing family planning for
the needy couples became a
national priority.
By the end of the Second
Five-Year Plan which coincided
with the 1961 Census, it began
to look imperative that we
could not brook any further
postponement in tackling the
problem in a big way if the
nation was not to imperil its
future. This resulted in the birth
of the National Family
Planning Programme. The
Union Department of Health
and Family Welfare, as a part of
the Ministry of Health, was set
up in 1963 during the Third
Five-Year Plan. Family
Planning counselling through
community leaders and
extension education became a
necessary tool to reach out to
the people. The States soon
followed the lead given by the
Government of India.
However, it was in 1966 that
the programme entered what
we know as the" crash phase".
For, the battle from then
onwards was meant to be
fought on a war footing!
The graph appearing on page 12
clearly brings out how India
stands in respect of key
demographic indicators in
comparison to some selected
countries of the world.
Similarly, the two graphs
appearing on page 13shed light
on the progress of family
planning programme in India.
Services were sought to be
carried to the doorsteps of the
needy through mass
mobiIisation campaigns and
camps in which mass education
and media were massively
employed so as to sensitize the
field before launching the
offensive, as it goes in the
military parlance. Research
both fundamental and
demographic was built into it
and evaluation both concurrent
However, it was in
1966 that the
programme entered
what we know as the
IIcrash phase". For, the
battle from then
onwards was meant to
befought on a war
footing!
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Key Demographic
Indicators
for
India
and
Selected Countries
India
Bangladesh
China
Indonesia
Kenya
Mexico
Pakistan
United States
India
Bangladesh
China
Indonesia
Kenya
Mexico
Pakistan
United States
India
Bangladesh
China
Indonesia
Kenya
Mexico
Pakistan
United States
India
Bangladesh
China
Indonesia,
Kenya
Mexico
Pakistan
United States
India
Bangladesh
China
Indonesia
Kenya
Mexico
Pakistan
United States
India
Bangladesh
China
Indonesia
Kenya
Mexico
Pakistan
United States
Sources: Population Reference Bureau. 1992 World Population Data Sheet: GNP data from The C.I.A.
World Factbook 1991. The C.I.A: Washington. OC. P. 63; China data from UNFPA Bejing Office; India data
from the 1991 Census and the 1988 Sample Registration System.
.
Reproduced from Population Action International Report, 1992
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2.4 Page 14 |
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Sterilization
69.7%
Contraceptive
Use
In
India,
by Method
0
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• Includes Traditional Methods
Family
Planning
Practice by
Major States
(Percentage of Couples
Using Contraception*)
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2.5 Page 15 |
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All in all, India's
official or, in more
precise words, the
National Family
Planning Programme,
became a total, nay, all-
inclusive effort leaving
almost nothing to
chance.
and qualitative went hand in
hand with it. In selected
universities and institutions
throughout the land came up
demographic-and-action-
research projects led by many a
well known sociologist. For
every description of worker,
there was a training
programme and honing their
skills became an ongoing effort
in 47 Family Planning Training
and Research Centres
throughout the country. All in
all, India's official or, in more
precise words, the National
Family Planning Programme,
became a total, nay, all-inclusive
effort leaving almost nothing to
chance.
According to the report of
the Health and Family
VVelfare Afinistry of
Government of India for
1994-95, the national pro-
gramme is serviced by 2321
Community
Health
Centres, 1499 urban family
planning centres, 21,153
Primary Health centres and
about 1,31,471 sub-centres.
In addition, the programme
in the rural areas is
supported by about 2.5 lakh
Afulti-purpose VVorkersand
4 lakh Village Health
Guides.
A
vast
infrastructure indeed!
The 18 months of National
Emergency (1975-77), through
its seemingly well-intentioned
intensified effort, however,
caused a great setback to the
programme as a whole. It took
almost a decade to soften the
public ire and put the social
dynamics of the programme
back on the rails. And for all
these years, MCH and
strategies of community
involvement through segmental
and group-specific approaches
have been the mainstay of the
programme. However, the new
realisation about the ultimate
success of population
stabilisation strategies is that
they must be built around
health for all, adult literacy and
meaningful empowerment of
child and women to be
achieved as early as possible.
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It is against this backdrop and
with the realisation that
complexities of population
problem in India would not
be adequately answered by the
Government initiative alone
that Mr JRD Tata along with
some who shared his concerns,
set up in 1970,the Family
Planning Foundation as an
independent, non-
governmental initiative. The
idea was to supplement and
complement the efforts of the
government and also galvanise
voluntary action through
meaningful support activities.
There was a two-fold
rationale of this initiative, viz. :
(a) Enlisting the coopera-
tion of the best available
national talent and
institutions in different
areas of population'
concern in order to
strengthen the Founda-
tion's initiatives; and
(b) undertaking population
research as an integral
element of the
development spectrum,
but with the main focus
remaining on
population stabilisation.
The aims and objectives of
the Foundation as defined by
its founding fathers are:
o To help raise the level of
family planning beyond its
traditional confines by
focussing on the variables
restricting its operation;
o to support innovative
research, experimentation
and social action from the
point of view of bringing
the grey areas into bold
relief and throwing up
viable, replicable
programme models;
o to involve the best scientific
talent in the country in
these efforts;
o to serve as a forum for
pooling of experience and
sharing of professional
expertise to strengthen and
enlarge the operational base
of the programme;
o to support efforts all around
to place family planning on
a sounder footing; and
o to assist official and public
agencies in the advance-
ment of the cause of
promoting human welfare
through family planning
and other development
programmes.
It may not be out of place
to briefly recall here the useful
role.p~ayed by Dr Douglas
Ensminger, the-then Country
Representative of the Ford
Foundation in India. The late
Dr Dipak Bhatia, after retiring
as India's first Family Planning
Commissioner, had then joined
the Ford Foundation as Adviser
on family planning. Dr
Ensminger was instrumental in
bringing Mr Tata and Dr Bhatia
into contact with each other.
Now in the words of Dr Bhatia:
"One day he (DrEnsminger)
called me to his room. As I .
entered, I found a very
distinguished Indian sitting
in front of him. He was
none other than
'The idea was to
supplement and
complement the efforts
of the government and
also galvanise
voluntary action
through meaningful
support activities.
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"...which came into
existence not much
after due to the
strenuous efforts of Mr
Tata and his two
distinguished colleagues
Dr Bharat Ram, a noted
industrialist, and Mr L
M Singhvi, a leading
jurist and scholar... "
Mr JRD Tata who was
wanting to do something
new and big for combating
unbridled population
growth. Dr Ensminger duly
introduced the two of us to
each other. Perhaps it was
the common cause dear to
both of us that we took to
each other instantly. We
immediately started
working together on setting
up the Family Planning
Foundation which came
into existence not much
after due to the strenuous
efforts of Mr Tata and his
two distinguished
colleagues Dr Bharat Ram, a
noted industrialist, and Mr
L M Singhvi, a leading
jurist and scholar. The latter
also assisted in defining the
new institution's sphere of
work."
The Ford Foundation also
did a princely turn to the
Family Planning Foundation,
enabling it to get over its
teething problems. From its
inception until 1981, it made
two grants to the Family
Planning Foundation totalling $
1,000,000. The first grant of $
300,000, made at the inception
of the Foundation in 1971 was
on the condition that the
Foundation would provide
from its own resources
matching funds three times
this amount.
Some time later the Ford
Foundation made another grant
of $ 700,000 with the
stipulation that the Foundation
made a matching response in
the ratio 1:1, which was
fulfilled.
With Mr JRD Tata and
Dr Bharat Ram as Chairman
and Vice-Chairman
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2.8 Page 18 |
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Mr TRD Tata presiding over a meeting of the Goveming Board of the Foundation
(A File Photograph)
respectively, the first Governing
Board of the Foundation had
these eminent personalities as
its members:
Dr Oipak Bhatia
Mr AN Haksar
Mr H V R Iyengar
Mr M M Mangaldas
Mr Bhaskar Mitter
Lady Dhanvanthi Rama Rao
Mr L M Singhvi
Dr K L Wig
Mr B H Zaidi.
a. Governing Board
The Governing Board of the
Foundation consisting of
eminent persons, guides the
Foundation in formulating
policies and programme
strategies and makes grants
after proper appraisal. The
present membership of the
Board headed by Dr Bharat
Ram, is:
Mr S P Godrej
MrH PNanda
Mrs Avabai B Wadia
Mr Justice G D Khosla
Mr G B Verghese
OrO PSingh
OrB KAnand
Dr V A Pai Panandiker
Mr Hari Shankar Singhania
Dr (Mrs) Banoo J Coyaji
Begam Bilkees Latif
Prof Ranjit Roy Chaudhury
Mr Ratan N Tata
Mr J C Pant,
(Ex-officio as Secretary,
Ministry of Health and
Family welfare,
Government of India)
Dr K Srinivasan
(Executive Director)
b. Advisory Council
The Foundation has a Standing
Advisory Panel of experts has
only recently reconstituted by
the induction of eight new
experts. The Panel consists of :
Dr M S Swaminathan,
Chairman
Prof Ramlal Parikh
Prof P C Joshi
OrYash Pal
Prof G P Talwar
MrTV Antony
...luminaries like the
late Dr Malcolm
Adiseshiah and the late
Dr Sukhamoy
Chakravarty had also
headed the Foundation's
Advisory Council in
their own time.
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In the citation read on
the occasion at UN
Headquarters , New
York the Family
Planning Foundation
was described as nthe
country's pre-eminent
non-governmental
organisation for field
research on family
planning".
Dr Rashrni Mayor
Mr B B Vohra
Dr M S Hassan
Mr P Padmanabha
Prof V Ramlingaswamy
Dr Saroj Pachauri
Mrs Rami Chhabra
MrT L Sankar
Dr Helen Simon
Prof Udai Pareek
Ms Poonam Muttereja
Ms Vimla Ramachandran
Joint Secretary, Family
Welfare, Govt. of India
(Member Ex. Officio)
This small group of eminent
Indian experts covers such
cognate fields as sociology,
demography, communication,
health services, environment,
education, management,
women's development, bio-
medical science, etc. It advises
the Foundation on long-range
policies and priority
programmes and from time to
time reviews its achievements
to suggest further possibilities.
It is worth noting that
luminaries like the late Dr
Malcolm Adiseshiah and the
late Dr Sukhamoy Chakravarty
had also headed the .
Foundation's Advisory Council
in their own time.
c. Advisory Panels
To assist the Foundation in the
task of reviewing major
proposals, panels of experts
relating to principal subject-
areas are also consulted. These
panels consist of individuals
who are known for outstanding
work in their respective areas of
specialisation. The subjects are:
o Health and Biomedical;
o Gynecology and Obstetrics;
o Social Anthropology,
Sociology, Economics;
o Politics and Psychology;
o Population Policy;
o Communications;
o Management;
o Environment;
DEvaluation;
o Community Participation;
and
o Rural Development.
The unique position of the
Foundation found forceful
recognition when its founder
Chairman Mr JRD Tata was
conferred the prestigious UN
Population Award for the year
1992 unanimously decided by a
jury or 11 national
representatives headed by the
Executive Director of UNFPA,
Dr Nafis Sadik , by none other
than Mr. Boutros Boutros Ghali,
Secretary General of the United
Nations. In the citation read on
the occasion at UN
Headquarters, New York the
Family Plmming Foundation
was described as "the country's
pre-eminent non-governmental
organisation for field research
on family plalming". It needs
hardly recalling that the
Foundation has since been
recognized as an affiliate body
of Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC) of the United
Nations with a consultative
status.
Similarly within India, the
Foundation has carved out a
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2.10 Page 20 |
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niche for itself as a premier
non-governmental voluntary
organisation working in
various dimensions of
population. The Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare, the
Plalming Commission, the
National Institute of Health and
Family Welfare, the Indian
Council of Medical Research,
the National Institute of Public
Corporation and Child
Development, the Tripartile
Committee for (initiatives) in
the Organised Sector (to name a
few) not only invite the
Foundation to deliberate on the
issues concerning different
aspects of Population but also
attach considerable value to the
ideas and opinions offered by
it. A good number of important
institutions and organisations
in the voluntary sector, now
look upon the Foundation to
provide leadership on the
whole range of population
issues.
d.Areas of Concern
To-date the Foundation has
funded 281 research projects of
various dimensions and
descriptions falling under these
areas at a total cost of Rs 400
lakhs. That has been possible
because it has been supported
by intellectuals, researchers and
institutes of higher learning
from all over the country. It has
received projects both from
individuals and institutions
and adopted them after
screening by the Advisory
Panels of the Foundation.
However, of late, it has started
developing its own projects
based on in-house research in
priority areas and identifying
suitable field agencies which
could iinplement them, the
Foundation helping them in
pre-project surveys and post-
project evaluation as well as
technical advice.
Another aspect of the
A good number of
important
institutions and
organisations in
the voluntary sector,
now look upon the'
Foundation to
provide leadership on
the whole range of
population issues
Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Chief Minister, Rajas~han in a~ animated discussion
with Population Foundation of India delegatIon. (A Fde Photograph)
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3.1 Page 21 |
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Firmly believing that
population and
development were
intimately inter-
connected, much of the
Foundation's work
emphasised the need to
integrate the two for
optimum results.
Foundation's activities has been
its constant interface with
policy-makers and programme
administrators in government
and the voluntary sector. The
scope of this interface is now
broadening in order to bring
about regular interaction with
State governments since most
of its projects and programmes
are actually implemented in the
field. The first of such
consultations held in Jaipur
(Rajasthan) set the pace of
closer collaboration and
purpose of action. Similar
consultations are being fixed in
Bhopal, Lucknow and Patna.
The range of the projects
funded by the Foundation
extends from developing new
and more versatile
contraceptive technologies to
promoting behavioural
response-patterns which could
contribute to the development
of the community as well as its
social health.
Through these projects, the
Foundation has convincingly
demonstrated that in spite of
certain socio-eultural and
economic factors which
sometimes tend to militate
against the adoption of family
planning, a humanistic
approach to the programme
which gives due importance to
the felt needs of the people and
draws upon the strength of
grass-root institutions, is
capable of overcoming many a
negative factor. Firmly
believing that population and
development were intimately
inter-connected, much of the
Foundation's work emphasised
the need to integrate the two
for optimum results. Thus,
these projects have:
o helped break fresh ground
in areas ranging from search
for new contraceptives to
development-based family
planning programmes,
drawing strength from
community participation;
o identified the gaps in action
programmes and suggested
corrective measures;
o explored fields which had
somehow failed to receive
adequate attention and
supported institutions/
people having the will and
competence to explore
them;
o encouraged research and
experimentation in family
planning determinants;
o financed research
institutions of repute in
developing suitable
strategies for dealing with
problems of high fertility;
o highlighted the intimate
relationship that exists
between family planning
and such variables as socio-
economic factors, cultural
milieu, status of women
and infant mortality, with a
view to assisting planners
as well as voluntary
organisations in
formulating sound and
practical programmes; and
o helped in general in placing
before the public crucial
issues relating to rapidly
growing population and its
unavoidable social and
economic consequences in
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order to obtain heightened
awareness and stronger
commitment to individual
and group action as well as
responsive policy
intervention.
e. Support from Institutes of
Higher Learning
The Foundation has had the
privilege of interacting with
and receiving strong support
from such prestigious centres of
higher learning in the country
as Indian Institute of
Science,Bangalore; National
Institute of Health and Family
Welfare, New Delhi; All India
Institute of Medical Sciences,
New Delhi; Administrative
Staff College, Hyderabad;
International Institute for
Population Sciences, Bombay;
Tata Institute of Social Sciences,
Bombay; Postgraduate Institute
of Medical Science and
Research, Chandigarh; Srichitra
Tirunal Institute of Science in
Kerala; Gandhigram Institute in
Tamil Nadu, to name a few.
f. Three Appraisals
While developing these areas of
concern in different directions,
Family Planning Foundation
always made it a rule to submit
itself to periodic appraisals both
by outsiders as well as by its
own experts. For example, the
first appraisal was conducted in
1978 by Mr Justice G 0 Khosla,
a senior member of the
Governing Board of the
Foundation. In a way, it was an
effort to submit to self-criticism.
This exercise led to looking
"Beyond Family Planning",
interlocking the thrust of
population stabilisation
strategies with those aspects of
development which are
supposed to be generally
influencing the fertility
behaviour.
After 15 years of its
working, which means in 1985,
the Foundation wanted the
correctness and credibility of its
rules and procedures to be
scientifically appraised and
approved and this task was
handed over to the
Administrative Staff College,
Hyderabad. Happily the study
found the Foundation pursuing
reasonably correct procedures
and practices.
The third appraisal was the
result of a similar exercise
conducted by the Foundation's
experts such as Dr (Mrs) Banoo
J Coyaji, Dr V A Pai
Panandiker, Dr T C Anand
Kumar, Dr J K Satia and the late
Mr Harish Khanna. The late Dr
Dipak Bhatia headed this
group. The recommendations
of this group were further
subjected to serious
deliberation at a one-day
symposium on "Family
Planning in the 90s: Search for
New Approaches".
This group, in sum, felt that
the goal of achieving NRR (Net
Reproduction Rate) 1 could
now be achieved only in 2011
AD or may even be delayed
further. Detailing the
challenges, it Felt that quality of
services continued to be poor.
Similarly, there was very slow
progress in improving the
While developing these
areas of concern in
different directions I
Family Planning
Foundation always
made it a rule to submit
itself to periodic
appraisals both by
outsiders as well as by
its own experts.
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3.3 Page 23 |
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...the change of
nomenclature from
Family Planning
Foundation to the
Population Foundation
of India is inevitably the
most important
outcome it has
produced.
quality of population as coming
out from figures of female
literacy and child survival and
poor ability of women to
manage their fertility
behaviour.
The Group also recognised
the unpalatable fact that the
greatest challenge to population
control lay in the five major
North Indian States, viz. Bihar,
Orissa, Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
These States lagged behind in
social development in general
and adoption of family
planning in particular by at
least 20 years in comparison to
some other Indian States. The
most strategic imperative
recognised by this Group was
that it was no longer possible to
moderate population growth
by merely providing
contraceptive services,
important though they were.
Other areas of social
development had also to be
tackled by organisations
working in this area.
In point of fact, the findings
of this appraisal have had a
much larger impact on the
thinking and direction of the
Foundation. For example, the
change of nomenclature from
Family Planning Foundation to
the Population Foundation of
India is inevitably the most
important outcome it has
produced. Naturally, as alluded
to earlier, this changes the
emphasis of the Foundation's
activities all along the line,
identifying some new thrust
areas for the future.
g. New-Thrust Areas
To meet the new emerging
challenge, the Population
Foundation of India has decided
to adopt suitable strategies in
the six areas.
These six areas are: (a)
Social Mobilisation; (b) Social
Development; (c) Programme
Innovation; (d) Contraceptive
Technologies; (e) Private/
Voluntary Effort; and
(f) Population Policy.
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3.4 Page 24 |
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s already stated, during the
A last 25 years the Founda-
tion has been instrumental
in promoting and directing
281 projects of various
dimensions and descriptions. It
is, therefore, appropriate that
we detail here, in brief, some of
the outstanding results in
different fields achieved
through these projects. Since
the list of projects is a bit too
long, it would not be possible
to give here even brief
description of their findings in
any chronological order.
Alternatively, therefore, these
achievements have been put
together in a different format,
combining qualitatively several
projects dealing with the same
or similar subjects, under
different heads.
Accordingly, these
achievements are summarised
as under:
a. Moulding Public Opinion
In a democracy, people's
representatives at various
levels, viz., Village Panchayats,
Zilla Parishads, State
Legislatures, Central
Parliament, etc. have to take the
lead in creating mass awareness
in relation to family pl~nning as
well as in developing close
linkages with development
processes in order to influence
policies and programmes
impinging upon it. The
Foundation did a pioneering
job in filling some of the glaring
gaps in this area when it
assisted in preparing
"Population Atlas of India"
(containing in a visually-
appealing format, data of
certain basic demographic and
development indicators) and
"Atlas of the Child in India".
Both these atlases were greatly
appreciated at the two national
conferences of
Parliamentarians in 1981 and
1985. These works were
accomp lished under the
stewardship of the late
Dr.Moonis Raza, an
international luminary in the
field of social geography.
Among its other notable
contributions to the print
media, mention may be made
of "Population in India's
Development-1948-2000
A.D."- an anthology of well
researched papers and essays
by some eminent Indian
scholars and edited by Ashish
Bose, P.B. Desai, Asok Mitra
and J.N. Sharma. This book
received acclaim at the World
Population Conference at
Bucharest in 1974. The second
contribution of note to be
mentioned is a comprihensive
research study published in
two volumes, viz., "India's
Population: Aspects of Quality
and Control" by Dr. Asok
Mitra.
The Foundation also
actively associated itself with
the Indian Association of
Parliamentarians on Population
and Development in organising
conferences and seminars at
national, state and constituency
levels in order to
institutionalise their support to
the cause of family planning.
Since the list of projects
is a bit too long, it
would not be possible to
give here their brief
description including
the findings in any
chronological order.
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3.5 Page 25 |
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The Foundation ...
sought to develop new
ideas and themes and
translated them into
actual software ...
Dr Norman E Borlaug, Father of India's Green Revolution and a Nobel Prize
Winner who delivered the inaugural lecture of the "Encounter with
Population Crisis" lecture series.
b. Promotion and Advocacy
The Foundation, in diverse
ways, made a modest
contribution in creating mass
consciousness for family
planning movement. It sought
to develop new ideas and
themes and translated them
into actual software which had
been used by the government
as well as by the non-
governmental voluntary
organisations for promoting
mass awareness. The
production of documentary and
video films, the scheme of
awards for scripts on
population-related themes to
help Doordarshan and A.I.R. to
spot fresh talent and ideas, the
publication of two popular
pamphlets (one in English and
the other in Hindi) based on
"Monograph on Age at
Marriage in India" by Mr V K
Ramabhadran, formerly
Director (Evaluation) of the
Foundation are some of these
activities.
Apart from assisting other
organisations and institutions
ill holding group discussions,
symposia and workshops to
strengthen and deepen public
awareness on population
problems, the Foundation itself
organised such seminars and
meetings on important
occasions. Four such seminars
and symposia will find brief
mention in the pages to come.
Another mentionable effort is a
successful film based on the
findings from five States on
infant mortality, made by the
late Mr Harish Khanna for the
Foundation. This film is titled
"Too Early, Too Many, Too
Soon". It also arranged a
Borlaug-]RD Doordarshan
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3.6 Page 26 |
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dialogue on "Population, Food
and Human Survival", which
indeed is a landmark in the
history of public media.
Starting from March, 1990
the Foundation instituted
"Encounter with Population
Crisis" lecture series inviting
important international and
Indian celebrities to deliver
these lectures once a year. The
notable speakers so far, include
Dr Norman E. Borlaug, Dr M S
Swaminathan, Dr Asok Mitra,
Dr Abid Hussain and Mr
Vasant Sathe. These lectures
along with excerpts of Mr JRD
Tata's eight important speeches
on the subject of population
beginning 1980, were brought
out in handy volumes and
circulated to important opinion
leaders in the country. Needless
to say, these publications have
evoked a fulsome response
from notable public figures,
research scholars, academic
institutions, women and
minority leaders, important
journalists, etc., across the
country. Overseas data banks
have also obtained the series as
also major reports. The huge
feedback received is an index of
the usefulness of these
publications.
However , in the Silver
Jublee year, the "Encounter with
Population Crisis" annual
lectures have been rechristened
as JRD Tata Memorial
Oration. The first of these
orations came from one of
India's leading Gandhian-
Socialists and a towering
political personality, Mr
Ramakrishna Hegde. He is a
former Chief Minister of
Karnataka as well as a former
Deputy Chairman of the
The huge feedback
received is an index of
the usefulness of these
pub 1ications.
Mr Ramakrishna Hegde delivering the inaugural JRD Tata Memorial Oration at
Hotel Taj Mahal, New Delhi, before a select audience on September 19, 1995
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MrM.S.
Swaminathan,
India's ace
Agricultural
Scientist and
Environmentalist
delivering the
second lecture of
'Encounter with
Population
Crisis" lecture
series.(A File
Photograph)
Mr JRD Tata
receiving Dr
Asok Mitra, an
eminent Indian
administrator
and Population
expert, when he
came to deliver
the third lecture
of the "Encounter
with Population
Crisis" lecture
series. (A File
Photograph)
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3.8 Page 28 |
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Dr Bharat Ram
escorting Shri
Vasant Sathe, one
of India's top
statesmen and
intellectuals
when he arrived
for delivering the
fifth lecture of
the "Encounter
with Population
Crisis" lecture
series. (A File
Photograph)
Dr.Bharat Ram
receiving Dr
Abid Hussain,
one of India's
top
administrators
and diplomats
when he arrived
for delivering the
fourth lecture of
the "Encounter
with Population
Crisis" lecture
series. (A File
Photograph)
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Tmportant media
fJersonalities concerned
I
with the Ministry of
Health and Family
Welfare as well as the
lVlinistry of InformatioYi
and Broadcasting
alongwith members of
the Population
Communications
(International)
participated in the
discussion ....
Distinguished Members of the Population Communication (International), New
York, at the Foundation's Seminar on "Communication Strategies in Family
Welfare". (A File Photograph)
Planning Commission. This
oration was held in Hotel Taj
Mahal before a select audience
on the 19th September, 1995.
From the last quarter of
1987, the Foundation started
publishing its quarterly bulletin
FOCUS. The bulletin has been
well received as a vehicle for
disseminating and
documenting information on
various aspects of population
and family planning with
particular reference to the
activities of the Foundation. A
Hindi version of FOCUS in also
now on the anvil.
c. Symposium on
Communication Strategies
in Family Welfare
This symposium organised in
February 1990, aimed at taking
benefit of the presence in New
Delhi of the members of the
Executive Board of Population
Communications
(International), New York - a
prestigious organisation of
media professionals intimately
concerned about virtually
exploding populations and
with firm belief in the power of
entertainment media to
facilitate change. Important
media personalities concerned
with the Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare as well as the
Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting alongwith
members of the Population
Communications
(International) participated in
the discussion which was
described as highly purposeful
because the symposium left no
area of family planning
communication untouched. An
important concept that the
symposium threw up was that
the scope of family planning
communication must now be
broadened so as to make it a
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3.10 Page 30 |
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...there was a large
measure of unanimity
that the fourth format
should be adopted in
order to make family
planning a real
cooperative and
voluntary venture to be
participated in by all
concerned.
undertook in 1989, a
programme of regional
workshops. This programme
came as a sequel to a need-and-
suitability study commissioned
for Mr DK Dey of TISCO by
Family Planning Foundation.
So far 14 regional workshops/
symposia/roundtables have
been held, one each at
Chandigarh, Bombay, Calcutta,
Madras, Patna, Bangalore,
Kanpur, Ahmedabad, Bhopal,
Hyderabad, Jaipur, Cuttack,
New Delhi and Parwanoo. As a
corollary of these workshops,
training programmes for
executives were also organised
at Bangalore, Pune, New Delhi,
Gurgaon, Sonepat, Calcutta,
Jaipur and Baroda in order to
develop a practical and
scientific methodology to
establish employee-based, self-
sustaining family welfare
services in the organised sector.
The Indian Institute of Mass
Communication carried out an
evaluation of these workshops
and found them to have
achieved from "partial to
reasonable success."
In view of the enormous
potential of trade unions in
furthering family planning
among industrial workers, an
important study on 'Attitudes
and Activities of Trade Union
Leaders and Company
Managements Towards
Adoption of Family Planning
by Workers' was also got
conducted through the Shri
Ram Centre for Industrial
Relations and Human
Resources, New Delhi in 1989.
The Trade Union leaders
responded to four clear
scenarios for taking up family
planning activities. The first
scenario is Unions themselves
taking up family planning
activities; the second is Unions
working with managements;
the third is Unions working
with Govermnent Health and
Family Planning authorities;
and the fourth is the Trade
unions, managements and the
Government - all joining
hands. But there was a large
measure of unanimity that the
fourth format should be
adopted in order to make
family planning a real
cooperative and voluntary
venture to be participated in by
all concerned.
Another important finding
in this respect is 'cluster
approach' on the part of a
number of industries located in
a specific area in order to offer
information and services to the
families of the workers and the
community they come from.
Individually, these industries
were incapable of providing the
necessary inputs. But when
taken in a cluster, they could
effectively enlist cooperation of
the trade unions as also the
assistance of the local health
and family planning
authorities.
The programme in its
present phase is distinguished
by networking with State
Governments, academic and
research institutions and non-
governmentalorganisations
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4.1 Page 31 |
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PG.1. Chandigarh.
The project studied risk
factors at various stages of
child development, both pre-
natal and post-natal, and has
come up with ideas for an
action-programme of
appropriate interventions to
bring down infant mortality.
For the purpose of this
comprehensive study, probably
the first of its kind in India,
data were collected in five
States from about 800 rural and
urban units, 2,500 grass-root
health workers, 1,10,000
households and 25,000 mothers.
Major findings of the study
were discussed by experts at a
national seminar before
formulating interventional
action programmes.
h. National Seminar on Infant
Mortality ir Relation to
Fertility
This seminar was held in 1988
and chaired by Mr J R D Tata. It
was participated in by
Foundation experts,
Govenunent of India experts,
State Government experts, such
international bodies as the
International Development
Research Centre, Canada,
USAID, the World Bank and
UNFPA and a host of
prominent Indian experts
mainly based in New Delhi
along with those experts who
were directly connected with
this study.
This seminar for the first
time placed on the nation's
agenda, the formulation that
children have a basic right to
live and live well and that this
right should be recognised both
by the families and the State.
The seminar made
important observations
regarding the empowerment of
women in the reproductive age
groups and how to deal with
their problems so that the
incidence of infant mortality
could be lowered.
An important point that
emerged from the study is that
infant mortality has a direct
relationship with fertility and
low infant mortality and thus
has a direct link with the stage
of social development reached
by a society.
It was also decided that
now when proximate risk
factors had been identified in
the five project areas of this
study, its intervention phase
should have at least three
projects to combat the problem
of infant mortality. The areas
selected for these three project
were: (1) Tikabali block in
Orissa, (2)Jaunpur block in
Tehri and Garhwal district of
Uttar Pradesh, and (3) Damoh
block in Damoh district in
Madhya Pradesh.
i. Family Planning in the
Organised Sector
In order to accomplish the long-
term goal of sensitising India's
industrial leadership and
management to the serious
implications of unchecked
population growth and its
direct impact on the economy,
the Family Planning
Foundation in collaboration
with various Chambers of
Commerce and Industry
For the purpose of this
comprehensive study,
probably the first of its
kind in India, data were
collected in five States
from about 800 rural
and urban units, 2,500
grass-root health
workers, 1,10,000
households and 25,000
mothers.
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This four-page pictorial supplement seeks to present those who have toiled
hard to serve the Population Foundation of India in different capacities, through
thick and thin. It is always the people behind the show who lay the foundations
brick by brick and then like pillars carry the entire load of the super-str-ucture
on their shoulders as it were. Hence, a special treatment to them to complete
the conceptual and functional story of the Foundation at 25 years.
Dr Bharat Ram, the Present Chairman
(November 29, 1993 ... COlltilluillg ill office)
The late Mr JRD Tata, the Ex-Chairman
(September 20, 1970 to November 29, 1993)
The above file photograph captures in a rarely candid and intimate moment the two
moving spirits of the Foundation. Their togetherness really stood the test of the time.
They founded the Foundation way back in 1970 as Chairman and Vice-Chairman
respectively - Dr Bharat Ram succeeding Mr JRD Tata on his death in 1993 to carryon
the great mission they had envisioned together in the service of the community.
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4.3 Page 33 |
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Prof JC Kavoori
September 21, 1970 to August 31, 1985
Prof JC Kavoori who served the Foundation for
fifteen long years, brought to bear upon its
working in its teething years his rich teaching,
research and administrative experience at
Baroda University. He is now settled in Jaipur
where he is still actively associated with
population concerns.
Mr P Padmanabha
February 12 to September 27, 1986
Mr P Padmanabha, who before he succeeded
Prof Kavoori, was the Registrar General of
India. He commands a special status among the
demographic experts of the country. He also
served the United Nations in various capacities.
He is still serving the Foundation as a member
of its Advisory Council.
The late Mr Harish Khanna
September 29, 1986 to July 23, 1995
The late Mr Harish Khanna, formerly of the lAS,
before joining the Foundation served as chief of the
Delhi Development Authority as also of the
Doordarshan. He had a long innings of about nine
years in the Foundation. He was a widely respected
exponent of social and development communication,
worldwide. He died while in office.
Commodore Charanjit Mehta
(Sept. 21, 1970 to Sept. 3D, 1984)
Commodore C Mehta served
the Foundation in its infancy
as its overall administrative
head for fourteen long years.
He had come to the
Foundation after earning
retirement as a Senior Naval
Officer and imparted to it
military discipline and efficiency.
a retired life in Bombay.
He is now leading
Mr K Balakrishnan
(August 22, 1984 ...continuing)
Mr K Balakrishnan succeeded
Commodore Mehta in August
1984. He had a distinguished
career as a member of the
Indian Revenue Service before
joining the Foundation.
Initially drafted to complete
the building project and raise
a decent corpus, he has led the Foundation with
clinical efficiency. At 71, he is still going strong.
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4.4 Page 34 |
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A social anthropologist by profession, Dr Misra is a Senior Consultant in the Foundation for project
monitoring and evaluation. He was also Director, Audience Research in All India Radio as well as a
Professor in the Indira Gandhi Open University before joining the Foundation in March 1993. He also
had a three-year stint with Foundation way back in the seventies.
Dr BR PatH has variously served the international organisations before joining the Foundation as a
Senior Consultant for project development. Among his outstanding works is a collaborative research
study that he conducted in Infant and Maternal Mortality on behalf of IDRC, Canada and Family Planning
Foundation. He had also served the Foundation in the eighties designing projects.
Mr OP Bhasin handles as Programme Officer in the Foundation projects concerning the organised sector
initiatives and helps the Foundation build new bridges with representative industrial forums of the
country. Earlier, he had worked in the Prime Minister's' Secretariat and the Rashtrapati Bhavan on
responsible assignments.
Mr Sanjay Kumar has joined the Foundation as Programme Associate only recently and handles problems
concerning demography and statistics in support of research. He is a promising demographer who
worked in National Council of Applied Economic Research before joining the Foundation in 1995.
This skeletal functional pyramid that services the Foundation in all administrative
matters consists of two officers, namely Mr S Ramasheshan, the Finance Officer
and Mr RR Subramanian, the Office Manager. Both of them have spent almost 20
years in the service of the Foundation. Thus, they are among the oldest hands,
however, still going strong.
Mr S Ramasheshan
November 5, 1976 ... continuing
Mr RR Subramanian
June 1, 1976 ... continuing
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4.5 Page 35 |
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First row from left to right: Ms Jollamma Varghese (St~nographer), Mrs Veena Gopal (Personal
Assistant), Mrs Geeta Malhotra (PersonalSecretary), Mrs Shalini Bhatnagar (Data Processor),
Mrs Manju Sharma (Reception Officer), Mrs Lakshmi R Menon (Sr. Personal Assistant),
Ms R Vanaja (Stenographer), Mrs Leelamma Mathew (Accounts Assistant).
Second row from left to right : Mr Hans Raj (Record Clerk), Mr P K Paul (General Maintenance
Executive), Mr Kamlesh Kumar (Gardener), Mr Arogya Das (Daftris), Mr Rakesh Chandra Joyal
(Library Clerk).
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4.6 Page 36 |
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As soon as the results
on 1981 census were
available, the
Foundation felt the need
to find out why the
population growth rates
varied considerably
among the States.
efficacy of a feasible mechanism
for the training of female cadres
in different aspects of family
welfare and women's
development.
f. Diagnostic Studies on
Population Status
As soon as the results on 1981
census were available, the
Foundation felt the need to find
out why the population growth
rates varied considerably
among the States. In view of its
significance, the Foundation
undertook a diagnostic study
directly, entrusting it to Mr V K
Ramabhadran. The study
covered five states with
different demographic and
economic settings, viz. Gujarat,
Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu
and Uttar Pradesh. The main
findings and recommendations
of the study were published in
a handy brochure and were
forwarded to the concerned
States to stimulate informal
discussion on the status of their
population as also to pave the
way for a more effective
implementation of the family
welfare programme.
g. Infant Mortality in Relation
to Fertility
II A Study of Infant Mortality in
Relation to Fertility" was one of
the more important projects
promoted and assisted by the
Foundation in collaboration
with the International
Development Research Centre
(IDRC), Canada. Dr B R PatH
coordinated this multi-centric
study according to a control
design with the help of five
leading institutes in the country
to identify the proximate
determinants of infant
mortality and to bring out the
nexus between infant mortality
and fertility.
These five institutes are:
Giri Institute of Development
Studies, Lucknow; National
Institute of Health and Family
Welfare, New Delhi; Institute of
Tribal Health and Social
Sciences, Bhubaneswar;
Population Research Centre
Bangalore; and the Department
of Sociology, University of
Bombay. The ten experts who
conducted studies in their
respective areas are: Dr T S
Papola and Dr M S Ashraf from
Lucknow; Dr (Mrs) Rita Sapru
and Dr Indira Murali from New
Delhi; Dr Nityanand Patnaik
and Dr. Almas Ali from
Bhubaneswar; Dr P H Reddy
and Dr P V Bhattarcharya from
Bangalore; and Dr Victor S. 0'
Souza and Mrs Rajani Paranjpe
from Bombay.
Six experts were associated
with the Advisory Group
constituted by the Foundation
to oversee and assess the
progress of the project. These
experts were: Dr T N Madan
from the Institute of Economic
Growth, New Delhi; Dr P P
Talwar of the National Institute
of Health and Family Welfare,
New Delhi; Mr P N Kapoor of
the Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare, New Delhi;
Prof 0 P Ghai of the All India
Institute of Medical Sciences,
New Delhi; Dr P N Sehgal of
the National Institute of
Communicable Diseases, New
Delhi; and Dr Vijay Kumar of
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4.7 Page 37 |
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part of the total welfare and
development package as
obtaining in field conditions.
In respect of the structure of
family planning
communication, the main
formulation was that there was
an urgent need to revise the
communication model so that
the word-of-mouth
communication could be given
its due place in the scheme of
things. In fact, it emphasised
that effective counselling was a
key to making family planning
communication a success.
d. Bio-medical Research
All over the world, vigorous
efforts are being made to find a
safe, convenient and readily
acceptable contraceptive. The
Foundation too has played a
small but significant role in
these efforts. Among a number
of research projects sponsored
by the Foundation, the one
related to the development of
an anti-pregnancy vaccine
being conducted under the
stewardship of eminent
scientist Dr GP Talwar of the
National Institute of Immu-
nology, has come out with a lot
of promise in contraceptive
technology.
Similarly, the Foundation
facilitates contacts and
discussions with world-famous
scientists and population
experts to advance the
promotion of knowledge in this
field. As will be seen, selective
biomedical research is till
regarded as a worthwhile
thrust area.
e. Identification of Socio-
cultural Determinants
The Foundation encouraged a
number of studies and projects
concerning the socio-economic
aspects of population growth,
behavioural patterns of
communities vis-a-vis family
planning, status of women,
causes underlying low
performance of family planning
in some of the States, and a
variety of other connected
subjects such as the role of
incentives and disincentives in
promoting the practice of
family planning and integration
of health services at the grass-
root level. Invariably these
studies by identifying
weaknesses and shortcomings
as well as by suggesting viable
solutions, have strengthened
and streamlined various
programmes. For example, a
Foundation study resulted in
the induction of population
education in the Integrated
Child Development Scheme
(ICDS) at the grass-roots.
Similarly, the recommendations
of the Committee appointed by
the Foundation under the
chairmanship of Justice G D
Khosla to examine in depth the
role of incentives and
disincentives, were widely
acclaimed and provided much
food for thought to the
government as well as to the
policy planners. One of the
more significant programmes
partIy financed by the
Foundation relates to Working
Women's Forum in Madras.
The Forum demonstrated the
...the Foundation
facilitates contacts and
discussions with world-
famous scientists and
population experts to
advance the promotion
of knowledge in this
field.
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4.8 Page 38 |
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having special interest in areas
of population, health and
family welfare. The details of
new field projects taken up in
the organised sector will appear
separately where new vision
projects are detailed.
j. National Symposium on
"Family Welfare in the
Organised Sector: Search
for New Strategies"
This symposium was held in
March 1991 with the inaugural
address by Mr JRD Tata, read in
absentia. The key-note address
came from Dr Bharat Ram, now
Chairman of the Population
Foundation of India. He also
chaired the symposium.
Among the important
participants were: Mr D L
Khanna, Chief of the
International Labour
Organisation, based in Bangkok
(Thailand) and eminent experts
like Dr J K Satia, Professor,
Indian Institute of
Management, Ahmedabad; Mr
N L Nandrajog, Secretary
General, PHDC, New Delhi; Mr
B K Aggarwal, Secretary
General of Indian Chamber of
Commerce, Calcutta; Mr Ramu
Pandit, Secretary General,
Indian Merchants Chamber,
Bombay and Mr T Ramappa of
the Federation of Karnataka
Chambers of Commerce and
Industry, Bangalore.
There were also two
important interventions made
by experts like Mr Jalaluddin
Ahmed, Adviser, Labour and
Population, ILO, New Delhi
and Dr Saroj Pachauri, the-then
Programme Officer of the Ford
Foundation and now Regional
Representative of the
Population Council, New York.
The other leading participants
included: Dr Harcharan Singh,
Consultant, WHO, (formerly
Advisor to the Planning
Commission) and Mrs Rami
Chhabra, formerly Consultant
(Family Welfare and Women's
Development), Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare,
Government of India.
The seminar noted that
family planning programmes
had generally succeeded where
the top managements in the
industry involved themselves
in promoting it. It also stressed
that successful programmes in
the organised sector depended
upon free and frank
participation of employers,
employees, workers' families as
well as of the labour leaders.
Identifying the weakest link
in the programme, it was
observed that most
managements so far calculated
material benefits from their
investments. They were not
aware that family welfare
activities themselves gave a
high return in terms of greater
productivity.
k. National Seminar on
"Family Planning in the
Nineties: Search for New
Approaches" .
July 11, 1987 happens to be an
important day in the
population calendar of the
world because on that day the
United Nations observed 'the
The seminar noted that
family planning
programmes had gener-
ally succeeded where
the top managements in
the industry involved
themselves in
promoting it.
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The symposium
unambiguously stated
Ulal while family plan-
ning was a desirable
\\roal, it was no
()
at ternative to health
(ore services in the
('(J II ntry.
day of five billion' which means
that on that day the world had
five billion people living.
To synchronise with this
day the Family Planning
Foundation organised in 1992 a
one-day seminar with its
Chairman Mr JRD Tata
underlining the scope of the
work that lay ahead. Eminent
demographers, social scientists,
senior government officials
incharge of health and family
planning programmes,
planners, professionals in the
medical field, economists and
sociologists and other
distinguished persons
participated in the
deliberations. This national
seminar re-emphasised the fact
that for a vast majority of the
needy segment, the message of
small family was still obscure as
they could not directly link
family planning with their
welfare. It also made a plea for
adoption of concrete action
plans on such issues as the care
of girls between puberty and
marriage, promotion of female
literacy and employment of
rural women in the health and
education sectors leading to the
much-needed empowerment of
women in India.
The symposium
unambiguously stated that
while family planning was a
desirable goal, it was no
alternative to health care
services in the country. It
further stated that these
services should take care of
regional and iocal priorities
with main emphasis on
maternal and child care.
1.Two Appeals
In this context,
two appeals,
one by Mr JRD-
Tata in
connection with
the World
Population Day
of 1992 and the
other by Dr.
Bharat Ram on the occasion of
the World Population Day in
July 1994 particularly to Indian
industry, need to be quoted for
exhorting the-managements to
come forward to contribute
their mite. Mr Tata had said:
"The time at our disposal is
short and after seven Five-year
Plans and in spite of an
investment of Rs 5000 crores,
more than 60 per cent of those
who need contraceptive
assistance are not getting it. It is
obvious that Government alone
cannot succeed in solving the
population problem. The non-'
governmental sector must come
in to achieve more.
"Industry and business must
ponder over this grim reality. As
we move nearer the one billion
population mark, our options
are closing. Our giant plans of
expansion, modernisation,
competitive exports, global
excellence and the rest will
unavoidably be hindered or
considerably slowed down."
In a similar
vein, Dr Bharat
Ram in his key-
note address to
thePHD
Chamber of
Commerce and
Industry,
New Delhi said:
"An important segment of
the National Family Planning
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4.10 Page 40 |
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Programme is related to the
role of the organised sector in
promoting family planning.
This sector includes private
industry, large public
undertakings emp loying a
work force exceeding 30
million. If we take into account
the families which depend on
industrial workers or the
general population living in the
area where industries are
established, or from where the
workforce is drawn, this figure
would be considerably bigger.
"Studies made by experts
and institutions have provided
evidence that a rupee spent on
family planning services for the
workers generally translates
itself into five rupees in terms
of reduced absenteeism,
increased productivity, reduced
burden on health care and
generally improved
environment in the workplace.
Thus, these programme are
cost-effective too."
m. Sensitising Youth in
Human Survival Values
In collaboration with the Nehru
Yuva Kendra Sangathan, the
Foundation participated in the
first phase of the project named
Human Survival Values, aiming
at sensitising the youth
leadership involved in the NYK
movement throughout India to
the wide-ranging socio-
economic implications of
population. The idea was to
equip the youth leaders for
giving an impetus to the
acceptance of small family
norm in the community.
Indeed, it was a very
welcome forum of reaching the
youth of the country, which
means where the battle of
population stabilisation must be
fought. For, they are the future
parents and it is they who have
to learn to regulate the number
of children in their families,
more than anyone else.
The Foundation undertook
jointly to develop motivational
strategies for facilitating this
important work. In addition,
the Foundation also assisted the
project in developing and
reorienting the training-course
content and providing the
resource persons for production
of training modules, keeping in
view the group dynamics of the
youth leadership.
Between December, 1988
when the project got underway
and July 1991, 400 districts and
regional Youth Coordinators of
NYK were given training at
Delhi, Allahabad, Chandigarh,
Guwahati, Bombay,
Gandhigram and Bhubaneswar.
Delhi in fact, was the venue of
three such training
programmes. In all, about
13,000 youth leaders were
sensitised to the need of
population stabilisation.
Besides, over five lakh youth in
the country were covered
through literacy classes. The
second phase of this project, for
which the Foundation had
sanctioned necessary funds in
March 1990, could however, not
go through for want of proper
initiatives in the NYK
organisation.
n. Population Sensitisation of
Indian Teenagers and
Promotion of Reproductive
Health Education
Information and education in
human reproductive health
among the teenagers is
considered a sine qua non of
sound population stabilisation
...a rupee spent on
family planning
services for the workers
generally translates
itself into five rupees ir.'
terms of reduced
absenteeism, increased
productivity, reduced
burden on health care
and generally improved
environment in the
workplace.
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5.1 Page 41 |
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The expert group after
deliberations with
authors, counsellors
and experts in the field
of adolescent education,
commissioned Ms
Tripurari Sharma, a
noted playwright, who
scripted the first phase
of the serial.
programmes, particularly in
view of the threatening portents
that AIDS has lately acquired.
For, it not only engenders
responsible behaviour towards
one's own needs and responses
of the opposite sex, but also
helps in making informed
choices. But the subject has
been more or less a taboo in
India inasmuch as even parents
and teachers seem to fight shy
of discussing such intimate
subjects with their children and
wards. Since both family and
the school system, the two main
organs of the educational
process, have been found to be
suffering from severe
limitations in this area, most of
the reproductive behaviour of
the adolescents has been
governed by peer-group
pressures, often based on
misinformation, coupled with
empty bravado.
The entire project dealing
with this crucial area was
conceptualised in all its
contours by the late Mr Harish
Khanna, Foundation's
Executive Director. He
remained personally involved
in the project right up to the
writing of its final report.
The Foundation sponsored
a study in Haryana, Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh and Delhi into
the attitudes of teenagers about
sex and reproductive health.
This study was a collaborative
effort in which the Foundation
joined hands with Cornell
University for designing a
detailed questiormaire. The
actual field study covering
around 17,185male and female
respondents, both from
Government and Non-
Government institutions and
falling in the rural as well as in
the urban areas of the States
concerned was conducted by
the Operations Research Group.
The findings of the survey
were studied and an expert
group formed, which
collaborated with All India
Radio as an intimate and
anonymous medium for
imparting this kind of very
private information. DEHLEEZ
(Threshold), a soap opera, was
thus designed to be serialised in
Hindi through the All India
Radio in episodes of 20 minutes
each.
The expert group after
deliberations with authors,
counsellors and experts in the
field of adolescent education,
commissioned Ms Tripurari
Sharma, a noted playwright,
who scripted the first phase of
the serial. The total response
mail received in this project is
more than 5,000 letters, which,
even by highly exacting
standards, is very encouraging.
Those others who played
important role in this project
are Ms Sandhya Dhingra of the
Population Foundation of India
and Mrs Usha Bhasin of the All
India Radio.
The Hindi serial was
heard by about 80 lakh
teenagers and young
adolescents encouraged by this
response, the All India Radio
has now taken it up as a
national enterprise and in its
second phase, the serial is being
broadcast to similar age groups
for the rest of the country in all
the regional languages of India
other than Hindi.
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5.2 Page 42 |
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he outstanding feature of
Tthe Foundation's research
studies and projects in
different fields is that these
were no armchair exercises but
serious explorations informed
by a basic belief that these
should be, as far as possible,
path-finding and the value of
the work judged on the basis of
research leading to replicable
models. The litmus test
applicable to them is that on the
strength of their
innovativeness, these should be
capable of constructively
influencing the operation of the
family planning programme in
the field and possibly have an
impact on policies in some way.
The Foundation, therefore, tried
not merely to supplement the
Government's effort in
developing concepts of
population stabilisation
strategies but also tried to shed
light on some obscure areas
which might well have been
responsible for some problems
and difficulties encountered.
Besides, it has had an open
approach to ideas reflecting in
academic as well as operational
research here and elsewhere. As
such, the Foundation can say
with an element of pride that
while it has kept pace with the
thinking and ideas emerging in
this important field, it has also
encouraged constant search for
new ideas and strategies in all
cognate areas of population.
Suffice it to say that this
ongoing process.has been about
as dynamic as the problem
itself.
Thus, while the new Action
Plan in its concrete form was
adopted only in March 1993,
thinking leading up to it had, in
fact, been evolving ever since
1987. For example, on the first
World Population Day which,
incidentally was also the 'Day
of Five Billion', three small pilot
projects- one in Okhla and two
in Gurgaon were undertaken in
the organised sector trying out
a new methodology. In fact, as
already described, these
projects were preceded by a
need-and-suitability study and
therefore, had a scientific
foundation to stand on. Then in
1989,came the maj or
Foundation initiative in the
organised sector in which, the
USAID Enterprise Program also
collaborated. As has already
been mentioned, an important
Seminar discussed the problem
of the organised sector vis-a-vis
the family planning
programme threadbare. It was
in this Seminar that some top-
most captains of industry felt
the need of getting more
involved in the important field
of population control and
wanted the Foundation to take
initiative for providing
systematic training to their
middle-run of managers.
In a way, one can also say
that the stance in this
connection had been set by Mr
P V Narasimha Rao, the present
Prime Minister when as the-
then Union Minister of Health
and Family Welfare, he had
called for actively involving
organised sector as a specific
group with a stake in the
necessary population control
strategies. He was responding
to Mr Rajiv Gandhi's policy
...the Foundation can
say with an element of
pride that while it has
kept pace with the
thinking and ideas
emerging in this
important field, it has
also encouraged
constant search for new
ideas and strategies in
all cognate areas of
population.
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This study has been by
about the biggest in this
inlportant field in India
and has been able to
determine proximate
risk factors that must be
fought against in order
to bring down infant
rnortality in the country,
for, it is a basic
denominator of reduced
fertility, as a
consequence.
statement to the Planning
Commission for the Seventh
Plan.
Naturally, the fora of trade
and industry such as
Federation of Indian Chambers
of Commerce and Industry
(FICCl), Associated Chamber of
Commerce and Industry
(ASSOCHAM) and
Confederation of Indian
Industry (Cll) are now getting
increasingly involved in
developing major programmes
on population stabilisation and
seeking the help of the
Foundation here and there. As a
case in point, one can say that
due to the catalysing influence
of the Foundation, the FICCI is
in the process of setting up a
Foundation to give exclusive
attention to family welfare.
Here one may also allude to
the PFI-IDRC project on Infant
Mortality and its relationship
with Fertility. This study has
been by about the biggest in this
important field in India and has
been able to determine
proximate risk factors that must
be fought against in order to
bring down infant mortality in
the country, for, it is a basic
denominator of reduced fertility,
as a consequence. This study
also recommended the
Foundation and the IDRC going
into an intervention phase.
These three major initiatives
coupled with the Foundation's
National Seminar for
determining and highlighting
Population Stabilisation
Strategies for the 90' s have set
the tone for a number of
projects which the Foundation
has since undertaken and
which it seeks to call as 'New-
Vision' Projects. What it in brief
means is that in the third
review by the Foundation to
which an allusion has been
made earlier and experts which
had hammered out the new
Action Plan, they were guided
by the cumulative wisdom
developing in this field within
the Foundation since 1987.
The special feature of the
new projects is that these are
informed by a philosophy
which sees population as an
integral part of social
development which happily
has appeared as the summum
bonum of the UN International
Conference on Population and
Development held in Cairo in
1994. Accordingly, factors like
literacy, environment,
improvement in health cover,
maternal and child care,
empowerment of women, rise
in the age of marriage,
sensitizing the adolescents in
more vulnerable field of sex
and reproductive health
behaviour, concern for slum
dwellers, working with hitherto
untapped resource of
indigenous medical infrastruc-
twe, creating employment
opportunities for weaker
sections, etc., have found a
place in the Foundation's New-
Vision Projects.
Naturally, therefore, the
Foundation now needs to
network with a host of
agencies, both official and non-
official active in the field. And
though it has no field agency of
its own, it has been
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5.4 Page 44 |
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instrumental in selecting and
working with a number of
experienced non-governmental
institutions and organisations.
The main criterion is that these
should be capable of translating
such ideas into successful
operational programmes, as are
developed after baseline and
diagnostic surveys and
subjected to concurrent and
endline evaluation.
The new Action Plan while
identifying new areas of
concern has also underlined the
need for concentrating on some
of the 90 districts of India
identified by the Government
on the basis of Census data and
other findings. These are not
only poor in family planning,
but also are lagging behind in
overall social development.
a. Three Projects regarding
Strategic Interventions for
Accelerating the Pace of
Decline in Infant Mortality
and Fertility
The three projects enumerated
below are the outcome of the
collaborative study conducted
by the Population Foundation
of India and IORC, Canada,
the details of the first phase of
which have been provided
earlier. In fact, as pointed out
there, the ideas of launching
these three projects was
approved in the National
Seminar held on the point.
These integrated projects are
intended to accelerate the pace
of decline in infant mortality
and fertility through strategic
interventions.
The chief rationale behind
these projects is that since high-
risk mothers and proximate
factors influencing infant and
maternal mortality have been
identified in the first phase of
the study, in the projects
emanating from it concentrated
effort can be focussed on these
'high risk' mothers. This has
made the new effort more
pinpointed and effective. In
fact, this kind of scientific
approach to the problem is a
specific contribution of the
Foundation.
The first of these projects
was launched in Tikabali on
May 1, 1992, in Phulbani
district of Orissa. This is totally
a Population Foundation of
India's effort and is, therefore,
independent of any
collaboration with IORC,
Canada. A high watermark of
the success achieved so far is
that the Infant Mortality rate has
actually fallen from 164 to 145.
Jagruti, a non-
Governmental organisation,
from Phulbani, Orissa, is
running this Project, which was
initially sanctioned for three
years. But after the visit of a
three-member team of the
Board, the thinking is that it can
be suitably amplified to cover
the entire Phulbani Oistrict, of
course, with the enthusiastic
support of the State
Government.
Two more projects were
taken up now in collaboration
with lORe, Canada. These are:
(1) Located in Jaunpur
Block in Tehri Garhwal
A high watermark of the
success achieved sofar is
that the Infant
Mortality rate has
actually fallen from 164
to 145.
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An essential feature of
the strategy to be
adopted in these
districts is, first to
integrate health and
family planning and
then incorporate into it
a dynamic literacy
element as also a sharp
focus on reproductive
health.
District of Uttar
Pradesh, the technical
nomenclature of this
project again is
"Strategic Interventions
for Accelerating the
Pace of Decline in Infant
Mortality and Fertility;"
and
(2) based in Damoh Block
in the District of the
same name in the tribal-
dominated area of
Madhya Pradesh, the
technical name of the
project is the same as
that of Tikabali of
Phulbani project.
Among the important
objectives of these two projects
are:
(1) To develop area-specific
coordinated
intervention strategies
to reduce risk factors
impinging upon infant
and maternal mortality
in the block areas;
and
(2) to implement the
designed innovative
interventions through
the existing government
infrastructure, furthered
by training inputs for
ground-level workers.
The Landour Community
Hospital in Jaunpur Block of
Tehri Garhwal District is the
institution looking after this
project. Similarly, the Mid-India
Christian Mission of Damoh is
directing the Damoh project.
Incidentally, Damoh is also
among the districts short-listed
for district-based fertility-
reduction projects by the
Foundation.
b. District Projects
According to the new thinking
of the Foundation, it has been
decided to strengthen family
plarming activities in a few
selected districts of the five
low-performance States, viz,
Uttar Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, and
Bihar. The Government of India
had listed 90 districts in these
five States that need special
attention as they are backward,
all round. Eight from these 90
districts have been short-listed
by the Foundation for this
concentrated work during the
next five years. The districts
chosen are Aligarh (UP),
Damoh (MP), Tikamgarh (MP),
Tonk (Rajasthan), Bharatpur
(Rajasthan), Phulbani (Orissa),
Samastipur (Bihar), and Gaya
(Bihar).
An essential feature of the
strategy to be adopted in these
districts is, first ,to integrate
health and family planning,
and then incorporate into it a
dynamic literacy element as
also a sharp focus on
reproductive health. The feeling
at large is that if the 90
backward districts catch up in
the area of social development,
most of the battle of sustainable
development will have been
won.
But, before this action plan
was actually adopted, two UP
districts, viz. Lalitpur and
Kanpur Dehat had been taken
up for this kind of integrated
district-level projection. Two
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new district projects from this
list of eight districts have also
been taken up. These two
districts are Tonk and
Bharatpur in Rajasthan. A
common factor among these
four districts is that there are
very low in the scale of all-
round social development.
1. Navchetna Integrated Health
and Development Project,
Lalitpur, UP
The Navchetna Integrated
Health and Development
Project in Lalitpur district of UP
is being run by the Harriet
Benson Memorial Hospital,
Lalitpur, a voluntary
organisation of considerable
standing.
This district consists of six
blocks and the work is going
apace block by block. The
magnitude of the first phase of
the project can be judged from
the fact that about Rs 19 lakh
were sanctioned for this
purpose.
2. Sanrachna Integrated Health
and Development Project,
Kanpur Dehat, UP
The Sanrachna Integrated
Health and Development
Project in Kanpur Dehat
District has the same budget
and objectives as the above
project, though it started some
nine months after the
Navchetna project. The Church
of North India, St. Catherine's
Hospital, Kanpur, is the
institution running this project.
Since this covers 17 blocks, the
health and development
workers from all the blocks
have been trained at Kanpur
itself. This pilot project for
imparting training to workers
continued for 18 months. The
main thrust of this district
project is to achieve pooling up
of the efforts of the Health and
Family Welfare set up of the
District with that of the non-
governmentalorganisations
working in the field.
3. Intensifying Family Planning
Activities by means of an
Integrated Family Planning,
Health and Social Development
Project - Tonk, Rajasthan
Tonk district is another area
symptomatic of all-round
backwardness. It is, therefore,
fitting for Population Founda-
tion of India that a project was
started for intensifying family
planning activities by
integrating family planning,
health and social development.
Village level volunteers from
each of the six blocks of the
district have so far been
identified and trained with a
view to providing extension
outreach service in villages.
This project sanctioned for
three years is being run by one
of the more experienced NGOs,
viz, Parivar Seva Sanstha. The
project has since overcome its
teething problems and now
taken off. The baseline survey,
identifying the problems is just
now completed, and it has
some very revealing features.
For example, literacy among
the women respondents here is
less than 15 per cent even when
full literacy has since been
achieved in some districts of
India. Besides, nearly 60 per
The main thrust of the
District Project is to
achieve pooling up of
the efforts of the Health
and Family Welfare set
up of the District with
that of the non-
governmental
organisations working
in the field.
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These slums have a
culture of their own
based on shifting
populations. Both
husband and wife
generally eke out a
precarious living
somehow leaving care of
the young over to
nature.
cent of women had already
delivered a child before
reaching the age of 18. Not just
that, some identifiable
population groups are also
resistant to 'small family' norm.
But about 84% of the
respondents reportedly had
knowledge of Government
health infrastructure. It is
heartening that the project is
getting full support from the
District Health and Family
Welfare authorities.
4. Creating Conditions for Faster
Fertility Reduction in
Bharatpur District (Rajasthan)
through Integrated Health and
Development Strategies: A
collaborative project between
PFI and ACORD, Bharatpur
The aim of this project is to
create conditions for faster
fertility reduction in this
backward district of Rajasthan.
It is a collaborative project
between Asian Centre for
Organisation Research and
Development (ACORD) and
Population Foundation of
India. However, the ACORD is
the servicing and implementing
agency for Bharatpur District
project. This project is yet in its
early stages. A schedule for
baseline survey has been pre-
pared but the work is yet to
begin. The duration of the
project is three years.
c. Slum and Urban Area
Projects
Due to haphazard urbanisation
in India, particularly in recent
decades, many towns and cities
are virtually bursting at the
seam with the slums spilling all
over. These slums have a
culture of their own based on
shifting populations. Both
husband and wife generally eke
out a precarious living
somehow leaving care of the
young over to nature. The
living conditions there need all-
round improvement and
integrated health, family
planning and social
development is the crying need
of these areas. The first phase of
the collaborative project which
the Foundation had with IDRC,
Canada, regarding infant
mortality and fertility
addressed itself to the slum
area of Dharavi in Bombay-
perhaps the biggest slum in
India.
The Population Foundation
of India under its new action
plan is paying special attention
to testing out different
population stabilisation
strategies in four different slum
and urban areas of the country.
A brief description of these
projects is as follows:
1. Promoting Health and Family
Welfare through the use of
Community Participatory
Strategies in Dharavi, Bombay
In this slum area, one of the
biggest slums in Asia, the
Foundation project is marked
by participative strategies in
promoting health and family
welfare services. The project got
underway in 1992 and is being
run by Society for Human and
Environmental Development,
Bombay.
The project received a set-
back as Dharavi was the
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5.8 Page 48 |
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epicentre of the communal
holocaust in 1993. It has
restarted and is now picking up
well in terms of mobilisation of
community organisatiqn and
utilisation of health services.
This project, which was mooted
by Begum Bilkees Latif, is being
supported by 14 literacy centres
aimed at spreading literacy
among the women.
The main thrust of the
strategy adopted here is to
build up leadership within the
community. It aims at training
the youth and women leaders
as organised training squads to
work in the community.
2. Promoting Fertility Reduction
among women in the inner-city
of Hyderabad
This project aims at
promoting fertility reduction
practices among women of the
inner city of Hyderabad. The
Taj Mahila Welfare Society
which functions right in the
midst of this population, is the
organisation looking after this
project. The area selected for
mtensive family planning
intervention is a compact one,
located behind the Charminar.
The Foundation hopes that
the project will lead to the
development of a model easily
replicable over wider areas of
Hyderabad and other
metropolitan cities. The central
plank of the project strategy is
the empowerment of women
through education and
appropriate counselling.
Reproductive health activity
will be built into the existing
extension programmes.
3. Promoting Responsible Sexual
Behaviour among the youth in
Bangalore Slums- A
.
Reproductive Health EducatlOn
Project
This project seeks to
promote responsible
reproductive behaviour among
the youth, particularly among
the adolescents in Bangalore.
It is well-known that young
women particularly starting
with the age 13, which is almost
the bottom-line case, are more
prone to reproductive
morbidity and mortality and
there is a great unmet need for
family planning services and
reproductive health education.
However, the youngest age
group formally identified in the
process is 15-19years and this
group accounts for 23 per cent
of women in the reproductive
age group. Teenage abortions
and complications also add to
the complexities of the
situation. The Parivar Seva
Sanstha and their Bangalore
Unit are the implementing
agency for this project, initially
approved for two years.
The main component of the
project are: community
mobilisation, counselling and
medical services (contraceptive
supplies as well as terminal
procedures), training and
communication.
4. Fertility Reduction Project in a
Low-Income Resettlement
Colony in Delhi
The Delhi project is located
in Dakshinpuri slums, a low -
income resettlement colony.
The central plank of the
project strategy is the
empowerment of
women through educa-
tion and appropriate
counselling.
Reproductive health
activity will be built
into the existing
extension programmes.
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5.9 Page 49 |
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The baseline survey of
this project reveals that
40% girls are married
before they reach the age
of 16. Yet another 40%
get married between the
ages 16-18 years.
The main thrust of this project
is rehabilitative, though its
ultimate thrust remains fertility
reduction in Delhi's urban slums.
The project which had
started on May IS, 1994, is
through its initial phase. In this
phase, an MCH Centre has been
opened and is visited by a
gynecologist two days in a
week.
The baseline survey of this
project reveals that 40% girls
are married before they reach
the age of 16. Yet another 40%
get married between the ages
16-18 years. This means about
four-fifths of all girls are
married off before they attain
their legal age of 18 years at
marriage. Not just that. 55% of
the eligible couples had never
used any contraceptive method
in their married years. These in
fact are revealing statistics
particularly in view of the fact
that this all is happening in the
capital of India.
Female literacy falling
under adult education is an
important activity of this
project. An Adult Education
Centre has already started
functioning in which primers
and other literacy aides as
perfected by State Resource
Centre, lamia Millia Islamia,
have been provided.
d New Organised Sector
Projects
As already stated, following the
work done by the Foundation
in the organised sector, many
industries and industrial
houses are now coming
forward for taking up
collaborative projects with
Population Foundation of
India. Some important projects
in this respect are Parwanoo in
Solan District of Himachal
Pradesh; industrial areas in
Kota in Kota city of Rajasthan;
Rayagada project in the
industrial colonies of Jaykay
Pur,Rayagada of Orissa; PHO
Chambers of Commerce and
Industry project in Ghaziabad,
Meerut and Muzaffarnagar;
and Faridabad District project.
Details of these projects, in
brief, are as under:
1. Promoting Spacing Methods
among women industrial
employees of Solan-Kalka
industrial complex- a
collaborative project with
Anand Welfare Centre
This project aims at
promoting spacing methods
specially among industrial
employees of Solan-Kalka
industrial complex. The Anand
Group of Industries which had
earlier collaborated with the
Foundation in the Gurgaon
project, are the moving spirit
behind this project.
Since most of the labour
here consist of women, the
strategy adopted here is to
promote the practice of spacing
among them. The results so far
indicate that most mothers are
not only firm on spacing but
are also maintaining the family
size of two or three children
that they have already grown.
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2. Promoting Reproductive Health
in the Organised Sector: A
project for Industrial Workers
at Kota
This project aims at
promoting family life
education, reproductive and
general health care, hygiene,
etc., among industrial workers
at Kota. The project is yet in its
initial stages. However, its
importance lies in the fact that
the leadership of the project is
in the hands of Rajasthan
Chamber of Commerce and
Industry as well as Employers'
Association of Kota Division.
3. Promoting Reproductive Health
--an extension programme
among industrial colonies of]K
Paper Mills, ]aykaypur,
Rayagada, Orissa
This project too is in its
initial stages and aims at pro-
moting spacing and
reproductive health among the
industrial workers of J K Paper
Mills at Rayagada in Orissa.
The important part of this
project is that the J K Welfare
Centre has taken up to promote
this project in association with
Population Foundation of
India. Since the project is
located in a very backward
area, its first need is to ensure
safe and hygienic child-delivery
system and ante-natal and post-
natal check-up and care. The
project, therefore, aims at
undertaking the training of
indigenous birth attendants,
better known as Dais.
However, since the entire
area is coming up as a Jaykay
city complex, it has the
potential of becoming another
Jamshedpur in due course of
time. Jamshedpur's is
incidentally one of the best run
integrated health and Family
Planning programmes by the
Tata Iron and Steel Co. Ltd.
4. Community-based
Reproductive Health Network,
assuring quality serivces in
Faridabad District of Haryana
It is essentially a district
project, which aims at improv-
ing community-based
reproductive health network to
ensure quality services in the
district as a whole. The Escorts
Ltd, a leading industrial house,
has adopted this district for this
purpose. The Foundation has
conducted a benchmark fertility
survey among more than 2000
married women in some
selected villages of Panhera
Khurd Block of Faridabad
District to put the work on
more scientific lines. One
important finding of this
survey is that even though
Faridabad is so close to Delhi,
modem ideas and cultural
practices have not yet been
accepted by the community.
Rather, there is a lot of
resistance to it. The result is that
most girls are married off
before the age of 18 and 25 per
cent of these have already
borne a child before the age of
15. Female literacy continues to
be very low and participation
of women in the economic
activity is negligible. The worst
part of the scenario is that sex
ratio is extremely adverse to
women which means only 832
females per thousand of
However, since the
entire area is coming up
as a Jay Kay city
complex, it has the
potential of becoming
another Jamshedpur in
due course of time.
Jamshedpur's is
incidentally one of the
best run integrated
health and Family
Planning programmes
by the Tata Iron and
Steel Co. Ltd.
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6.1 Page 51 |
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The aim of this project
is to convert these
potential family
planning leaders into
actual family planning
leaders.
population. This may account
for the high rate of foetal losses
detected.lndigeneous
untrained Dais have been found
to be one of the causes of this
dismal picture. The
Foundation, therefore,
undertook training of these
Dais on priority basis.
5. Promoting Reproductive Health
in the Organised Sector:
Proposalfor Industrial Workers
in three contiguous districts of
Up, viz., Ghaziabad, Meerut
and Muzaffarnagar
These three contiguous
districts of western Uttar
Pradesh which form a
homogeneous cultural belt,
have a large number of
industries with an equally large
workforce. This project also
aims at promoting the
reproductive health in the
organised sector. The PHD
Chamber of Commerce and
Industry and the Foundation
are jointly working out this
project which is yet in its
infancy.
e. Involving Practitioners of
Indian System of Medicine
in Family Welfare Planning
Rajasthan like Kerala has a
large number of practitioners of
Indian System of Medicine and
a sizeable number of them
work in the rural areas. The aim
of this project is to convert
these potential family planning
leaders into actual family
planning leaders. The district of
Udaipur, which also has a large
tribal population, has been
selected for this project. So far
the response from the ISM
practitioners to undergo
training under the project has
been encouraging. The project
has just commenced and the
Population Research Centre,
Mohanlal Sukhadia University,
Udaipur, Rajasthan is its
implementing agency.
Earlier a pilot project for
involving practitioners of
indigenous medicine was
launched in Calcutta which
showed good results.
f. Project for Strengthening
Indian Voluntary Action in
three Interrelated Areas:
Health and Family
Planning, Environment and
Women's Development
The Foundation funded a six
month Research Study
prepared by two eminent
scholars: Dr Ravi Gulhati, a
well known economist and
currently a visiting professor at
Centre for Policy Research,
New Delhi, and Kaval Gulhati,
long associated with CEDPA.
The study conducted in the
States of Gujarat and Rajasthan
under the aegis of the Centre
for Policy Research deals with
the core question of strengths
and weaknesses of the non-
governmentalorganisations
especially in promoting Family
Planning. This study gains
added significance from the
recent policy decision of the
Government of India to involve
more and more the grassroot
organisations in development
programmes with an accent on
welfare and social change.
The findings have been
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6.2 Page 52 |
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p laced before the Board and
have provided a basic position
paper for discussion with the
media, government agencies
and policy makers, providing
vital leads at a time when all
States are working out
mechanisms for preparation of
village and mandai-level
development plans which
presently include education,
health, natural resource
management and environment.
g. An Exploratory Study on
Causes of Fertility Decline
in Tamil Nadu
This study conducted by Mr P
Padmanabha, a former
Registrar General of India and
also an ex-Executive Director of
the Foundation, addressed itself
to an important problem which
is : Why has birth rate in Tamil
Nadu fallen to a level of about
19 per thousand which favour-
ably compares with that of
Kerala? At the same time, it
seems to contest the basic
assumption that certain
correlates of social development
such as high female literacy,
high per capita income, low
infant mortality, etc, mainly
contribute to fall in the birth
rate. According to the study, the
axiom that' development is the
best contraceptive' is rated as
rather weak in view of the fact
that low per capita income and
high poverty levels prevail in
Tamil Nadu. Its major finding is
that the other States, which are
in a similar condition, can learn
from Tamil Nadu's experience
in respect of political
commitment and social
environment, administrative
and organisational strengths of
Tamil Nadu and changing
emphasis of the family
planning programme, placing it
in the more acceptable
perspective of maternal and
child health and family-life
education.
h. Whereto from Cairo?
Three Interactive Workshops at
Bangaiore, Bhopai and New Delhi
The Foundation acted as
nodal agency for holding a
According to the study,
the axiom that
,development is the best
contraceptive' is rated
as rather weak in view
of the fact that low per
capita income and high
poverty levels prevail ir1
Tamil Nadu.
L
The late Mr Harish Khanna with Mr Wasim Zaman (right) Country Director of
UNFPAfor India and Mrs Rami Chhabra (left) at New Delhi Workshop of
"WHERETO FROM CAIRO?" series. (A File Photograph)
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All these issues were
gone through in these
three interactive
Workshops in a
calibrated manner,
gradually developing
the scope of this
stimulating discussion
and ending in a
Roundtable at New
Delhi ...
series of three interactive
Workshops, initiated jointly by
Population Foundation of India
and the United Nations
Population Fund. Each
Workshop was a two-day affair
marked by constructive
suggestions and practical
wisdom - the first one held at
Bangalore Oune 13-14),the
second one at Bhopal Oune 22-
23) and the third and last one at
New Delhi Ouly 9-10, 1995).
The main theme of the
Workshops was: WHERETO
FROM CAIRO? Under this
broad theme, the Programme of
Action (POA) adopted at the
third decennial UN Population
Conference at Cairo, viz.
International Conference on
Population and Development
and held from September 5 to
13,1994, was the main subject
of deliberations of these
Workshops.
The key issues identified in
this Programme of Action
jointly by 180 countries of the
world were: Integrating
population and development;
strengthening political
commitment; using
demographic data to promote
sustainable development;
empowerment of women;
emphasizing male
responsibility in family
planning; redefining
reproductive rights and
responsibilities and having free
and unrestricted access to safe
and effective methods of family
planning of their choice for
preventing unwanted
pregnancy; preparing or
extending programmes for
adolescents who need to be
educated in sex and
reproductive health issues with
the aim of promoting
responsible and healthy sexual
behaviour; and strengthening
the services to meet the unmet
demand and improve the
quality of services by
systematic training and
competent management.
All these issues were gone
through in these three interac-
tive Workshops in a sequential
manner, gradually developing
the scope of this stimulating
discussion and ending in a
Roundtable at New Delhi just
before the valedictory address
by Mr Wasim Zaman, the
UNFPA Country Director for
India. The themes of these
three Workshops respectively
were:
1. Making Population A
People's Movement:
New Challenges to and
Opportunities for
grassroot level
leadership held at
Bangalore.
2. Restructuring Primary
Health and
Reproductive Health
Care System to improve
delivery and achieve
better results held at
Bhopal.
3. Reaching the
Unreached:
Transforming near
universal knowledge of
family welfare into a
way of life: Role and
possibilities of dynamic
communication policies
held at Delhi.
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The discussions in these
Workshops followed a
structured pattern as responses
to backgrormd papers on each
theme of the key issues.
Carefully chosen scholars,
programme administrators and
reproductive health experts
were provided with a dynamic
interface with those who
actually implement the
programme at various
grassroots levels, (ANMs,
Health Workers, etc.). Both in
Bangalore and Bhopal, newly
elected people's representatives
from the reinvigorated
Panchayati Raj Institutions such
as chairpersons of the Zilla
Parishads and Panchayat
Samitis added zest, vigour and
realism to the discussions,
avoiding vague generalities,
and focussing on actual reality
and practical alternatives. There
were frequent references to
well-known projects like Malur
(FPAI) and DEHLEEZ (PFI and
AIRr as evidence of renewed
interest in innovative
approaches to reach the
unreached.
These Workshops were
essentially in the nature of a
run-up to the World
Population Day this year, viz.
July 11, 1995 - a new
dimension altogether- and
each one of them proved to be
a resounding success inasmuch
as media (newspapers; radio;
television; city cable, etc) gave
fulsome coverage, the local
administrations taking keen
interest in the deliberations,
and getting a real feel of the
future possibilities.
Participation of some
experienced NGOs was found
especially useful. Focus on
literacy and women's
empowerment evoked fair
amount of constructive
debate.
A report of these three
collaborative Workshops is
currently under preparation
and UNFPA proposes formally
to present this report to the
Department of Health and
Family Welfare, Government
of India, to be further used for
consultations at the State level.
These Workshops were
essentially in the nature
of a run-up to the
World Population Day
this year, viz. July 11,
1995 - a new dimension
altogether - and each
one of them proved to be
a resounding success ...
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6.5 Page 55 |
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The recent change-over
of the leadership of the
Foundation has
heralded some
important changes of
policy and
implementation. This
makes the Silver Jubilee
year doubly significant
for the Foundation.
he recent change-over of the
T leadership of the Foundation
as signified by the
appointment of the New
Executive Director as also the
reconstitution of the
Foundation's Advisory Council
with the induction of eight
new members has heralded
some important changes of
policy and implementation.
This makes the Silver Jubilee
year doubly significant for the
Foundation.
The policy paper as
approved by the Governing
Board in its meeting on
September 25, 1995while
rejecting the target-oriented
approach to Family Plarming
which, it says, makes"it (Family
Planning) suspect in the minds
of peop Ie, underscores the
increasingly important role that
the NGOs and voluntary
agencies are now called upon to
play in this direction. Hence,
the pressing need of the
Population Foundation to
support such activities.
In line with the
deliberation::>of the
International Conference on
Population and Development
(lCRD) held in Cairo in 1994
and the recent trends of
thinking within the
Government of India, the
population control efforts are to
be concentrated in the
following four thrust areas, viz:
1. Emphasis on reproductive
health of women as a major
component of development
of which family planning
will be an integral part;
2. The goals of desired family
size and selection of family
planning methods to
achieve these goals, forming
part and parcel of women's
informed reproductive
choices and not something
enforced from above (Here
female literacy plays a
crucial role!);
3. Quality services of family
planning and reproductive
health to improve
considerably, and made
easily accessible and
available at reasonable cost,
if not free, to every couple
seeking such services; and
4. Viewing the factors of
population growth and
distribution in the larger
context of sustainable
development and
environment.
What that, in practice,
amounts to is that the goal of
family planning programme
will shift from demographic
parameters to variables
concerning reproductive health
and development. A
programme centering on
reproductive health will most
certainly concentrate on:
1. Minimum essential ante-
natal care;
2. Skilled care at the time of
delivery;
3. Post-natal care;
4. Immunizations; and
5. Provisions of limiting/
spacing'methods of
contraception to the
mothers or their spouses.
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6.6 Page 56 |
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This 'reproductive health
package' which also is a more
humane approach, is consistent
with a number of studies and
surveys carried out in India
and abroad, the upshot of them
all being that reduction of
fertility is a natural
consequence of lowered infcint
mortality, better reproductive
health, higher female literacy
and above all improvement in
the quality of services.
The Foundation has,
therefore, decided to focus its
attention on three areas in the
main:
1. Developing specific
population policy goals for
each States and mobilising
political support for these
goals among the prominent
political parties in each
State;
2. Developing and
implementing Action
Research Projects in selected
areas with the support of
other non-governmental
organisations or
governmental institutions
in promoting reproductive
health including maternal
and child health care,
control of STDs, child
nutrition and spacing
methods for men and
women; and
3. 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 (at reasonable cost)
and making them
sustainable.
To pin-point the activities
further, it has been decided to
give special consideration to
States like Andhra Pradesh,
Bihar, Haryana, Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar
Pradesh, viz, the States which
have markedly higher infant
mortality as well as fertility as
also lower contraceptive
acceptance.
The Government of India
too has decided to remove its
insistence on Family Planning
acceptor targets, in one or two
districts in each State with effect
from April 1995. Thus, in these
districts, experimental and
alternative strategies of
programme implementation are
going to be greatly encouraged.
It is, therefore, in the fitness of
things that the Foundation too
utilizes this opportunity of
working with State
Government in these districts.
(a) New Guidelines:
Accordingly, new guidelines
have been worked out for those
who intend submitting their
projects for the Foundation' ~
consideration. The Foundation
hopes to provide funding for
projects ranging from Rs.25,OOO
to Rs.10 lakhs, depending upon
the size of the project.
The proposals will
preferably be received by the
end of November each year so
that the projects go into
operation in the new financial
year.
This 'reproductive
health package' which
also is a more humane
approach, is consistent
with a number of
studies and surveys
carried out in India and
abroad ....
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6.7 Page 57 |
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The Foundation now
obviously accords
higher priority to
action -demonstration
projects, designed for
socially and
economically backward
target populations in
rural and tribal areas ...
The new' guidelines'
indentifies the following
priority areas for support.
1. Integrated Population-
Development-Environment
linked Policy Research,
Programmes/ Action-
Demonstration Projects;
2. Reproductive health aspects
of population and their
relationship with fertility
regulation and mortality
control;
3. Gender equity and
demographic transition.
4. Medical aspect of family
planning and bio-medical
and contraceptive
technology to a limited
extent before the stage of
human trials;
5. Information, Education and
Communication strategies
in Population-Development-
Environment issues;
6. Management, Marketing
and Community
Distribution Techniques
and involvement of
Organised Sector on
population issues;
7. Special-sector programmes
linking family planning and
reproductive health with
agriculture, industry, labour
and employment,
education, health, social
development and
environment;
8. Demographic Surveys/
Studies on special topics of
current interest; and
9. Conferences / Seminars /
Workshops to a limited
extent.
The Foundation now
obviously accords higher
priority to action-
demonstration projects,
designed for socially and
economically backward target
populations in rural and tribal
areas and particularly
encourages projects which
involves women as active
participants in the action.
(b) How to Apply?
Before any project proposal
is sent up, the app'licants are
advised to send, in the first
instance, a three-four page
preliminary note which should
inter alia cover the following
points in connection with the
proposed budget:
1. Title of the project;
2. Brief history and details of
the institution concemed,
its objectives and its
activities particularly
during the last three-four
years;
3. Scope and objectives of the
project;
4. Outstanding features
justifying the need for
financial support;
5. Methodology proposed to
be adopted;
6. Location, areas and
population to be covered
under the proposed project;
7. Total duration, time-
schedule for various phases
and the proposed date of
commencement;
8. Methods and indicators for
monitoring of evaluation of
the project; and
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6.8 Page 58 |
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9. The proposed budget.
(Note: A small folder on New Policy
Guidelines can be had on request)
(c) Two New District Projects:
The policy parameters as
outlined above, are going to be
crystallised in two district
projects- one in Rajasthan and
the other in the Uttar Pradesh,
viz Kota and Ghaziabad
districts. The go-ahead signal in
this direction was given by the
Governing Board in the same
September meeting as
approved the new philosophy.
These projects will be called
Integrated Population
Development Projects (lPDP)
having time-bound goals in
reproductive health, child
survival, spacing and limitation
of births and programmes
aiming at empowerment of
women. These projects will be
on the lines of district projects
launched in the 50's and 60's
under the Integrated
Agricultural Development Plan
(lADP) which achieved a
considerable success, becoming
ultimately the harbinger of
'Green Revolution' in the
country.
These Population and
Development projects seek to
bring together the State and
Central Government agencies,
organised Sector, and non-
governmental organisations
active in the area with the
Foundation acting as expert
catalyst. According to this
decision, after a preliminary
discussion with the State and
Central Governments, a need-
assessment mission will visits
both the districts in order to
thoroughly assess the financial
and other requirements in view
of the ground realities
prevailing. Thereafter, the
Foundation will coordinate the
mobilisation of necessary
resources from different
participating agencies in the
projects.
The projects will be on the
ground in the financial year
1996.
These projects will be
on the lines of district
projects launched in the
50's and 60's under the
Integrated Agricultural
Development Plan
(lAD P) which achieved
a considerable success ...
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6.9 Page 59 |
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.... the Foundation
acquired a 0.75 acre
plot in the Qutab
Institutional Area near
lhe JNU complex. The
building took four years
to come up and has
many pleasing
architectural features.
Mr. JRD Tata and Dr Bharat Ram as Mr Tata is unveiling the dedication stone of
the Foundation's building (A File Photograph)
a. Foundation has its own
Home
The Population Foundation of
India, earlier known as Family
Planning Foundation, started
operating in 1970 from a rented
building in the Golf Links, New
Delhi. Over the years, however,
the need for having its own
permanent home was becoming
very pressing in that it could
bring the entire work of the
Foundation on a more
permanent footing.
For this, the Foundation
acquired a 0.75 acre plot in the
Qutab Institutional Area near
the JNU complex. The building
took four years to come up and
has many pleasing architectural
features. Dr Bharat Ram headed
the Committee ~onsisting of the
late Dr Dipak Bhatia, Mr Justice
G 0 Khosla and the late Dr K L
Wig to oversee the entire
construction activity from stage
to stage. Later, Dr B K Anand
also joined this Committee.
The foundation stone of the
building was laid by the late Mr
JRD Tata in December, 1986 and
its inaugural ceremony was
again performed by him in
December, 1990.
The building has a covered
area of about 49,000 sq.ft, built
at an overall cost of Rs 2 crores.
b. Renewed Interest in
Selective Bio-medical
Research
In view of the rapid
development in contraceptives
technology which could
provide greater choice to the
users, the Foundation has kept
an open mind to encourage
specific research in modes of
delivering of contraceptives
and search for new, more
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6.10 Page 60 |
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effective contraceptives. A Bio-
medical Group consisting of
some eminent Indian scientists
working in the field advises the
Foundation on selection of
projects and investigations and
search for male contraceptives.
Other experts are also
associated whenever necessary.
At present, the group includes:
1. Dr Banoo J Coyaji
2. Prof. G.P Talwar
3. Prof. N.R Moudgal
4. Dr B K Anand
5. Dr Ranjit Roy
Chowdhury
6. Dr T C Anand Kumar
This Group also had an
exchange of views with Dr
Elton Kessel, Secretary General
of the International Federation
for Family Health during his
recent visit to India in
December, 1994. Dr Kessel is an
internationally known
authority of non-surgical
female sterilisation and male
method of reversible
vas occlusion.
The Visitors' Book of the
Population Foundation of India
is a virtual WHO's WHO of the
administrators, experts and
scientists working in the field of
family planning all over the
world. The list of such visitors
is headed by none other than
Dr Nafis Sadik, the current
Executive Director of the
UNFPA. Several important
delegations visiting India and
interested in studying the
population and how the battle
for controlling its unbridled
growth in India was going on,
also visited the Foundation.
Among other important
names, one could include Mr
David Joseph Kardini of the
African Parliamentary Council
on Population and
Development from Zimbabwe;
Dr Meiwita B Ishandar, MPA
from Indonesia; Julie J
Henderson and Michael A
Osmond from U. K; Ms Susan
Murray of the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation from
Vancouver; Mrs Jaya Bacchan of
the Children's Film Society
from Bombay; Dr Ngvyen
Vukyana and his team from
Parents' Education Programme
in Vietnam; Oscar Harkevy of
Population Council from New
Delhi; Mr D L Khanna of ILO
from Bangkok; Dr Jurgen Neffe
of the Geomagazine from
Hamburg; Prof Stycos and Prof
Royal D Colle from Cornell
University; Mary-Jane Snyder
of Population Communications
(International) from New York;
Mr L Gelmon from Nairobi,
Kenya; Dr Everett Rogers of
Population Crisis Committee
from Washington DC; Mr
Amulya R Nanda, Registrar
General of India; Mr Yang
Kuifu, Vice Minister of State
Family Planning Commission
of China and his team of
experts; Mrs Feng Yan, Director
of the General Office of the
China Population Association;
Mr Alidu from Ghana; Mr
Shawky Yassen from Egypt; Mr
Saad Abdulla from Iraq; and Mr
Florin Goicea from Romania.
The Visitors' Book of
the Population
Foundation of India is a
virtual WHO's WHO
of the administrators I
experts and scientists
working in the field of
family planning all over
the world.
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7.1 Page 61 |
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This centre is intendect
to provide information
support to different
programmes of the
Foundation as also to
serve as a referral
facility for a wide
variety of users such as
academicians / students
and even international
organisations.
The late Mr Harish Khanna presenting a bouquet to Dr Nafis Sadik, Executive
Director of UNFPA. (A File Photograph)
d. Documentation Centre and
Computerised Research
Cell
A most recent development in
the Foundation is that its small
but functionally efficient library
is being upgraded into a useful
centre for documentation
research. The process started in
1991 and since then, around
4,000 new books and volumes
have been added to the library.
At the moment, it has around
7,000 volumes, which include
text books, research journals,
reference books and studies and
survey reports of the
Foundation itself. Additionally,
it has about 150 audio-video
cassettes. An important aspect
of the Centre is that it annually
receives approximately 100
journals and 150 newsletters
from India and abroad. This
centre is intended to provide
information support to different
programmes of the Foundation
as also to serve as a referral
facility for a wide variety of
users such as academicians,
students and even international
organisations. It has started
providing Selective
Dissemination of Information
(SDI), Current Awareness
Sources (CAS) and
reprographic services to keep
the affiliate groups abreast with
different population and
development subjects.
Additionally, this
Documentation Centre is also
currently engaged in preparing
a population thesaurus which
will enable the users to have a
stabilised vocabulary inrespect
of population information data
base.
In the recent past, Mr E
Gravier, a Research Scholar
from France; Mr Annu Anand,
a New Delhi-based Indian
journalist; Dr S K Dhar of the
National Institute of Health and
Family Welfare, New Delhi; Mr
R Kannan of the USAID, New
Delhi; and Mr Krislian
Frederikst, a journalist from
Denmark, used with
satisfaction, this Documentation
Centre for their projects.
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7.2 Page 62 |
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Here, it may also be
mentioned that a small
Research Cell with sound
computer back-up has recently
been created in the Foundation
and it has since analysed some
important Foundation projects.
Not just that. This Cell has now
also started a monitoring and
information service. This
enhanced research capability is
also proving a source of
strength of PFI's programme
planning.
e. Support Communication Cell
The Foundation has immensely
grown in stature in that it has
lately become an important
communication centre offering
help and assistance to overseas
scholars, International media
set-ups like the BBC and CNN
and high-level delegations
visiting India and interested in
population and family
planning.
Among the research
scholars who availed of the
assistance of the Foundation
are:
Ms. Christine K Chung of
the Yale University, United
States; Ms M E Alderliesten and
Ms. L E M Brugemann of Free
University in Amerstdom,
Holland; Dr Helene Lang, an
environmentalist from Vermont
USA; Prof Jason Finkile, a
senior professor on Population
policy at the University of
Michigan, USA; Ms Fiona
Henderson and Michael
Macintyre, documentary film
makers commissioned by
The Foundation has
immensely grown in
stature in that it has
lately become an
important
communication centre
offering help and
assistance to overseas
scholars, International
media set-ups like the
BBC and CNN and
high-level delegations
visiting India
A team of Chinese experts on population on a visit to the Foundation.
(A File Photograph)
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7.3 Page 63 |
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Donations to the
Foundation are exempt
from Income Tax ... and
the income by way of
interest and rent is also
exempt from income
tax ...
International Health and Bio-
medicine, Sussex, England; Ms
Pamela Leroy of Population
Action International,
Washington DC USA; Dr Eeva
Ollila of National Research And
Development Centre, Helsinki,
Finland and Mr James
Shortridge of SIECUS (Sex
Information and Education
Council) USA; and Ms Julia
Durbin, a film producer with
BBC.
A special mention may be
made here o/the visit by Dr
Margaret Catley-Carlson,
currently the President o/the
Population Council, New York.
In addition, Dr S N
Mukherjee escorted a six-
member team of Association of
Voluntary Surgical
Contraception, New York, USA
Similarly, a tea,m of 19 scholars
from developing countries
along with four faculty
members of Centre for
Development Studies,
Trivandrum, visited the
Foundation. The countries
represented were: China,
Mongolia, Nepal and Iraq from
Asia, Uganda, Zambia, Nigeria,
Ghana, Egypt, Tanzania and
Zimbabwe from Africa; Belize
from Central America and
Romania from Europe.
f. Source of Income
Donations to the Foundation
are exempt from Income Tax
under Section 80(G)2(a)vii of
the Income Tax Act 1961 and
the income by way of interest
and rent is also exempt from
income tax under Section
lO(23C)(iv).
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7.4 Page 64 |
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he story of the Population
T Foundation of India as it
has grown over the last 25
years, is one of constant
endeavour to respond to the
challenge of population. A
measure of its all-round
progress and emerging central
position on matters concerning
population can be had from the
range of projects it is currently
funding or implementing in
different parts of India and its
association with a number of
important institutions.
The research stance of the
Foundation is marked by the
underpinning up of a strategic
vision which treats population
in a holistic manner,
emphasising the critical factors
like education and
empowerment of women and
creating conditions for child
survival and safe motherhood
for hastening the pace of
decline of fertility as
demonstrated in Kerala, Goa
and Tamil Nadu and even in
some districts of other States.
Thus, promDting family
planning is no longer a separate
mission but it is now the
achieving of all-round social
development measured in
terms of human development
indices. In this paradigm,
development and environment
are at the centre.
This new concept of
sustainable development
informs most of the new
projects. For example, in certain
areas, it is the improvement in
the quality of health care that
does the trick whereas in
certain other areas it is the
employment-orientation that
serves the goal better. Similarly,
if in some areas promotion of
literacy helps them, in some
other, maternal and child health
holds the key. Abandoning the
unilinear approach, the
Foundation is experimenting
with a whole range of new
approaches. Hopefully, some of
the approaches will emerge as
model strategies for influencing
population dynamics.
During the Silver Jubilee
year itself, the new leadership
of the Foundation has made
some path-breaking changes
with regard to its action-
research projects as described in
chapter 5
Population Foundation of
India is going about spreading
its area of influence and range
of activities, emphasis being on
determining which strategy
works better where and why.
With the Foundation itself
providing inhouse leadership
in baseline researches and
indepth feedback in terms of an
objective evaluation, it is most
likely that the models thus
developed will prove
scientifically more valid. Even
in quantitative terms, the
number and scope of projects
has been growing. Happily, this
all is in tune with the new
winds of liberalisation that are
blowing across the country.
Happily again, the Foundation
will be able to pump into its
activities much larger resources
than hithertofore.
The present international
status that the Foundation has
Abandoning the
unilinear approach, the
Foundation is
experimenting with a
whole range of new
approaches.
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7.5 Page 65 |
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No doubt, the battle is
long and hard. But
there is today every
hope that the paths
chosen shall lead us to
victory.
achieved owes a lot to the
leadership of that distinguished
son of India and its founder
Chairman Mr JRD Tata. The
new Chairman Mr Bharat Ram
is not only a scion of as leading
an industrial house of India,
but in good many respects is,
verily, a chip of the old block.
Hence, the Foundation in its
new incarnation is surely going
to gain a lot from his experience
and commitment.
But the single most
important factor that assures
one of the Foundation always
making correct and creative
responses to the diverse
stimulii surfacing in the field of
population is its Governing
Board consisting of such
eminent non-political Indians
as it has the privilege of being
associated with during the last
25 years. This assurance gets
doubly fortified. when we take
into account the Advisory
Council, consisting again of
some of the best minds of the
nation, working in diverse
disciplines of excellence. Now
this Council has been further
fortified.
It is, therefore, this happy
combination of wisdom,
resources, ideas and action
points that, one hopes, will
make the Foundation
undertake much more arduous
tasks in the years and decades
to come to help India achieve a
really sustainable population.
No doubt, the battle is long and
hard. But there is today every
hope that the paths chosen shall
lead us to victory.
Published by :
Mr. K. Balakrishnan
Secretary, Population Foundation of India,
B-28, Institutional Area, New Delhi 110016
Laser work and Page Make-up : Hira Singh Rana
Specialist Layout Consultant (Hony.> : Arun Chitkara
General Assistance : Shalini Bhatnagar
Editorial Guidance and Supervision :
The Late Harish Khanna & Dr. K. Srinivasan
Scripted, Edited, Designed and Produced:
P.K. Nijhawan.
Population Exploding in Concentric Circles
Photograph by T. Kashi Nath ~