Focus 1997 October - December :: PFI Publication :: KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT CENTRE PORTAL, POPULATION FOUNDATION OF INDIA

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Focus 1997 October - December

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Focus 1997 October - December

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Volume XI No.4

Oct.-Dec., 1997

ABU L LET IN 0 F POP UL A T ION F 0 U N D A T ION 0 FIN D I A

JRD TAT A AWARDS PRESENTED

Population Issue a Major Concern

- says Prime Minister

The JRD Tata Awards for Population and Reproductive Health Programmes

instituted by the Population Foundation of India were formally presented by the

Prime Minister, Mr I K Cujral, at a glittering function in New Delhi on November 13, 1997.

The award for the best State has

gone to Kerala while the Districts of

.\\, ' Palakkad, Chidambaranar (now

- • Toothukudi) and Kurukshetra were

awarded as best performers in their

respective population categories.

Speaking on the occasion, the

Prime Minister congratulated the

Population Foundation of India for

meticulously working out the criteria

for selection which gave a fair glimpse

of the performance of different areas

ofthe country in the field ofpopula tion

stabilisation. Paying his tribute to Mr

JRDTata,in whose memory the awards

have been instituted, Mr Gujral said:

To the great man population

stabilisation did not mean merely

-limiting the number of people. He

reminded the audience JRD Tata's

words that achievement of

demographic objectives was entirely

dependent on a whole set of societal

response a..Tlpdolicy initiatives which

went well beyond contraception and

said that this statement was a clear

indication of the directions in which

the.movement should grow.

Sustainable Development

The Prime Minister said India has

realised that population stabilisation

is crucial to sustainable development.

He said that in his very first speech in

Parliament as Prime Minister he had

mentioned checkofpopulation growth

as one of the priorities before his

government alongwith sustainable

economic growth, welfare of the

weaker sections, safeguarding

secularism, promoting scientific

temper and working for women's

rights. He said that he spoke out of

conviction and that he believed that

the basic issues were closely

interrelated.

Suitable Strategies

Mentioning the moves initiated

by him in this direction, the Prime

Minister said that since conditions

and ground realities differed from

State to State and often from district to

district in 'this vast country,

development strategies had to be

designed to conform to the ethos of

the people for whom these were

devised with an understanding of the

priorities of their lives. He said, 'The

award winners have clearly shown

that given the political leadership,

adequate provision of resources and

improved services and communi-

cation, the task of population

stabilisation is not beyond us'. Mr

Gujral said it was his privilege to have

launched the reproductive ilnd child

health programme recently to

contribute to the improvement of the

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Strategy for Implementing RCH Plan

The year 1997 would certainly be regarded as one

of the most eventful in the history of independent

India. We celebrated 50 years of uninterrupted

democratic rule, an achievement hailed by the

world. We had oor quota of turmoil and turbulence

alongwith achievements but the nation showed its

resilience to adjust to changing realities and keep

on course.

For us the activists on the population issue,

the year was of special significance. Though there

were forebodings of the multiplying population of

the country posing grave political, economic and

social dangers in not too distant a future, there

seemed to emerge a welcome national resolve, for

the first time, to act positively to avert the danger.

The elections to the Lok Sabha are round

the corner. Political parties contesting the elections

have already pledged their unanimous support to

population stabilisation and reproductive health

programmes in the special August session of the

Lok Sabha which also recognised the importance

of female education and raising the status of

women. It is a reflection of the national will

responding to the need of the hour. The will

requires to be translated into action. The nation

expects that all political parties, irrespective of

their differing ideologies, should accord population

stabilisation programmes high priority in their

manifestos with which they go to the electorate.

Even during the last elections, the PFI urged all

political parties to include population stabilisation

as a major point in their manifestos and circulated

a model for their consideration. The PFI considers

the model to be still valid and would make it

available to all parties.

Population programmes including health,

family planning and education are to be packaged

for the total welfare of the people. It involves

efficient administration, service delivery systems,

participatory communication and a missionary

zeal. It is too much to ask for all these in a state

managed programme. The realisation today is

that the task has to be shared in a co-ordinated

manner by official agencies, private institutions,

non-government and voluntary organisations and

community leaders supplementing others' efforts.

In the new official programme on reproductive

and child health, the Ministry is reported to have

taken care to make it client-centred, demand-

driven, high quality and based on the needs of the

community ascertained through decentralised

participatory planning and that it wants to involve

non-official agencies in a much larger way. Nothing

could be more welcome. In a way, it throws a

greater challenge before non-government agencies

like us to rise up to the occasion.

he Ministry of Health and Family

Welfare is reported to have

decided to implement its Reproductive

and Child Health (RCH) programme

on a differential basis. Districts which

have an efficient delivery system will

be funded for more sophisticated

facilities, while in weaker districts, the

basic facilities will be strengthened

first. The districts will be covered in a

phased manner over three years.

The estimated cost of the RCH

programme will be Rs.5.112.53crore

during the Ninth Plan. Of this,

Rs.4,563.03crore would be for nation-

wide launch of the RCH and Rs.283.88

crore for 24 district projects in 17

States for strengthening inputs for

infrastructure and to bring them up to

State level. In Phase II, some more

district projects will be taken for which

Rs.263.62crore has been earmarked.

It is expected that the RCH would

help in stabilising population at a

level consistent with development.

Assured health and longevity of

children motivate parents to keep the

family size small.

The programme integrates all

intervention of fertility regulation,

maternal and child health with

reproductive health of both men and

women. The services to be provided

will be client centred, demand driven

high quality and based on needs of th~

community arrived at through

decentralised participatory planning

and target free approach.

The Ministry has decided to

undertake special programmes for

urban slums, tribal population and

adolescents and involve Non-

Governmental Organisations in a

much larger way to improve reach

and make it a people's programme.

The Ministry envisages a much

larger role for the panchayati raj system

in programme implementation and

• assessment of popular satisfaction.

On India,U.S: SignPah Reproductive Health

? India aJ:).dthe USAsigJ:).ed<Ualgreement in New Delhi on Septerpber

28 to expand Collaborative research and related activities in the field of

contraceptives and reproductive health.

. Under the agreement, the two countries would pursue joint

programmes in the areas of male methods and male involvement, long-

act4lg contraceptives, contraception and SID prevention, emergency

contraception, social and .behavioural research, epidemiology, immUno-

contraception, and also basic, applied and clinicalresearch in reproductive

health.

The U.S. has committed to spend $1.5 million for the research

activities under the agreement to meet the total dollar costs and also

some rupee for local cost. The Indian side, in turn, would meet the rupee

costs.' India has suggestedthata corpus fund to be shared between the

participating parties may be established.

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Panchayat Training Project Completes

they are making use of community

level volunteers, trained for their other

Preparatory Stage

programmes, for supplementing the

efforts of resource persons. In one

The Foundation supported projects in 7 districts in 6 States on Empowerment

of Panchayati Raj Institutions in Population, Repro-ductive Health and Social

project, services of a large number of

female volunteers are being utilised

for this purpose.

Development Issues, are now poised for action programmes having more or less

The use of video cassette for

completed the preparatory phase.

orientation programmes at the village

level is likely to pose problems in

The preparatory activities intervention strategies were inevitabl~. some areas because of reasons like

included identification of the For example, in some projects,separate lack of regular power supply, non-

consulting organisation; identification training programmes were organised availability of video cassette players,

of the lead NGO or implementing for the lead NGO and Zilla Parishad lack of transportation facility, etc. As

agency by the consulting organisation; members whereas at others, joint an alternative, it has been decided to

organisation of training workshop for programmes were organised for the make use of group education aids like

the lead NGO; organisation of training two. At one place, attendance of Zilla flip charts, flash cards, audio cassette

workshop for the members of the Zilla Parishad members in the orientation players, etc. Divergences in approach

Parishad; collection of print material workshop being low, it was decided to and intervention strategies for training

and development of modules for the involve them also in the training of the of panchayat members, however, are

training; production of video cassette resource persons at the block level. likely to provide a good opportunity

for the training of the panchayat

members; and identification and

training of the resource persons who

are supposed to undertake orientation

programmes for the panchayat

members. In most of the districts,.the

At some places, the size of the

district being too large and density of

population being very high, it was

decided to cover only part of the

district as complete coverage would

for comparing the results, identifying

strengths and weaknesses of each

individual approach and integrating

the common features for a

comprehensive methodology.

actionprogrammes would be launched

in the first month of the new year.

have required a much higher budget

and a longer period than what was

stipulated under the project.

PROGRESS

The following is an assessment of

Some projects took longer time to

take off, but the amount of time and

effort spent on preparatory work is

likely to enable them to catch up with

others. It is expected that all the

projects would achieve their objectives

around the same time in the year 1998

and the final reports would be available

by the end of July 1998.

At a few places, efforts have been

made to include women resource

persons who are expected to

communicate more effectively with

women panchayat members on issues

like reproductive health, maternal and

child health care, etc. Since most of

the NGOs have been operating in their

respective ar~as for a number of years,

the present status of programme in

different districts in the context of the .

steps marking the completion of the

preparatory phase.

Bankura District (West Bengal)

Workshops for the NGO and Zilla

Parishad members have already been

organised. Selection of the resource

The strategy for training of the

panchayat members from the district

to the village level had to be devised

according to the local situation and

were based on considerations like area

of specialisation of the NGO,

topographical conditions and the

distances, availability and professional

competence of the resource persons,

regularity of power supply, etc. Thus,

inspite of the common elements in the

ba5ic approach to training of panchayat

members, some variations in the

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persons is being finalised. The printed

material and the video cassette will be

ready by the end of December after

which the training programme for the

resource persons will be organised.

Chitradurga District (Karnataka)

Workshop for the NGO staff has

been completed. The first draft of the

8 modules for training, in Kannada

language, has been prepared, pre-

tested and are being printed.

Production of video cassette is under

way and is likely to be ready by the

end of December. The training of the

resource persons would begin from

the first week of January 1998.

Dharmapuri and Dindigul Districts

(Tamil Nadu)

Workshops for the lead NGO and

the Zilla Parishad members have been

completed. Blocklevel workshops are

under way and are likely to be

completed by the end of December.

The modules for training in Tamil

have been produced and supplied to

the respective NGOs. The video

cassette would be ready by the end of

December. After that, training

programmes for the resource persons

would be taken up in both the districts.

Lalitpur District (Uttar Pradesh)

The joint workshop for the Zilla

Parishad members and the lead NGO

has already been organised. Resource

persons in every block of the district

have been selected. The modules in

Hindi are under print and the video

cassette is being prepared, and would

be ready by the end of December. The

training programme for the resource

persons will start in the month of

January 1998.

Pune District (Maharashtra)

The first workshop for the NGO

has been organised. Keeping in view

the local situation, it has been decided

to cover only four blocks in two

stages. It was also decided not to lay

--much emphasis on the use of the video

cassettes and instead efforts should be

made to develop other audio visual

aids and print material. Currently,

need assessment survey and

identification of resource persons is

under progress.

Sawai Madhopur (Rajasthan)

A joint workshop for the lead

NGO and the Zilla Parishad members

has been organised. The draft of 8

training modules have been develc~eu

in Hindi, and are being finali~ed.

Simultaneously, production of video

cassette is also going on. Identification

of the resource persons has been

completed. The programme is likely

to be launched in the month ofJanuary

1998.

•

Governing Board Clears

Three New Projects In Principle

hree new projects in diverse fields

comprising integrated health and

development, slum areas and training

were cleared in principle by the

Governing Board of the Population

Foundation of India which met in

New Delhi on November 12.

The first project, being entrusted

to the Dr Phatak Child and MotheF

Welfare Trust, Gwalior, is to be

implemented in a slum area in the

outskirts of Gwalior city with a

population of about 25,000.It will be

carried out in two phases over a

period of 3 years, the

Gwalior target groups being

married

women,

adolescents and pre-adolescents. The

objectives of the project are to provide

complete ante-natal and neo-natal care,

to increase couple protection rate from

27% in 1994 to 60%, to implement

programmes for education and health

for adolescent groups for empower-

ment of women, to develop income

generating skills and to promote

healthy habits among young children.

The second one will be PFI's own

project consisting of a crash

programme, on an

Delhi experimental basis, to

promote acceptance of

reproductive healt.~ care and family

planning in the slum areas of Delhi,

Ghaziabad and Kanpur.

The, Chairman, Dr Bharat Ram,

desired that this should be taken up as

a major project. Initially, it could be

concentrated only in slums in and

around Delhi in co-ordination with

the local industries and government.

The project will run for one year to

cover around a population of 30,000in

each of the three areas.

The third project with a strong

training component will relate to

reproductive health care and

population management through

innovative life education and

community participation plan c<uried

out by the Institute of Mass Education

and Community Development in

Allahabad.

The project intends to train and

upgrade the skills of traditional birth

attendants in reproductive health and

family planning and to develop them

as nodal health

Allahabad workers in remotely

located Kaundhiata

Block of Allahabad district, covering

around 1.1 la,kh population.

The project duration will be 3

years with an outlay of about Rs. 10

lakhs. The population management

and reproductive health care

programmes will be developed for

initiating self-sustaining movements.

While reviewing the already

sanctioned

projects

under

implementation, the Governing Board

expressed satisfaction with the

progress. The Executive Director

informed the Board that all projects

are subjected to mid-term evaluation

and follow-up action.

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JRD iN•••••• Ia fa Oration

Dr Najma Heptulla Calls for High Priority to Women's

Health and Family Planning in the National Agenda

,elivering the annual fRO Tata Memorial Oration in New Delhi on November

D29, Dr (Mrs) Najma Heptulla, Depuh) Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha made a

strong plea for a change in social attitude towards women as an essential requirement

for solving the population issue.

In her view, welfare and

empower-ment of women and gender

equality in the society were the key

factorsin ensuring development along

with population stabilisation,the major

challenge before the nation today.

She--said there is widespread

awareness now about the

interrelationship between high

population growth rate and

development, particularly in the

developing world. She said all our

calculations and policy initiatives will

go haywire if we fail to integrate the

population issue in the broader

development strategy which will

include both economic logic and

sociological issues. The emphasis so

far has been on the linkage between

small family norm and greater

opportunities for human resource

development. But we will have to

focus now on the major sociological

factors that can influence the

population issue. Social attitude

towards women is one such factor,she

said.

Underlining that traditionally

women are deprived of the role of

decision making at alllevels,Dr Najma

Heptulla said more focused approach

to women's empowerment is also

required to supplement policy

initiatives in population stabilisation.

It is now well recognised that

empowerment of women has a

significantbearing on the demographic

issues.

Dr Heptulla said the vital role of

women in the. economy goes mostly

unrecognised. Womencontrol most of

the non-monetory economy and also

play a significant part in money

economy like household industries,

informal sector, wage labour etc.

Inspite of their contributions,the index

of human development remain low in

the case of women. Dr Heptulla

asserted that continuous apathy

towards the needs of women had

resulted in uncontrolled population

growth, high infant and child mortality,

weak micro and macro level economy

and overall deterioration in the human

develop men t index and social

development.

Important Investment

In a traditional social milieu

women have few choices in life, even

though they not only constitute about

half the population but also influence

the future generations more

significantly. Investment in women

should be seen in this light and family

planning, she said, is one of the, most

important investments for empower-

ment of women because it represents

freedom of choice from which other

freedoms flow..

Dr Heptulla pointed out that

many surveys had shown that most of

the women in developing countries_

wanted smaller families and

considered the size of the family an

important factor in their mobility.They

would like to use modern

contraceptives and space their

children. Generally they were more

receptive to family planning initiatives

than men. Women, therefore, would

have to be involved in formulating

our development stra.t~gies and

population policies.

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Factors Vary But Good Services a Must

Award Winners, Experts Search for Clues to Success

·xperts in demography, development analysts, health administrators, district administrators

E and Panchayat officials met to exchange notes on the success factors at a day-long

seminar organised by the PFI preceding the JRD Tata Award presentation ceremony at

Parliament House Annexe in New Delhi on November 13.

As expected, the deliberations imaginative projections for the future easy and widespread acceptance of

confirmed that there could not be a as the current trends were encouraging the small family norm.

common formula for.different regions

of the vast country as the success

factors were closely related to the

social history and cultural traditions

of each area. Yet,it was clear that two

factors which played very significant

roles were provision and delivery-of

good health and family planning

services, and 'commitment and co-

operation of administrative and social

institutions.

Welcoming the participants, the

PFI chairman Dr Bharat Ram said the

sharing of experiences would

hopefully lead to better understanding

of the conditions which favour general

enough to generate hope and

confidence.

Key Note Address

The key-note address was

delivered by Mr A Sanmukhadas,

Health and Sports Minister of Kerala,

the State which lead others in

reproductive health and family

planning. He· said Kerala's

achievements are closely connected

with the social and political

Mr Sanmukhadas outlined the

measures of the State Government in

providing services to the people and

the IEC back-up to ensure their

utilisation which included interaction

sessions with political leaders, trade

unions, religious leaders etc., effective

utilisation of local folk-media and

population education programmes in '.1.-

schools and colleges. The Kerala

Minister mentioned the key role played

by private hospitals, NGOs as well as

the practitioners of the Indian systems

of medicine, each supplementing

official efforts.

acceptance of family planning.

Success of Kerala

Mr Y N Chaturvedi, Secretary,

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,

delivered the inaugural address. He

said though the overall achievements

so far had not been enough to make a

dent into the problem yet the

achievements could not be belittled.

Mr Chaturvedi said the job in hand

required community participation and

support and the government

departments would welcome any

initiative.

The first session of the seminar

was devoted to analysis of the peculiar

factorswhich accounted for the success

of the State of Kerala and the district

of Palakkad. Opening the discussions,

Dr K C Zacharia of the Centre for

Development Studies, Tiruvanantha-

pur am, said there were certain

remarkable. features in Kerala's

demographic transition observed in

the last 15 years. When the State

reached the replacement level of

Mr Chaturvedi sounded optimism developments. The social renaissance fertility towards the end of the 80s,its

about the success of the population started early this country, marked by infant mortality rate was pretty low as

stabilisation programmes and said religious tolerance and communal compared with the IMRof TamilNadu

though there were many negative harmony. In Kerala, there is no marked and other States at the comparable

signs, the positive aspects of the current urban-rural distinction with an stage. Since the fertility rate had

situation far outweigh the weaknesses. effectivecommunication system. High already come down, there could have }-

In his view, the recent pessimistic enrolment rate in schools, rare drop- been a deceleration in the rate of

projections provided a distorted outs, good status of women and an decline of IMR and TFR, but Kerala

picture, as the figures relating to the effective and wide health delivery surprisingly achieved a faster decline

- eighties -on which these were based system through the participation of in these areas even in the later years. [

suffered from backlashes of previous private institutions, NGOs and In Dr Zacharia's view the prime F

failures. He called for more voluntary organisations have ensured motivator in Kerala towards accepting S

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the small family norm had been spread

The points made by the speakers

of education. He said that following were commented upon by several

land reform measures undertaken in participants in the seminar. Prof. Mari

the State, land did no longer provide Bhat said his own studies showed that

economic se<;:urity and hence the the people's attitudes could not be

investment was directed towards compartmentalised within state

education. Commen-

boundaries and were

ting on the adminis-

influenced more by

trative support Dr

EACH STATE 11'1II JD!A

common cultural

Zacharia said the

health programmes

which laid emphasis

on MCH and

immunisation helped

family welfare progr-

WOULD HAVE TO DEVISE

ITS OWN STRATEGY BASED

01'J LOCAL CONDITiONS AND

THERE COULD NOT BE

A UNIFORM iltl0DEL

factors, such as those

experiencedby people

in the coastal regions

with greater exposure

to and exchanges with

the olltside world. He

ammes. Dr Zacharia

said instead of trying

was firmly of the view that each State to generalise the factors, the secret of

in India would have to devise its own the relative success of certain areas

strategy based on local conditions needed deeper probe. One participant

and there could not be a uniform emphasised that easy accessibility of

model.

services and the contribution of the

private sector in promoting family

His view was strongly supported planning played a crucial role in the

by his colleague Dr P K Gopinathan success of Kerala.

Nair. In his paper, Dr Nair said the

demographic transition in Kerala was

a pay-off of the socio-economic

development programmes undertaken

at political and social levels. He said

the secret of success in Kerala lay in its

social history which helped create a

total awareness of the need of the hour

to limit family sizes. Dr George

Mathews of the Institute of Social

Sciencessaid the social ethos in Kerala

In the first paper presented on the

subject of fertility transition in Tamil

Nadu with particular reference to

Toothukudi district, Prof.P N Kulkarni

of Bharathiar University, Coimbatore,

said social scientists had offered

varying and even contradictory

reasons for the achievements of Tamil

Nadu, some even suggesting that the

high level of poverty itself had led to

had been evolved through a

democratic process which was

rooted in its traditions of over a

century.

lowering of the fertility rate. The other

factors frequently mentioned are the

social reforms movement, the

commitment of the politicalleadership,

the efficiency of the family welfare

programme and the role of the mass

media, particularly that of the cinema,

Prof. Kulkarni said that no single

factor coula. be presented as crucial to

the transition. Findings from a series

of focus group discussions indicate

that most of participants cited

economic factors as a major reason in

the sense that the monetary cost of

child bearing seemed to operate in the

minds of the people in deciding their

fertility behaviour. L'Ilprovement in

the status of women was decidedly an

important factor as women desired

more education and better

employment for children. Referring to

the social reforms movement in Tamil

Nadu, Prof. Kulkarni said it attacked

the caste system which was based on

the principle of following the

hereditary avocation. Once occupation

was delinked from caste one could

explore for a more attractive and non

traditional career through education.

He said the mass media, specially

cinema and television, had created

aspirations for better living and

acquisition of modern appliances

raising costs.

Mr P K Vma Shankar, former

Special Secretary, Health and Family

Welfare, pointed out that all political

parties in Kerala offered their support

to the education and health

programmes for the poor. He said

church leaders in Kerala viewed family

planning favour ably while Muslim

leaders gave support to female

education, even though such support

was not always open and visible. The

media never opposed population

programmes and the experience

perhaps was not the same in other

States of the country.

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Referring to the experience in

Toothukudi, Prof. Kulkarni said the

area was more urbanised than the

state average. He said the progress of

Toothukudi could be attributed more

to social development linked fertility

transition - higher age at marriage and

a more balanced use of reversible and

terminal methods of contraception.

Mr K SNatarajan of PFIexamined

in details in his paper the various

factors mentioned by researchers as

the reason of fertility decline in Tamil

Nadu. He said it was difficult to

isolate the contribution of the various

components separately. But it was

clear that there was

Toothukudi universal awareness

of the small family

norm in the State and the government

machinery could provide the services

to those who wanted to limit their

families. LTl relation to Toothukudi, he

particularly mentioned the integrated

nutrition project implemented in the

district during 1982-89 with the help

of the World Bank. This, along with

other State schemes, combined to push

up the demands for family planning

services in the district.

In his presentation, Mr T VAntony,

former Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu

emphasised that the factors of political

will and efficientbureaucracy in Tamil

Nadu played a crucial role and the

strategy adopted in Tamil Nadu was

entirely replicable in any other

reasonably well organised State in

India, provided the persons at the top

most political and administration

levels got personally involved

in population stabilisation progra-

mmes.

Ms Geeta Jeevan, President of the

Zilla Parishad, Toothukudi, reminded

the participants of the glorious

tradition of the district during the

freedom struggle and the

com]I1endable activities of the

Christian missionaries in promoting

education. This she said provided a

socialbase for accepting modern ideas

for better life. She also recalled the

scheme of the State government for

reservation of jobs for women and the

advancement of female literacy in the

district. She said that non-government

organisations in the district were very

active in supplementing government

development activities.

The third session was devoted to

analysing the factors which made

Kurukshetra the leading district in its

population category to merit an award.

Prof. R S Goyal of IIHMR,Jaipur, gave

a general presentation on the State of

Haryana which is enjoying the fruits

of economic development.

The special factors leading to the

successof Kurukshetra were presented

by Mr TVSN Prasad, District

Magistrate. He said that there was a

spatial distribution of population

where landless people were allotted

waste land to live and develop. These

landless people live in small clusters

which form satellite villages relieVing

pressure on public utility services like

health, sanitation and hygiene. This

has also led to the economic progress

of these people with women also

participating in economic activities.

Mr Prasad said there was no real

urban-rural divide in Kurukshetra and

urban areas served as service centres

for the people living in villages. He

said the development activities in

Kurukshetra had been aimed at

sustainable development against

poverty alleviation programmes by

way of innovative approaches. Mr

Prasad mentioned the 'Apni BetiApna

Dhan' scheme which assured families

of financial benefits for properly

rearing up the girl child and giving

her education. Mr Prasad said though

the State had been awarded for the

performance during 1981-91, the

progress achieved after 1991 had been

even more remarkable as a result of

the total involvement of the people.

Dr Dhanija from the Haryana

Health Services expressed satisfaction

at the very rapid progress made by the

State and said it was noteworthy that

such success was achieved even

without the favourable socio-political

and culturfll changes witnessed in

Kerala or Tamil Nadu.

The President of Zilla Parishad,

Kurukshetra, Ms Kailash Saini spoke

enthusiastically about the receptive-

ness of the people to

Kurukshetra the family welfare

programmes. She

said a good infrastructure ensured easy

carrying of services to all parts of the

district. She empha-sised the

importance of greater co-ordination

between officials and people's

representatives in achieving success

for family welfare programmes. •

1.9 Page 9

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TR'D'l-~.c.t..0".- .... .....-.~

""'r.~..""'1 ."\\-",,"'1

.J.

J. ••.••• '-' ~ ••

Emphasising the important role

already being played by women even

in developing societies in the overall

economic activity, Dr Heptulla said

there should be documentation and

appreciation of the vital contributions

of women in development. Society

should respond to the needs of

lesseningthe double burden on women

SOCIETY SHOULD

RESPOND TO THE NEEDS

OF LESSENING THE DOUBLE

BURDEN ON WOMEN

IN HER FAMILIAL

AND EMPLOYMEI !T

ROLES

in her familial and employment roles.

There is also a need for an efficient and

widespread networking of family

planning and reproductive health care

services, avoiding the stereotypes.

Dr Heptulla pointed out that India

had a wide institutional network at

grassroot levels in the form of

panchayats and municipalities where

women were participating actively.

She said these institutions should be

mobilised to take up population and

women issues. A strategy developed

~C)..L~LJI:;C:' j ,\\L:- j;-:c

AG:::: ICieS P.,i']:) ,'IGOS AS ,'\\LSO

THE RESOURCe PERSO, IS TO

.according to local perceptions using

regional symbols and idioms will

succeed in driving the issue down to

grassroot levels.

iV1UTUALLY SUPPLENlEI JT THEIR

EFFORTS TO THE TWIN GOALS

OF E~11PLOYMENT 0:= Wm/lEN

Ar>ID POPULATION STABILiZ;:\\TION

WHICH ARE CLOSELY LINKeD

Drawing attention to adverse

.TO EA.CH OTHE(i

sociological effects of unrestricted

growth of population, Dr N ajn;:ta the population growth rate. I call

Heptulla said that there was already upon all the agencies and NGOs as

an exodus from rural to ill-planned also the resource persons to mutually

urban centres as resources were fast supplement their efforts to the twin

concentrating in urban clusters. This goals of employment of women and

has led to urban squalor, socialtension population stabilization which are

and crime. The uneven distribution of , closely linked to each other".

population and resources has further

increased the problem.

Dr Najma Heptulla congratulated

the Population Foundation of India

Sounding a note of optimism Dr for the exemplary work being done by

Najma Heptulla said "We, in India, it in the field of population

have at present more favourable stabilisation. Shesaid "The Foundation

circumstances to make our population and the Parliamentarian's Forum for

stabilization drive successful. NGOs Human Development, of which I am

and experts have offered invaluable the founder Chairperson, have been

support to government's endeavour. interacting on issues of soCial

There is a massive data bank and importance. Wealways value the input

information network. We h,ave by the Population Foundation of India

resource persons in the form ofpeoples during the interactions organised by

representative and volunteers at every Parliamentarian's Forum".

level. And most important, there is a

changing social' attitude in favour of

There was a lively session of

women issues and family planning questions and answers following Dr.

measures. A persistent effort at this Najma Heptulla's inspiring speech.

juncture will succeed in bringing down The participants all agreed that there

was a great urgency in bringing down

the growth rate of population and the

suggestions to achieve the goal

reflected that some were in favour of

even drastic ~easures.

The Foundation instituted in 1990

a lecture series under the title

'Encounter with Population Crisis'

which was renamed 'JRD Tata

Memorial Oration' after the death of

Mr.JRDTata in 1993. The Foundation

invites important international and

Indian celebrities to deliver these

lectures onte a year. Speakers so far

include Dr.Norman E.Borlaug, Dr.M S

Swaminathart, Dr.AsokW.JtraD, r.Abid

Hussain, Mr.Va-san.! Sathe, Mr.

Ramakrishna Hegde and Mr. Chandra

Shekar.

•

1.10 Page 10

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Progress of Current Projects At A Glance

THEPRO~CTTOPROMOTERURAL

family welfare in Saraiya block of

u!uza'::arpur district in Bihar under

the charge of ADITHI, Patna, has kept

up its momentum. Volunteers had

identified 148 women, who were

eligible for benefits under the maternal

benefit scheme, and through the

intervention of ADITHI, grants were

got sanctioned and released to these

women. Fresh applications for the

maternal benefit scheme from 315

candidates have been filed through

ADITHI.

As a result of the work done so far, 700

women have undergone tubectomy

and 16 males have undergone

vasectomy. Oral pills have been

distributed to 2423 women and

condom to 2300 males. The distribution

of oral pills received a quantum jump

during the quarter of June to

September due to the inception of

Apsara.

THE PROJECT It J 20 VILLAGES It

Aurangabad district in Bihar, being

implemented by the Daudnagar

Organisation for Rural Development,

has reported steady progress. The

project aims at empowerment of rural

women with focus on family welfare.

Three MCH centres were established

on the 2nd of October in the villages

of Tarar, Kesrari and Birai. Three

ANlVls and three traditional birth

attendants are working full time in

these centres. A part time lady doctor

is also visiting on a weekly basis.

These centres maintain the minimum

requirements for safe and hygienic

delivery. Twen"y youth clubs, one in

each village, have _be~ organised.

UNDER THE PROJECT AIMED AT

creating conditions for faster fertility'

. reduction in B.haratpur district of

Rajasthan through integrated health

and development strategies, 45 block

level meetings were organised in the

quarter ended September in which

volunteers and master volunteers

participated alongwith officials from

health and other departments. Twenty

of these workers were sent for Jana

Swasthya course, the objective of

which is to create a cadre of trained

health workers at the village level.

As a result of intensified IEC activities

undertaken by the implementing

NGO, the Asian Centre for

Organisation

Research

and

Development, Delhi, 874 women, 200

children and 458 women availed of

the services of local PHCs. More than

2800 eligible persons accepted various

contraceptive services. All the children

in the project area who were due for

immunisation

were given the

necessary doses.

Due to the nutrition education

campaign undertaken by the NGO,

30-40% of the families covered under

the project are growing vegetables in

the open space adjacent to their houses.

••

THE SOCII- TY FOR HUMAN Al D

Environment Development, a voluntary

organisation, has been working in

Dharavi slum area in Bombay for a

considerable time to promote hygiene

and sanitation, family planning

reproductive health care etc. by using

community participation techniques.

uring the quarter ended September,

'riI/O more mahila mandals were formed

bringing the total to seven. Two more

jcuth clubs W&r2; formed raising the

total to four. 30 vOlun.eers consisting

or 'Nomen, YOUthand girlS have CS2'

identified for invoi lement in a.l ~:-e

health related activities. Ti'lo ona-cay

training camps and one thrse- cay

training camp were held for the YOt.:-:-

groups.

••

THE MAHATMA GANDHI INSTITUTE

of Medical Sciences, Wardha, is

running a project funded by PFI for

community resource mobilisation for

improving reproductive health in the

rural areas of Wardha distric~. The

project aims at initiating social action

to improve reproductive health

behaviours which have their 'roots in

the cultural traditions of the target

population. Under the initiative of the

Institute, 10 women self-help groups

were formed in the quarter ended

September and 17 meetings w~re

organised involving these groups,

where the project social scientist

interacted with the participants.

All the project villages have been \\

covered by the mobile reproductive

tract infection clinic. Twenty two clinics

were held which were attended by 191

persons. Diagnosis was made on the

spot microscopically, and treatment

initiated accordingly.

The Institute had earlier organised a

training progrqmme for supervisors/

workers of other projects funded by

the Population Foundation of India.

Workers of ADITHI, Patna, Daudnagar

Rural

Welfare

Organisation,

Daudnagar, and Anand Family Welfare

Project, Parwanoo, were trained in

identification and management of RTIs

and STDs, issues related to MCH and

family planning, social mobilisation

and IEC in community programmes.

The training programme included

three field visits to demonstrate the

actual management of the issues.

••

ha,

2 Pages 11-20

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2.1 Page 11

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health status of women and children,

particularly of the poor and under

privileged.

The Prime Minister said that the

issue of population stabilisation was

related to all round development and

it could not be achievedby government

efforts alone. He said the Population

Foundation of India has emerged as

one of the foremost non government

organisations in this important field.

The Prime Minister praised all

the award winners and said that he

was sure that the awards would

encourage other States and districts to

improve their performance to qualify

for the awards in the coming years.

Earlier,the Population Foundation

of India's Chairman, Dr Bharat Ram,

said that the decision to institute the

awards followed the realisation that

family planning activities having been

merged into the wider concept of

reproductive health, the success of

population stabilisation could come

, only through sustained efforts in the

States and in smaller geographical

units in a package of development

activities. He said that for the last 27

years the Population Foundation of

India had been playing supportive

and innovative role to further the

cause, supplementing efforts of the

THE ISSUE OF

POPULATION STABILISATION

WAS RELATED TO ALL

ROUND DEVELOPMENT

AND IT COULD NOT

BE ACHIEVED

BY GOVERNMEt\\IT

EFFORTS ALONE

central and State governments, which

./ has now been extended to the

Panchayat Raj institutions also. Dr

Bharat Ram said that experience

showed that efforts of NGOs always

had greater success if they could work

in close co-operation with the

concerned State government agencies.

He pleaded for better co-ordination

and closer co-operation among all

agencies active in the field to avoid

duplication of efforts and to ensure

that the activities were evenly spread

out throughout the country with the

EXPERIENCE SHOWED

THAT EFFORTS OF t\\IGOS

ALWAYS HAD GREATER

SUCCESS IF THEY COULD

WORK IN CLOSE

CO-OPERATION WITH THE

CO, ICERI lED STATE

GOVERNME IT A.GEf\\JCIES

same intensity. He said that the

Population Foundation of India had

already submitted a detailed

memorandum to the Prime Minister

containing its views and suggestions

on these scores and he was happy to

understand that these were receiving

due attention.

The Executive Director of PFI, Dr

K Srinivasan who welcomed the guests

said the selection of the best State and

districts had been carried out on the

basis of strictly objectivemethodology

and a number of indicators on which

data were compiled and analysed. He

said that this was the first time that a

non-governmental organisation had

instituted an award for outstanding

achievements by the government at

the state and district levels in the field

of population stabilisation.

Justice Ms LeilaSeth,Chairperson

of the Award Committee, explained

the methodology for selection and

said a set of ten indicators covering

demographic factors, quality of health

services,state ofliteracy and education

and expenditure on social services

were taken into account to evaluate

the performance of the States with

greater weightage being given to the

change factor over a ten-year period.

In the case of districts, only three

relevant indicators available from the

census data were considered. She said

the winners had set a trend for other

regions of the country to follow.

The Recipients

The handsome JRD Tata trophy

for the best State was handed over by

the Prime Minister to the Health

Minister of Kerala alongwith a cheque

of Rs. 10lakhs. The shield for the high

population category district was

received by Mr S G K Kishore, District

Collector of Palakkad, while the cash

award of Rs. 2 lakhs was presented to

Mr K V Vijayadas, District Panchayat

President. For the medium population

category, the shield was presented to

the District Collector of Toothukudi,

Mr C Muthukumaraswamy and the

cash award of Rs. 2 lakhs to Ms Geeta

Jeevan, District Pancha ya t

Chairperson. The shield for

Kurukshetra in the low population

category was presented to the District

Magistrate Mr TVSN Prasad anq the

cash award of Rs.2lakhs to Ms Kailash

Saini, President Zilla Parishad. All the

recipients were greeted with loud

cheers from the audience.

THE AWARD PRESENTED

TO KERALA HAD ACTUALLY

PLACED HIGHER

RESPONSIBILITIES ON THE

STATE TO WORK HARDER TO

SUSTAIN THE ACHIEVEMENTS

MADE SO FAR

Speaking on behalf of the winners,

the Kerala Health Minister, Mr A C

Shanmukhadas

recalled the

contribution of Mr JRD Tata to the

cause of population stabilisation and

said he had a great respect for social

equality and rights of women. He said

the award presented to Kerala had

actually placed higher responsibilities

on the State to work hardet to sustain

the achievements made so far. He said

the demographic transition in Kerala

was not an unmixed blessing as it

placed higher demand~ on the Stll-te's

resources to provide high cost health

2.2 Page 12

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Intensive Programme

with Industry

An intensive reproductive health

and family welfare programme

under the joint auspices of the PFI and

Tata Chemicals Society for Rural

Development has been launched in

Rajpura Block of Badaun district in

U.P with the major objective of

accelerating the pace of decline in

infant mortality, maternal mortality

and fertility levels.

The three-year project in which

TCSRD would bear two-third of the

estimated cost of Rs21.62Iakhs, would

-cover over one lakh population in

eighty villages. The _TCSRD is