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Focus 1990 October - December |
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Family Planning Foundation Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary
Population a Formidable Problem,
Yet India Can Overcome It : J.R.D. Tata
''There is no time left for the nation to get out of the
predicament of perpetual ignorance, poverty, illiteracy and
attendant ills, unless we find better ways to convince people to
adopt family planning," warned Mr. J.R.D. Tata, the doyen of
Indian Industry and Chairman of the Family Planning
Foundation.
Mr. Tata was speaking at a simple but solemn ceremony
held in New Delhi on December 27, 1990 for dedicating the new
building of the Foundation to the cause of Human Welfare
through Family Planning.
The occasion which also marked the 20th Anniversary of
the Family Planning Foundation, was well attended by well-
known social scientists, demographers, academicians and
representatives of international organisations like UNFPA,
UNICEF, IDRC and experts from JNU, Delhi University and
other academic institutions.
Failure to Convince People
Continuing his plain speak-
ing, Mr. Tata observed that so
far they had failed even in
the elementry taosk of convinc-
ing the people that it was in
their own interest to have
small families, and to demand
family planning servioces. It
was a matter of deep concern
that with a vast infrastructure
for health and family planning
built ,all over India and with
suoh powerful tools like T.V.
at their disposal, they have not
been able to limit the bur-
geoning population. He felt
that if thi,s large force had to
succeed, it must be fully
aware of its l'ole and it needed
to be highly motivated, train-
ed, well-managed and capable
of showing results.
Need for Political Will
Mr. Tata was pained to note
tha t instead of addressing
themselves ,to the all-important
tasks of removing illiteracy,
controlling population and
banishing poverty, our poHti-
cians were frittering away
their energies by allowing
themselves to be embroiled in
religious disputes and giving
priority to issues such as build-
ing or removing pl~ces of
worship. In such a situation,
"should we be surprised at
their lack of interest, and will
to dea1 with issues like lite-
ra·cy, road building or provi-
sion of drinking water?",
Mr. Tata posed the question
and ,then proceeded to answer
it: "we and every State Gov-
ernment should know by now
that education, even pre-edu-
cation in the i,o'nn of mere
literacy, is the most potent
element influencing the birth
r~te. Kerala at one end and
our dominant Northern States
of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, at
the other, provide incontro-
vertible proof of ,the fact. After
all, the acquisition of literacy
requi'I'es only two 'I'elatively
easy and inexpensive elements
-political and administrative
will, ,and the crea tion of
enough primary schools which
,are not impossible to put
together".
Pioneering Role of the
Foundation
Tracing ;the histlO'ry of the
Family Planning Foundation,
Mr. Tata said that they were
convinced from the very start
of the need of family planning
becOmilllga people's movement,
,requiring the dedi,cated parti-
cip~tion of many voluntary
organisations to assume a ma-
jor share of the responsibility
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Mr. J.R.D. Tata addressed a distinguished gathering on the occdSionof 20th anniversary of the Family Planning
Foundation. On the dais (from left to right) are seen Dr. Dipak Bhatia, Dr. Bharat Ram,
Mr. Harish Khanna and Dr. C. Chandraseka'foan.
in taking the message of plan-
ned parenthood :tothe people.
For, they realised that for
sUich a task involving
changes in entrenched sodal
beliefs and. Ihab~ts of mil-
lions of people, the govern-
ment ma<:hinery in a demo-
cracycould not be the most
effective agency. With this
well-defined role, the Founda-
tion set out on its mission of
guiding and providing finan-
cial suppo,rt :to motivate non-
governmental agencies, instil"
tutions and individuals to
undertake research in various
aspects of the population prob-
lem. Possessing the advantage
of flexibility, the Foundation
was able to help in the launch-
ing of many promising investi-
gations and experimental pro-
jects which could be replicated
elsewhere. These included
Bio-medical research and popu-
lation policy. He was con-
scious of the f.act that run-
away population was still a
cause for disappointment and
frustration.
Ray of Hope
Striking a note of optimism,
Mr. Tata said that in this dis-
mal situation ,there wa,s a ray
of hope, as evidenced by the
fact that our birth rate had
come down from 40 per thou-
sand in the 1940s to 32 per
thousand today, and that the
national income in constant
terms per capita had in the
past fifty y,eaI» or so had im-
proved from Rs. 1,127 to
Rs. 2,155.
Reminding the audience that
virtually all ,countries of the
world, including the most pros-
perous ones, had at one time
or another suffered from simi-
lar deprivations and I'ecovered
from them, Mr. Tata expressed
the hope that in view of our
built-in intellectual qualities
and physical a'ssets, which
were comparable to any in the
world, India can and will over-
come the daunting problem of
unregulated population.
Dr. Bharat Ram Visualises
Bigger Role in the Ninetees
Addressing the gathering,
Dr. Bharat Ram, Vice-Chair-
man of the Foundation and
Chairman of :the Buiding Com-
mittee 'recalled the month of
October 1970when "we strong-
ly felt that if the cause of
population stabilisation had to
be espoused with a sense of
determination and consistency,
we needed an in&titution,
which could bring together
supporters of the cause as
well as professional experts in
related disciplines for provid-
ing valuable inputs into the
thinking Pl'Ocess. We set up a
society and, in due course,
established the Family Plan-
ning Founda,tion".
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Elaborating the role of the
Foundation, Dr. Bharat Ram
said that their main contribu-
tion had been to keep the
attention of the nation f.ocussed
on the vast socio-economic
implications of uncontrolled
popula tion.. Although their
views receiv,ed good attention
yet the kind of tempo they had
visualised to deal with the
menace of excessive popu~
lation, could not be created.
However, he felt that since
the problem had become more
a,cute and the tone of debate
was mOl'e strident, the pl'esent
decade would prove more
eventful and as such the
Foundation "should be ready
and willing to hasten the hope with Mr. J. R. D. Tata
process".
and Dr. Bha~at Ram that the
In this context Dr. Bharat
Ram hoped that the permanent
home of the Family Planning
Foundation had cl'eaied the
right environment for expan-
sion of activities, more effec-
tive I'esource utilisation and
building up of professional
and institutional linkages with
like-minded organisations.
garlier, in his speech of
weloome, Mr. Harish Khanna,
Executive Director of the
Foundation, :touching upon its
90's will see a lot of deter-
mined action by the Govern-
ment as well as the voluntary
organisations and that the
Foundation will be in the fore-
front of this importani
a~etivity.
Mr. Tata wound up the 20th
anniversary celebrations by
unveiling a plaque comme-
morating the dedication of the
new building to the cause of
human welfare through family
planning.
multi..:pronged activities des-
cribed how ,the Founda;tion had New Home of Family
emerged as an exclusive lobby, Planning Foundation
making a significant contri-
bution to policy-making pro- Built on a .75 acre plot in
cesses at all levels to serve the Qutab Institutional Area
the cause of population near the J.N.U. complex, the
stabilization.
permanent home of the' Family
Dr. Dipak Bhatia, a founder Planning Foundation has
member of the Governing taken almost four y,ears to
Board of ;the Foundation, pro- come up-Mr. J. R. D. Tarta
posed Ithe vote of thanks. He laid the foundation stone on
felt that the main reason for December 17, 1986and perform-
the lack of success in facing ed the dedication ceremony
the population challenge was on December 27, 1990.
the disproportionate attention
A building committee headed
being devoted tJo contraception by Dr. Bha·r:a,t Ram, Vice-
as against study of population- Chairman of the Foundation
a more comprehensive concept, looked after :the project. Other
and, theI'efore, calling for a members of the committee in-
more varied and comprehen- cluded Dr. Dipak Bhatia,
siveapproach. He shared the Mr. Justice G. D. Khosla, late
Dr. K. L. Wig, Dr. B. K. Anand,
Executive Director, Secretary-
cum-TreasuI'er and the Project
Manager (Building).
Costing nearly Rs. 2 crores
and having a covered area of
about 49000 sq. ft., the building
has many pleasing architec-
tural featul'es.
'"Population Research
Abstract" Fulfils a
Long-felt Need
As a part Of the dedication
ceremony, Mr. Tata released
two publications-one entitled
"Two Decades of Dedication"
marking the 20th anniver-
sary of the Family Planning
Foundation, and ,the other the
first issue of the "Population
Researcl1 Abstract" of the
Applied Population Rese'arch
Trust, Bang.alor,e headed by
Dr. C. Chandrasekaran, a
world-renowned demographer.
WeLcoming ihe initiative
taken by Dr. Chandrasekaran
in bringing out the "Population
Research Abstract", Mr. Tata
hoped that the publication will
not only fulfil a long-felt need
for a systemati<: compilation
and dissemination of the
results of various scientific
and academic studies in popu-
lation-Telated areas being car·
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tied out all the time at V;(UiOLlS A Springboard for Action
Fraternal Greetings
popula hon research centres
In a letter to Mr. J. R. D. Weare proud of our asso-
and institutions, but also pro-
vide valuable leads for fresh
research and re-appraisal of
policies and programmes.
In his exposition outlining
the major objectives of the
Applied Population Research
Trust, Dr. Chandrasekaran said
that the Trust had under,taken
a special ,task to assist Indian
research workers to keep ab-
reast of population research
that was being carried out in
foreign countries as well as in
India. While their "Popu-
lation Despatches" were meant
to meet the former need, the
"Population Research Abstract"
to be published twice a year,
was designed to fulfil the
seoond need.
The first issue of the
Abstract l'eleased by Mr. Tarta,
contains 429 abstrads which
have been categorised under
14 main and 44 sub-headings,
making it easy for research
workers and poli'cy makers to
locate the information of spe-
cial interest to them. In addi-
tion, the publication has a
paper by Shri A. P. Nanda,
Registra<r Gene·ral and Census
Ta,ta, Dr. D. Banerji of J.N.V.
writes: "I feel proud of the
initiative taken by you in
getting together 84 eminent
persons to make a joint state-
ment on pupulation and deve-
lopment. I was excited at your
presentatiOn in the Conference
(National Seminar on Infant
Mortality in relation to Ferti-
lity) where you underlined
the plight of mothers and
children. Even yesterday (26th
anniversary celebrations on
December 27, 1990) you put
your finger squarely on the
question of. education of
women when looking on the
problems of population growth
in the Hindi belt.-Such ideas
provide a spring-board for
workers like us :00 go forward
and conduct operational re-
search studies to find optimal
solutions to the problem of
population growth in the Hindi
belt. Let me aSSUI'eyou that
I wiN work hard to build up
such alternative family plan~
ning programmes in association
with like-minded workers.
Dr. D. Banerji, Professor, J.N.V.,
School of Social Sciences.
ciation with your institution.
It is especially auspicious that
Ml'. J. R. D. Tata will be dedi-
cating the new building of the
Foundation ,to the cause of
Human Welfare Ithrough Fa-
mily Planning. I take this
opportunity to give you our
fraternal greetings, and wish
the o,ccasi,onevery success.
Mr. R. Sudarshan, Acting Re-
presentative, The Ford Foundation,
New Delhi.
ANew Chapter
The dedication of the new
building will undoubtedly open
a new chapter in F.P.F.'s his-
tory and I ,am SUI'e the orga-
nisation will grow from
strength to strength.
Dr. Meera Chatterji, Health and
Nutrition Scientist, New Delhi.
A Shared Dream
Participating in the cele-
bra:tions was a matter of great
joy to me. More particula·rly,
it was a fulfilment of a shared
dream under the leadership of
an incompa~able man like
Mr. J. R. D.Tata.
Prof. J. C. Kavoori, first Exe-
cutive Director of the F.P.F.
Commissioner, India on the
1991 census. The resea'r·ches
Leadership and Thrust
Key to Small Family
abstracted relate to investi-
gations such as the cost ana-
lysis of the immunization pro-
gramme, a prospective study
of acceptors of laparoscopy in
a rural area, evaluation of
family planning and MCH pro-
gramme in selected primary
health cen!tresand several
other studies iI1elevant to
policy-making.
Greetings and Good
Wishes
In connection with the 20th
anniversary celebrations of the
Family Planning Foundation,
we have received a number of
messages/responses from kind-
red souls. Here are excerpts
Your Founda hon has cer-
tainly provided leadership and
thrust in many areas related
to F,amily Planning. We have
all appreciated this. We still
look to ~t £01' guidance and
dil'ection in the whole field of
Population stabilisation and
human welfare. Today, un-
fortunately, Family Planning
is not getting the importance
and follow-up required. I
believe the 1991 census will
confirm some of our grea,test
fears about population and the
seriousness of the problem.
Your F,oundation can help our
country to see what still can
and should be done.
.
Dr. Daleep S. Mukarji, GeneraL
Secretary, Christian Medical Asso-
Even when he was a'Ctively
heading the house of Tatas,
JRD Tata found time to cham-
pion the cause of population
conkol for which he set up the
F,amily Planning Foundalt1on
in 1970. Now shedding much
of the load of running the vast
industri.al •empire, the octo-
genarian J.RD is devoting his
energies on educating the pub-
lic and goading government
and voluntary agencies to
initiate urgent steps to arrest
runaway population. This, he
says, is the main caUJSe of
India's unrelenting poverty.
Looking back on the two de-
cades of 'the Foundation's acti-
vities involving neatly 250 pro-
from a few of these-
ciation of India, New Delhi.
(Continued on page 6)
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Operation 1991 Census
About 16 lakh enumerators
drawn from primary school
teachers, government officials
and the like will be going door
to door to ,collect information
for the gigantic 1991 census
operation-India's 13th decen-
nialcensus. This will be the
second largest head-count in
the world, next only to the
1990census of China. But even
China does not have a record
of an unb:mken series of decen-
nial censuses dating ba,ck to
1881 when the first census of
India was undertaken.
One of ,the largest adminis-
tra,tive exercises in the world,
Indi.an census has acquired
international recognition for
reliability and coverage.
The prepaI"atory work for
the 1991 census started in 1987
when the census directors
st'arted moni,toring the changes
in the administrative jurisdic-
tions which have taken place
after the 1981 census.
The ,census are conducted in
two phases. ,In the first phase,
the houses are numbered and
listed and in the second phase,
the actual census enumera,tion
or head-count is undertaken.
The house-listing operatiolIl
starting in April 1990was com-
pleted in Sept,ember 1990.
The second and mos-t im-
portant phase of the census is
u•.; enumeration of the popu-
lation; The a<etualenumeration
will be done from 9th to 28th.
February, 1991. During this
period the enumerators will
visit each household, while the
houseless will be counted in
the night of 28th F,ebrua,TY,
1991. Then ther:e will be a
quick revisional :roum! between
1st and 5th March, 1991 to up-
date' "the popula,tion' as on
MaJ:1ch 1, 1991.
NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS
..../ TO BE CENSUSED IN 1991
,,,' ",
I60J
::i
13J
..•. Based on
Projected Population
a £~c/uding Assam
120
110
100
z
:0; 90
...J
~
=:
80
70
60
50
40
:30
20
!O
1L::.·J1
0
1981
1971
1961
1951
CENSUS YEARS
A M ulti-M illion
Rupee Question
What will be the total
population of India in
1991? The Planning Com-
mission had estimated a
figure of 837 million for
1991 (in the 7th Five Year
Plan). It raised the figure
to 844 million while pre-
paring the 8th Plan. Ac-
cording to the United Na-
tions Population Division,
tbe figure is around 866
million and according to
the World Bank it is 854
million.
While the Census Com-
missioner
"intuitively"
1eeIs that India's popu-
lation will be between 850
and 855 million, Prof.
Ashish Bose, a world-
reDDwnedpopulation ex-
pert, has made an estimate
of 862 million.
Taking cognizance of rthe'
general 'criticism that women's
work is ~umerat,ed
in
the census, the census orga-
nisation has now carefully
worded the ,census schedule so
as to net completely unpaid
workers on farm or in family
enterprise. 'The instructions
manual, brought out by the
RGI for census enumerators
and supervisors, has an addi-
tional set of questions to elicit
in10rmationabou: the kind of
work done by the women in
the household thus attempting
to portray a genuine picture of
women's economic a,ctivity hit-
herto lIlot preperly a,coounted
for.
The decennial census is the
main s-ourrceof information on
the d.-e1ll'ogr.aphk, economic,
social and .cultural aspects of
our p~ple.Some of the basic
data ,collected. like population,
(Continued 011 page 7)
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sions culminating in the final
session for deve}oping an
action plan.
Key to Small Family
(Continued from page 4)
(From left to right) Dr. P: H. Reddy, Director Population Centre,
Bangalore, Mr. O. P. Bhasm, Programme Officer, Family Planning
Foundation, Dr. C. Chandrasekaran, President, Applied Population
Research Trust, Bangalore and Mr. N. Venkateshiah President
Federation of Karnataka Cha'?7berof Commerce and Industry.
National Training Workshop on Family Planning
A three-day National Work-
shop on ffiamily Planning for
Managers in the Organised
Sector was held 'at Bangalore
from 1st to 3rd November,
1990. The Workshop sponsored
by the Family Planning Foun-
dation (FPF), New Delhi was
coordinated by Dr. P. H. Reddy,
Director, Population Centre,
Bangalore in dose coUabora-
tion with the Indi'an Institute
of Management, Bangalore.
Besides 19 participants spon-
sored by various industrial
units, repI1ese.rrtatiV'esof FPF,
Na'tional Institute of Health
and Family Welfare (NIHFW),
New Dellhi and Population
Centre, Bangalore attended
the workshop.
In his inaugural address
Dr. C. Chandrasekaran, Presi-
dent, Applied Population Re-
seal'ch Trust, Bangalore, laid
great ,emphasis on the role the
industrialists and the trade
unions could play in populaI"-
ising the concept of family
planning in the organised sec-
tor whkh was ideally sui,ted
for this purpose due to easy
approachability of the workers
and their families. He sug-
gested thaJt ~amily planning
should be integrated with other
heaHh services and the bene-
fits of these services should be
made available not only to the
workers but ,to the entire
population living in a parti-
cular area oov,ered by the
industrial uni,t.
Mr. N. Venkateshiah, Presi-
dent ~ederation of Karnataka
Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (FKCCI) in his presi-
dential address mentioned
the organisation of family
planning programmes in indus-
try. He said1:lhat encouraged
by ,the success of the work-
shop organised by these orga-
niS'ations a1t Bangalore in
January 1990, FKCCI had
thought of a plan to develop a
suitable family welfare project
in collaboration with the FPF
for the benefit of the organised
sector.
Welooming the participants
and Ithe guests, Mr. O.P. Bhasin,
Programme Officer of the FPF
dwelt at length on ihow the
FPF had, during the last 18
months, organised at selected
places regional workshops
aimed at s,ens:iltisingand involv-
ing ,the organised g;e,ctor for
establishing family pl,arming
services for the employees in
oollaboration with the' respec-
tive Chambers of Commerce
and Industry.
The inaugural function was
followed by 10 scientific ses-
jects relating to family plan-
ning pl'ogrammes all over the
country, Mr. Tata lamented
that the effort, though worth-
while, had been dismal. Des-
pite Herculean eff.orts of the
authorities to din into tihe
rural populace the virtues of
a small family, the programme
has not succeeded because of
the failure on the literacy
front. The key tto the pmb-
lem, as Mr. Tata has been em-
phasising time and again, is
education. This may not be a
new discovery. Population ex-
perts the world over have
pointed out that there is a
close link between educa,tion
'and population
control.
Mr. Tata gave the example of
I\\erala. which has set an ex-
emplary record both in terms
of Hteracy and population
control.
Female literacy provides the
most potent element in check-
ing birth rate. Here again,
Kerala leads the way. At the
other end of the scale are the
backward States in the north-
Uttar Pradesh. Bihar, Rajas-
than and M.P.-representing
half of Ind'ia's 853 million peo-
ple. Out of every 100 girls
born in the northern Stattes,
90 never learn to read or write.
The prima,cy of education in
combating population boom
that Mr. Tata has been stres-
sing all these years has yet to
be grasped at the political
level. The Human Resources
Ministry must undertake mass
literacy drives in the problem
States like UP and BihaT to
inculcate the virtues of a small
family.
-Editorial; Hindustan Times,
December 31, 1990
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VVhere Women are
Worshipped
"Where women are worship-
ped, there reside the gods", is
a gem of ancient Indian wis-
dom underlining the high
status women should be accord-
ed in society. But how we are
f~outing this ideal was high-
lIghted by Dr. Karl'-Eric
Knutsg·on, the regional Direc-
tor of the UNICEF for South
Centra.l Asia while deliv.ering
the fIrst annual lecture in
child developm€mt at Lady
Irwin College, New Delhi.
In a moving depiction of the
tragedy of being a girl child
in India, he said not many
pa·rents want her and resort to
a~r,tions. After birth, a girl
'ChIld gets less time at breasts
and less nutritional supple-
ments as she grows up.
Two~thirds of girls born :in
India 'remain illitera te and
half of them get married even
before they reach 18. They are
sexually abused, forced to work
in .inhuman conditions, kept
behind doors, cruelly ignored
and 'remain an unwanted sec-
tion of the society throughout
their lives.
Dr. Knuttson called for a
people's fron:tline movement to
talk about ,the girl child, to
tell polirti-cians about the im-
portance of children in future
development plans. He said:
"We must look attJhe girl child
asa person. If we neglect her,
the development of India as a
whole will suff.er."
Where India and
Pakistan Agree
Pakistan like India faces the
.ala;rming Pl'ospect of a popu-
lation explosion. :Ltspopulation
has tripled from 33 million in
1951 to 120 million.
The birth rate in Pakistan
is 'estimated at 43 per thou-
sand as against the death raite
of 11 ,per thousand. Tihe
·average size ofa household in
Pakistan is 6.7 persons.
A dismal failure of its fami-
ly planning programme has
resulted in the present annual
growth rate of over 3,2 per
cent, one of the highest in the
world.
Demographic analysts have
sounded warning notes, saying
tha t unless drastic steps were
taken to stem - the ballooning
population growth, Pakistan
would find itself pushed into
the abysmal depths of poverty
and unemployment.
Pakistan, the tenth most
populous ,country in the world,
has a civilian labour force of
31.82 million. But nearly 13.15
percent of them are eiJther un-
employed or under-employed.
Experts say the country's
labour force would increase to
43.2 million by the turn of the
century. This would require
creation of 1.14 million new
jobs each year in <the presenlt
decade.
Thousands of toddlers perish
'from malnutrition before
l'eaching ,the age of five. Still
bil'ths are common and at least
124 of every 1,000 babies die
almost immmedia,tely after
birth.
-Indian Express, Nov. 26, 1990
Operation 1991 Census
(Continuedfrom Page 5)
Scheduled Castes and Sche-
duled Tribes, literaJtes, workers
and non-workers, are made
available only by the Census
doWiIl,to the village and ward
levels. Data on mother-tongue
and .religionand other cross
classifioationsare provided up
to tehsil, town, district or State
levels according to a tabula-
tion plam..
The Family Planning Founda-
tion is planning to organise a
one day symposium to take note
of the first results of the Census
1991 which are expected to be
released in the first week of April
1991. The purpose is to focus on
main trends in different States and
to seek appropriate policy
responses.
Mr. Mohan Dharia and
Family Planning
M!·. Mohan Dharia, Deputy
ChaIrman of the Planni,ng
Commission, has been an ardent
believer and advocate of fami-
I?, planning. In an article pub-
lIshed in the Times of India
(JU!ly 11, 1990), he wrote:
"Lack of .politi'cal will, vision
§ffid people's involvement are
the basic reasons for the failure
of the (f.amily planning) pro-
gramme. Alongwith this ig-
n?rance, poV'erty, poor health,
hIgh mortality rate, and reli-
gious customs have made
ma1tters worse.
,"The, success of f.amily plan-
nmg IS closely linked with
social and economic condi-
tions. Therefore, a successful
family pl'anning scheme has
to be implemented on several
fronts. Naturally, it calls for
integrated efforts and approach
by" all -the political parties
social workers and voluntar;
organisations concerned.
"It is now clear that the
family planning programme
will never be able ·to reach the
targets through voluntary
methods. Under the cil'cums-
tances, ,the only course left is
to introduce such economic
sanctions and incentiV'es which
will deter peopl-e :mom having
more than ,two children."
We, 'at ,the F,amily Planning
Foundation, oould'nt agree
more. Now whEm he is in a
key position to i.n:ffi.uencethe
course of things, we expect
Mr. Mohan Dharia ,to infuse a
new life into the family
pl'anning programme by a
well-coordina·ted follow-up ac-
tion on his oft-publicised ideas
and suggestions to limit India's
population growth. All right
thinking people will suppo:rt
him in this top-priority task on
the national :agenda.
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Population Committee Mooted
The formation of a high-
powered committee headed bv
the Prime Minister to monito~'
the population problem has
been suggested by the Minis-
ter of Health and Family Wel-
fare, Mr. Shakeel-ur-Rehman.
"The success of our deve-
lopment programmes depends
on how far we manage to check
our popula1tion gvowth and as
such the family planning pro-
gramme should be given the
highest priority, " Mr. Rehman
said.
Mr. Rehman said he was
writing Ito Mr. Chandra She-
kharabout his suggestion for
the committee whi,ch should
consist of the Health Minister,
State Ministers of Health, edu-
cationists, social scientists and
demographists besides the
Prime Minister.
"Weare adding 17 million
every year to our population.
The scenario is quite alarming
and brooks no delay in finding
a solution,"Mr. Rehman said.
According to Mr. Rehman
the message of f,amily planning
had reached 60% of the popu-
lationand ,the remaining 40%
Mr. Shakeel-ur-Rehman, Minister
for Health & Family Welfare
The <:hallenge now was to get
the message across to that sec-
tion, he said and suggested that
the mass media ,could play a
great role in this regard.
. Poverty, illiteracy, supersti-
tlOnand a few other socio-
economic factors were proving
the stumbling blocks, he said
and ,emphasized that Teligious
leaders should contribute ir?
such ·a way as to Temove doubts
from the masses about the im-
peratives of the population
check.
had so far proved impregnable.
Decline in Birth Rate
The birth rate at all India pIe registration system of the
level has gone down from 31.5 Regis,trar General of India.
in 1988 to 30.5 in 1989 while
the death rate declined from
11.0 ,to 10.2, and the infant
mortaHty rate (IMR) from 94
to 91 in the same period. Ac-
cordingly, the natural growth
rate (NGR) obtained by sub-
tr,acting death rate from birth
rate has shown a slight decline
fl'om 2.05 in 1988 ,to 2.03 in
1989.
These findings have been
brought out by a review con-
ducted by. the Ministry of
The review also indicates a
continuing trend on the popu-
latioY' front: the more populous
states like Bihar, U.P. and
M.P., and some in the remote
North-East, oontribute to the
baby boom in a big way.
While 19 States and U.Ts.
have registered decline of
more than one point in birth
rate, five states and UTs have
register,ed increase in birth
ra'tes.
Health and F,amily W,elfare on Most states and UTs have
the basis of :the provisional recorded a fall in ·the death
figures furnished by the sarn- rate, the ex,ceptions being
Meghalaya. Orissa and V'iest
Bengal.
The decline in NGR was
recorded by 21 States and UTs
but eight States and UTs
recorded an increase. Two
States (Punjab and Kerala)
recorded no change.
In sofaras IMRs are con-
cerned, the red signal comes
from M.P., Orissa, U.P., Karna-
taka, Punjab and West Bengal
where they were much higher
than the national average.
The review points out tha.t
the long-term goal to reach the
net repl10ductive rate of one
by 2000 A.D., which is consis-
tent with a birth ra,te of 21 a1t
national level seems remote
going by the present trends:
It ·also stresses the need to
strengthen the family welfare
programme, especially by
making servke delivery system
more effective in rural areas .
Some Stunning Facts
In a recent Current Affairs
programme on Doordarshan
titled "Population-A Neglect-
ed Problem", some stunning
facts were highlighted during
the course of discussion by
experts:
" Out of 100 sterilisahons
carried out ,today, 40 to
45 are of those who
already have f.our or five
children implying tha1t
such performance may
contribute ,to target-
f~ch~e~er:~~te~;u~~rii~:i
'I
impa,ct on population
reduciion.
" Out of the total 540 odd
members of the Lok
Sabha, about 100 had
four or more childl'en and
another 21, eight or more.
,. For our yearly population
increase, . we require
1,70,000additional schools,
3,30,qOOadditional teach-
ers, 25 lakh new houses,
two ·crore metres of addi-
tional cloth and 40 lakh
more jobs.
Published by the Family Planning Foundation. B-28. Qutab Institutional Area, New Delhi·110016.
Tel. 668181 ; 6867080. 6867081
Printed at the Statesman Press. The Statesman Ltd .• Connaught Circus, New Delhi-110001.
Editorial Direction & Guidance: Harish Khanna
LEditorial Consultant: J. L. Saaz