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Focus 1999 January - March English |
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Focus
Volume XIII NO.1
January-March 1999
A BULLETIN
OF POPULATION
FOUNDATION
OF INDIA
Round Table Conference Recommends JRD Tala Memorial Oration
Population Policy for UP
Reducing Fertility in Northern
States will lead to Population
Stabilisation : Mr Gujral
A Wall Chart and District Profile of UP being released by the
Minister for Basic Education, Mr BaleshwarTyagi at Lucknow.
P FI organised a two-day Round Table Conference on
Population Stabilisation and Related Development
Issues in Uttar Pradesh at Lucknow on January 8 and
9, 1999. The Conference was an attempt to understand
the special problems of Uttar Pradesh so that an
appropriate plan of action can emerge out of the
deliberations.
The political leaders of the State, administrators, social
scientists, organisations engaged in developmental work
and others concerned with the issues were brought to one
platform for a free and frank debate so that a concerted
plan of action overriding present political, bureaucratic,
structural and socio-economic constraints can be
recommended.
At the conclusion of the Conference, a number of
recommendations were made which have been submitted
to the Government of Uttar Pradesh for consideration. The
following are the recommendations:
1. The inter-state differentials in population and
developmental measures are widening over the years and
it is markedly evident in Uttar Pradesh which is lagging
behind other States. There is need to evolve a population
policy specially for UP with clearly defined short and long-
D elivering th~ fourth JRD Tata !"1emo~ia.1Orati~n,
Mr I K Gup.·a!, the former Pnme MInIster saId,
"Controlling rapid growth of population of northern
states holds the key to solving India's population
problem in the coming years". The Oration was
organised by Population Foundation of India at
Taj Palace Inter-Continental
on January 15, 1999.
Mr Gujral spoke on 'Thrust areas for Population
Stabilisation'. Dr Bharat Ram, Chairman, PFI, presided.
Mr Gujral said the southern states have managed their
population growth remarkably, while most of the states in
the northern part of the country, particularly the Hindi belt,
have very high rate of growth
of popula tion. Taking
popula tion growth ra te as an
index of socio-economic
development, it was found
that the State of UP is lagging
behind Goa and Kerala by
about 100 years in its level of
development.
Mr I K Gujral delivering
JRDTata Memorial Oration.
Addressing a cross section
On Other Pages
• Voluntary Sector in Madhya
Pradesh Analysed
2
• Reproductive and Child Health
Training Completed for Four Groups
3
• IASP Conference Discusses
Population Issues
8
• Highlights of ICPD+5
11
• Mr Natarajan Given Farewell
12
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Society and Reproductive Rights
Developmental concerns cannot be de-linked
from population issues. In the ninth-five year plan,
India has planned for a 6.5% growth in its GDP. Implicit
in this are assumptions on the growth rates of its labor
force, pattern of employment in different sectors,
investments and productivity which are all affected
by population growth. To say, that we will have macro
economic planning without population planning, is
an ostrich type attitude. Economic growth depends
largely on savings, investments and productions and
these are dependant or influenced by the family size
at the micro-level and population growth rates,
numbers and their skills, at the macro-level. Thus
macro-economic planning and population planning
are inter linked with each other.
Similarly in the social sector, the government
has promised free education for all boys and girls at
the primary level. The investments needed to achieve
these goals will depend on the number of boys and
girls in the school going age, the number who will be
entering these ages in the coming years and the
resources required for educating them. The demand
for primary education is largely driven by the fertility
levels of the population particularly when the desire
for educating the sons and daughters are strongly
impressed on the minds of all parents by special
motivational campaigns as is being done now.
Planning for schooling over the next fifteen years
requires a careful analysis at supply and demand and
the demand will largely depend on the fertility levels.
The costs of these services are also going up and
when improvements in their quality are also called
for, the costs of such free education are bound to
escalate sharply in the coming years. Most, if not all
of these costs of free education and similar health
and welfare services such as primary health care,
reproductive health, various poverty alleviation
programmes, promised by the government are borne
by the tax payers, who rarely avail of such services.
If the tax payers have to bear the burden more
and more on such health, welfare and poverty
alleviation, programmes that partly arise as a
consequence of the exercise of the reproductive rights
of those who do not share the cost burden, there is
bound to be growing unrest in the society. Why should
A pay for the fall-outs of the exercise of the
reproductive choices of B? Exercise of every rights
should entail a cost and this is true of reproductive
rights. The society, as a whole, which provides the
resources to the government has got every right to
influence the reproductive rights of those individuals
whose exercise of such right may make others pay
for them. The rights of the society as a whole should
also be taken into consideration along with individual
rights. Further, the rights of an individual on matters
of reproductive and in non-reproductive areas may
not always complement each other and in many areas
they may even conflict with each other, such as in the
area of son preference, entrenched in the social value
system. It has to be realized that population concerns
go beyond reproductive health and reproductive
rights of individuals.
fJJ~_-
Voluntary Sector in
Madhya Pradesh Analysed
R avi Gulhati, Kaval Gulhati, been given along with comparative
Srikrishna Ayyangar and Vinita statistics, views and attitudes of
Nagar undertook a study of the officials
towards
voluntary
voluntary sector in Madhya Pradesh. organisations. Recommendations have
Their findings have been published been made to strengthen voluntary
in the form of a book : Anatomy of organisations and to involve the sector
Voluntarism : The Case of Madhya more effectively in promoting the
Pradesh under the auspices of Centre process of socio-economic change.
for Policy Research with financial
support from PFI and United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA)
Voluntary organisations can playa
pivotal role in dealing with complex
issues like fertility reduction. However,
Two of the writers : Ms Kaval the organisations require capacity
Gulhati and Ms Vinita Nagar made a building to carry forward a campaign
presentation about their study at PH on of enhanced mandates which are multi-
January 27, 1999 which was attended sectoral. The book suggests
by the Executive Director, Secretary & strengthening the capability of the
Treasurer, Joint Directors and voluntary sector through a network of
Programme Officers.
village based resource cum training
The genesis of the study is found centres managed and run by
in an earlier work in voluntary sector intermediary or more established
by the same writers:
voluntary organisa-
Strengthening Volun-
The focus is on
tions with capacity to
tary Action in India, organisations working
also funded by PH.
train
grassroots
groups.
The backward state of
in the fields of
Some of the
Madhya Pradesh was education, women's
findings of the book:
chosen because the
development,
The study con-
pac~ of socio-
economic change,
including
the
health and family
planning.
firms the fact that MP
does not have a
strong voluntary
demographic transi-
sector in terms of
tion has been very slow here. The either quantity or quality. The potential
government and private donors look to of existing
volags
remains
voluntary organisations (volags) for undeveloped.
developmental work. The book maps
the voluntary sector across the State. It
There are names and addresses of
analyses the work of volags in four as many as 2217 volags in the book.
distriCts of Bhopal, Indore, Raipur and Information is available regarding age
Rajgarh. The focus is on organisations (1281), sectoral orientation (1282),
working in the fields of education, geographical scope of operations
women's development, health and (1078), donors (1323).
family planning.
There are 43,684 people per volag
The book will be useful not only to
the government but to voluntary
organisations and funding agencies,
both foreign and domestic. The book
on average, on the basis of available
data. The median density is 69,443
people per volag. Volags are very
unevenly distributed.
gives information about the age, size,
The large number of very young
geogra phic coverage and sectoral and very small volags is one prominent
orientation of the voluntary sector. The aspect of the character of voluntary
district profile of the four districts has
Continued on Page 10
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Reproductive and Child Health Training
Completed for Four Gro~ps
The first training programme on
"Reproductive and Child Health
Care" for NGOs working in Delhi
slums was inaugurated by the
Secretary, Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare, Mr Y N Chaturvedi
at a brief function held at Population
Foundation of India (PFI) office on
January 18, 1999.
part of a PFI project to set up a
Training and Resource Development
Centre (TRDC) for training of
voluntary organisations involved in
Reproductive and Child Health in
medical background. However, most
of them have background in social
sciences and social work.
The method of training is
participatory in nature. The teaching
~peaking on the occasion, Mr
Chaturvedi said with the shift of focus
from Family Welfare programme to
Reproductive and Child Health (RCH)
programme, there was a need for
change in management and attitude.
The RCH programme had a holistic
approach and linked up the three
important issues of maternal, child
health care and contraceptives.
Involvement of NGOs would help the
programme achieve its purpose, he
said.
i
"' , . ',' • rJj.;;;;
d.r.iJ ~''.k;::''
~ ;? /'9
Participants who attended the second training programme on Reproductive
and Child Health Care seen with PFI staff.
Mr Cha turvedi said in a
democratic system which prevailed in
our country, it was important that the
citizens were fully informed about the
choices available to them in the field
of family planning. For this, they
needed to be counselled. This role, Mr
Chaturvedi said, could best be done
by the NGOs.
Earlier,welcoming Mr Chaturvedi
and the participants, the PFI Executive
Director, Dr K Srinivasan said studies
carried out by PFI had revealed that
short term training was needed in
RCH for NGOs who wanted to work
in RCH for the first time. The present
training for which the Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare had
provided financial support, would
equip the participants with the basics
of RCH. The ultimate aim of the
training, said Dr Srinivasan, was to set
up a Training and Resource
Development Centre (TRDC)for each
district.
slums of Delhi. The project is being
supported by the Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare, Government of
India.
Another three groups of training
have been conducted till March 1999.
A total of 55 middle level managers
and field level personnel from 37 local
NGOs have participated in the
training programmes.
Each training programme begins
with registration followed by filling up
of pre-evaluation questionnaire by
each participant.
The same
questionnaire is used after the training
as post-evaluation questionnaire. The
pre and post evaluation forms have
25 questions. An analysis of the post
evaluation reveals that participants'
knowledge regarding the topics
covered in the training has improved
as a result of the five-day training.
The background of participants
varies. While some have experience
in heal th reI a ted and social
development fields, others have
faculty consists of PH staff and outside
experts. The teachers make liberal use
of audio-visual aids, overhead
projector and models. For the IEC
session, the method of 'role play' is
used in the class room to demonstrate
the skills required for communication
and counselling.
On the fourth day of training, the
trainees are taken for a field visit to a
slum area for practical training. A
'work book' has been prepared by the
PFI faculty for use during the field
visit. The participants are divided into
groups with three or four members in
each group. Each trainee is asked to
fill up two household schedules.
While doing the household survey,
each candidate is required to identify
issues pertaining to reproductive and
child health for which he or she has to
do individual counselling in the same
household. A PFI faculty member
accompanies the group to observe.
On return to the class room,
presentation of each group is made by
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the leader of the group. Members of
other groups give their observations
and seek clarifications. The first two
groups were taken to Tughlakabad
slum area while the last two groups
visited JJ clusters in Gautam Nagar
behind AIIMS.
The trainees find practical training
useful because they say they could get
the guidance of faculty on technical
issues and learn about counselling and
group discussion. The comments and
suggestions made by the trainees at
the end of each training programme
show their general satisfaction.
A trainee speaking to adolescents
during a field visit.
Each participant is given a
certificate at the end of the five-day
training.
The preparatory work for the
training had begun with the
constitution of a Task Force by the
Executive Director, Dr K Srinivasan.
The Task Force consisted of Mr K S
Natarajan (Joint Director), Dr Amita
Bardhan (Course Co-ordinator), Dr
Arundhati Mishra , Dr Sanjay Kumar,
Mr Ajay Sunder (Programme Officers)
and Mr S Haokip (Course Associate).
The Task Force prepared the list
of NGOs involved in health related
activities and working in slums of
Delhi, and planned the details of the
training which included developing
the modules and identifying suitable
audio-visual aids as well as
identifying a good guest faculty. The
Task Force also identified suitable
slum areas for practical training. The
ten modules prepared were: (i)Profile
of Delhi Slums, (ii) Role of NGOs in
RCH Programme, (iii) Reproductive
System and Reproductive Health, (iv)
Reproductive and Child Health
Services, (v) Population and Planned
Parenthood, (vi) RCH Services and
Delivery of Quality of Services/Care,
(vii) Role of Information, Education
and Communication in RCH
Programme,
(viii) Project
Formulation,
(ix) Project
Management, and (x) Project
Implementation, Monitoring &
Programme Officer, Dr Arundhati Mishra,taking a session at. the Reproductive
and Child Health Care training.
The modules were then pre-tested.
The two-day pre-testing session was
organised at PFI with participants
from four local NGOs, a selected guest
faculty supported by internal PFI
faculty. Based upon the observations
and comments of the faculty, some
changes and addi tions were made in
the modules.
The representatives of the
following NGOs have attended the
first four training programmes:
MAMTA- Health Institute for Mother
and Child, Anand Community
Development
Society, New
Opportunities for Women (NOW),
PMR Research Centre, Foundation
for Research and Development of
Underprivileged Groups (FRDU),
Society for Promotion of Youth and
Masses (SPYM),Sarvodaya Vidyalaya
(BharatScouts and Guides),ANGAJA
Foundation, SARTHI, Action for
Women and Child Development
(AWCD), SAMBHAV, Emmanuel
Hospital Association (EHA), Navjyoti
Development Society, Karmath
Charitable Trust, Green Party of India,
Margshree Charitable Trust,
Deepalaya, IND-CARE Charitable
Trust, Nutrition Foundation of India,
Akhil Bhartiya Verg Vikas and
Sanskratik Samiti, Evangelical
Fellowship of India Commission on
Relief (EFICOR), NAV-ABHIYAN,
JAN-UTTHAAN, Action for Securing
Holistic Rehabilitation for All
(ASHRA), Jaiprakash Shodh
Sans than, Society for Applied
Research in Humanities, Kalakar
Trust, Guild of Service, Desh
Hrideyman Development, Tribal
Welfare Society, Ram Manohar
Educational and Samuday Bal Vikas
Society,Bhartiya Association for Rural
Development (BARD),Akhil Bhartiya
Mahila Udyog Kalyan and Shik.sha
Samiti, United Schools Organisations
of India, Department
of
Adult Continuing Education and
Extension.
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Round Table Conference Recommends Population Policy
term objectives and specific programmes of action to meet
those objectives.
2. The population problem in the State cannot be
sa tisfactorily handled through the efforts of the
Government alone. There is need to involve the local self-
Governments in working out the policies and specific plans
of action. The modalities of such involvement and the
linkages are to be worked out clearly.
3. Whereas population stabilisation programmes in
the State have so far met with limited success, there also
exists a high degree of unmet needs (about 30%). This
shows that there is a large proportion of couples willing to
accept family planning, but do not have the facilities or
information or both. A crash programme may be adopted
to serve this section of the population with good quality
service to achieve immediate results.
4. One of the measures to achieve this could be to
introduce a Couple Volunteer Scheme on the lines pursued
in Rajasthan, where selected couples practising family
planning are encouraged to take the message and the
services to couples willing to accept the small family norm.
5. It was recognised that the low percentage of
institutional deli-
veries in UP was
affecting infant
and ma ternal
mortality which
aCt
against
adoption of the
small
family
The Round Table Conference being
inaugurated by the Chairman of PFI,
Dr Bharat Ram at Hotel Clarks Avadh,
Lucknow. Also seen are Dr V K Dewan,
Principal Secretary, Medical, Health
and Family Welfare, Uttar Pradesh
norm. Concerted
efforts may be
made to improve
institutional
deliveries with
the help of NGOs.
and the Executive Director of PFI,
6. Impart-
Dr K Srinivasan.
ing education to
women
and
empowerment of women in decision making processes
being key factors in population stabilisation, special efforts
may be made to improve girl education with proper
facilities and incentives, so that in their married lives, they
become responsible mothers leading to reduction in
fertili ty.
7. Apart from Government, NGOs and dedicated
institutions, all progressive groups in the society are to be
involved in population stabilisation programmes. These
would include universities, Rotary and Lion Clubs, ex-
The Governor of UP, Mr Suraj Bhan seen with (from left) Mr
Hari Shankar Singhania, Vice Chairman of PFI;
Dr Bharat Ram, Chairman, PFI; Mr B G Verghese and
Dr V A Pai Panandiker, Members of the PFI Governing Board
at a reception at Lucknow.
Servicemen and others. The mechanism for their
involvement has to be worked out.
8. An extensive IEC campaign with multi-media
application should be launched all over the State to enable
people to take right decisions about their family sizes. As
a component of this campaign, sex education should be
introduced in appropriate manner in different stages of
formal and non-formal education.
9. It was recognised that more than the State
administration, the Panchayati Raj Institutions and other
forms of local self-government were better suited to
implement population stabilisation programmes. With this
in view, there should be effective decentralisation of
administration with devolution of adequate power and
finance to these institutions to carry out and supervise
development programmes including population
stabilisation programmes.
10. Elected members of Panchayats or local self-
governments may be closer to the grounds and more
perceptive to the needs of the people but they may not
have the necessary expertise to carry out development
programmes. A well-designed training programme must
be conducted to equip these local leaders to handle the
responsibilities assigned to them under the law. Initially,
they may supervise, monitor and identify the short-
comings in the development programmes before they are
in a stage to implement the development programmes
themselves.
11. Successes and achievements are to be properly
encouraged and recognised. A scheme of award may be
instituted for the best performing districts and villages and
the best workers be honoured.
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12. Rajasthan, which has adopted a population policy
for the State, has introduced several incentive schemes to
ensure wider acceptance of the small family norm. Uttar
Pradesh Government may also consider similar schemes
to strengthen its population stabilisation programmes.
13. The State may choose two model districts to try
out all the recommendations with a time-bound
programme to test the efficacy of the suggested measures.
14. There should be a minimum common agenda for
development of UP,acceptable to all political parties cutting
across party considerations.
15. It has been observed that frequent transfer of key
district officers and those incharge of development
programmes have caused disruption to implementation
of programmes. The State may ensure reasonable stay of
Avadh, Lucknow on January 8, 1999. In his welcome
address, the Vice Chairman of PFI, Mr Hari Shankar
Singhania gave an account of the various activities
conducted by PFI since its inception in 1970.
In his address, Dr Bharat Ram said UP had a high
density and very low level of immunisation with high
.degree of demographic differentials between the urban and
rural areas. Total political commitment, spread of
education and improvement in the status of women along
with general socio-economic.development can remedy the
situation in UP.
The State Minister for Basic Education, Mr Baleshwar
Tyagi, who attended the inaugural session, showed his
concern at the rate of growth of population and said the
situation called for radical and drastic measures. "If the
job was left the Government alone, it had little chance of
succeeding, as the issue must be tackled with people's
participation", Mr Tyagi said.
Dr Kesarinath Tripathy, Speaker of the UP Legislative
Assembly seen with Dr V A Pai Panandiker (left), Member of
PFI Governing Board, at one of the sesions of the Round
Table Conference.
such officers (say two to three years) at one place of posting
to have continuity of programme implementation.
A WallChart and District Profile Uttar Pradesh, specially
prepared by PFIfor the Conference, were formally released
by the Minister. The Wall Chart: Uttar Pradesh - Population
and Development 1998gives a number of socio-demographic
and infra-structural indicators by the State like population
of the State by region and from 1901to 1991and from 1998
to 2023 (Projected), literacy rate, life expectancy at birth,
sex ratio, birth rate and infant mortality rate etc. The District
Profile Uttar Pradesh gives the profile of 63 districts of the
State. There are 22 tables which give data for each of the
63 districts.
The first session, on 'Situational Analysis of Uttar
Pradesh on Population Stabilisation and related
Developmental Issues' was chaired by Dr V K Dewan,
Principal Secretary, Medical, Health and Family Welfare,
UP.
16. The State may also encourage specialisation in
The first presentation on the 'Population Scenario of
development management ensuring posting of officers Uttar Pradesh and Regional Variations' was jointly made
with special skills in their related fields to achieve optimum by Mr K S Natarajan, Joint Director, PFI and Dr Sanjay
utilisation of their expertise.
Kumar, Programme Officer, PFI. Mr
Earlier, a reception was held on Apart from Government,
January 7,1999 at Hotel Clarks Avadh,
Lucknow where the Governor of UP,
Mr Suraj Bhan was present. Apart from
NGOs and dedicated
institutions, all
lending his moral support, Mr Suraj progressive groups in
Bhan promised to encourage
population stabilisation programmes in
UP. He suggested that workers and
the society are to be
involved in population
agencies with outstanding performance stabilisation programmes.
in population stabilisation and
reproductive health programmes in the
State should be rewarded and their work acknowledged.
that of UP.
Natarajan outlined the grim realities
of the population scenario in the State
which has around one tenth of India's
land area but supports more than one
sixth of India's population. UP is the
biggest State in India in terms of
popula tion size wi th its current
population estimated at around 166
million. There are only three countries
in the world, China, Indonesia and
USA, whose population is higher than
UP's population is poised to increase by 104million in
The two-day Round TableConference was inaugurated the next 25 years. The addition is mind boggling. There
by the Chairman of PFI, Dr Bharat Ram at Hotel Clarks will be significant increase in child and adult population
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besides a rapid incr.ease in the population of females in
the reproductive age group of 15-44, according to Mr
Natarajan.
Dr Sanjay Kumar pointed out the regional variations
in socio-economic parameters, fertility and child mortality
parameters in different regions of the State.
Ms Aradhana Johri, Executive Director, State
Innovations in Family Planning Services Project Agency
(SIFPSA) in an elaborate presentation highlighted the
problems being faced by UP in implementing RCH
programme. Ms Johri drew attention to the extent of unmet
needs prevalent in UP and suggested efforts to increase
micro intervention if appropriate methodologies combined
with family planning were used.
Prof A K Sengupta, Director, Population Research
Centre, who has also been associated with development
and planning process in the State in his presentation said
that UP was running headlong towards disaster under the
twin pressures of slow economic growth and a rapidly
rising population.
In his address, Mr Kesarinath Tripathy said a
retrograde mind -set stood in the way of UP's develop men t.
He said the social structure in the State was largely based
on old values which hindered its progress to modernity.
Mr Tripathy warned that the political leadership cannot
abdicate its responsibility to check the growth of
population.
The third session, on 'Political Constraints in the
Progress of UP' was chaired by Mr BG Deshmukh, former
Cabinet Secretary and Member of PFI Governing Board.
The State Minister of Rural Development, Chaudhuri
Narendra Singh attended the session.
The UP Minister of Rural Development, Chaudhuri Narendra
Singh, seen with (from left) Mr B G Deshmukh, former Cabinet
Secretary and Member of PFI Governing Board; Executive
Director of PFI, Dr K Srinivasan and Chairman of PFI,
. Dr Bharat Ram.
Prof B K Joshi, former Vice-Chancellor, Kumaon
University, Nainital in his presentation argued that the
major constraints in the development of UP were as much
political- administrative and, therefore, internal to the State
as they were macro-economic or emanating from outside
the State's control.
access to services by involving private practitioners and
introducing free contraceptive services, ensuring
improvement in the quality of services and creation of more
demand for the services through IEC activities.
A lively discussion followed the presentations.
Executive Director of PFI, Dr K Srinivasan said Rajasthan
had adopted its own population policy and UP could
follow the example. Mr B G Verghese, Member of PFI
Governing Body, suggested concentration of efforts on
selected areas for faster and better returns through a
packaged programme.
The second session, on 'Social and Economic
Constraints on Population Stabilisation and related
Developmental Issues' was chaired by Dr V A Pai
Panandiker, President and Professor, Centre for Policy
Research, Delhi and Member of PFI Governing Board. Dr
Kesarinath Tripathy, Speaker of the UP Legistative
Assembly was the chief guest.
The first presentation was made by Prof A K Sharma,
Vice-Chairman, Indian Institute of Technology,Kanpur. He
dealt with the social constraints and needs of individuals
in the family planning movement in UP. He argued that
although high fertility in the State was due to lack of social
development, it was possible to reduce fertility through
UP Minister of Health, Mr Ramapathi Shastri seen with (from
left) Mr Yogendra Narayan, Chief Secretary of UP; Dr V A Pai
Panandiker, Member of PFI Governing Board and DJ Kamal
Taori, Director, State Institute of Rural Development, UP.
Chaudhuri Narendra Singh described the population
situation as the biggest problem of UP and said the issue
must be placed above narrow political considerations. He
said the State needed a population policy of its own to
tackle its special needs.
Dr Kamal Taori, Director, State Institute of Rural
Development (SIRD) and a senior bureaucrat said rural
development, including population stabilisation measures,
had to be conducted with a broad-base participation and
not through official efforts alone. He laid stress on
empowering the Panchayati Raj institutions and
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developing their capacity to take up the responsibilities of
development.
The last session, on 'Bureaucratic Constraints in the
Progress of UP' was chaired by Dr K Srinivasan. Mr
Manohar Subramanium, a former Chief Secretary of UP
and Chairperson of the Hunger Project (a NGO), in a
forthright criticism of the state of bureaucratic competence
and attitude, said that over the years there had been a
steady decline in UP in the quality of administration and
capacity to adjust to the changing needs of the society. The
main maladies related to the size of the Government staff,
deteriorating work ethics, indiscipline and lack of
professionalism.
Mr M L Mehta, former Chief Secretary of Rajasthan,
shared his experience in implementing population
stabilisation programme in that State with the total
involvement of the political authorities and the
administrative machinery. He disclosed that the measures
had the personal involvement and full support of the State
Chief Minister.
The presentations made by Mr Subramanium and Mr
Mehta brought out two contrasting pictures and
highlighted the fact that given the will and a sense of
purpose, the population question could be tackled with
great success even in the northern states which
are generally regarded as backward in socio-economic
terms.
The valedictory session of the two-day Conference was
chaired by Mr Yogendra Narayan, Chief Secretary of UP.
Summing up the deliberations of the Conference, Dr K
Srinivasan said the frank, informative and analytical
discussions had thrown considerable insight into the
population problem of UP and several positive suggestions
had emerged. He briefly enumerated the major suggestions
and said these would be duly submitted to the State
authorities after proper formulation.
Mr Yogendra Narayan thanked the PFI for arranging
the important Conference and said increasing population
was a critical problem of the State. He endorsed the
recommendations and said the policy guidelines would
be of immense value to the State. He said though the
situation in UP was grim, there were signs of improvement
and one showed take courage from the trends. He said
the State would like to work in close co-operation with
PFI and offered to adopt two model districts for
implementation of the recommendations.
The valedictory address was delivered by the UP
Minister of Health, Mr Ramapathi Shastri who said that
the population stabilisation programme must be kept above
party policies. He announced that a scheme of awards
would be initiated to recognise good performance at all
levels.
The Conference concluded with a vote of thanks by
Dr R K Rath, Joint Director, PH
•
IASP Conference Discusses Population Issues
The twenty second annual conference
of Indian Association for the Study of
Population (IASP) was held at the Institute for
Studies in Population, Agriculture and Rural
Change (INSPARC), University of Kalyani, West
Bengal from March 14 to March 17, 1999.
Dr Surya Kant Mishra, Minister of Land
Reforms, Panchayat and Rural Development,
West Bengal inaugurated the conference which
was attended by national and international
scholars, social scientists and population
experts.
The four-day conference discussed new
initiatives related to population programmes in
addition to research papers presented by
scholars on traditional demographic areas.
Two symposia were organised. The first
was : Progress of Indian States towards ICPD
goals: (ICPD+S), sponsored by Ut-lFPA and
chaired by Dr Michael Vlassoff, UNFPA
Representative. Presentations were made by
Dr (Mrs) Prema Ramachandran, Adviser
Planning Commission; Prof Arvind Pandey, Prof
T K Roy and Prof K Balasubramanian. Another
symposium, on Optimal Analysis and Use of
Data from NFHS-2 was chaired by Dr K
Srinivasan. Presentations were made by
renowned demographers who were involved
with NFHS-I survey. The symposium was
sponsored by USAID.
Special sessions were also organised on:
Migration and Urbanisation; Socio-
Psychological studies on Population;Population
and Environment; Panchayat Raj and Women's
status.
The George Simmons Memorial Lecture·
was delivered by Dr Michael Vlassoff, UNFPA
Representative, who spoke on the topic "Where
has India's Family Planning programme gone?".
The annual Chandrasekaran Award was given
to two scholars below 30 years of age who
presented excellent papers on the topics of their
research.
Dr Sushila Nayar, President, Kasturba
Health Society and Director, Mahatma Gandhi
Institute of Medical Sciences (MGIMS) and
Honorary Professorof Community Medicinewas
honoured for her life-time work in rural medical
care and medical education and her life-time
commitment to rural health.
Sudanese Delegation Visits PFI
A team of four experts from Sudan, consisting of Isam Taha Osman, Head, Population
and Development; Elham Abdalla Mohammed, Head, Reproductive Health and Family
Planning Section, Sudan National Population Council; Limya Abed el Gaffar Khalafalla,
Ministry of Social Planning and Elnaeem Suleiman Abbas from Central Bureau of Statistics
visited Population Foundation of India on March 22, 1999.
Mr H P Nagpal, Secretary & Treasurer, PFI and Dr Arundhati Mishra, Programme
Officer made brief presentations to the experts regarding activities of PFI and exchanged
views on development of public health and family planning programmes in both the
countries. The video film "People Population and Our Leaders" was screened for the visitors .
•
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1.9 Page 9 |
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Reducing Fertility in Northern States
Continued from Page 1
Executive Director of PFI, Dr K Srinivasan welcoming the
gathering at the Fourth JRD Tata Memorial Oration.
of audience, consisting of members of the PFI Governing
Board and Advisory Council, government officials,
representatives of UN agencies and NGOs, Mr Gujral
emphasised the need for wider commitment to small family
norm. Unless there was a rapid reduction in fertility in
the large Hindi speaking States and their population
growth was brought down within manageable limits, the
inter-regional differences would be sharpened and the
country's overall development would be retarded, he said.
Demographic studies in more successful states like
Kerala, Mr Gujral said, bears out that four major factors
have been responsible for their success. These are: a strong
political commitment to the small family norm and family
planning programme by all political parties in power or
out of PQwer; provision of primary education for all
especially the girl child; greater economic equity and social
participation in development; and finally, reduction in
infant mortality and better and more easily accessible
family planning services.
Mr Gujral said family planning, primary education and
primary health care fall within the purview of Panchayat
Rajinstitutions. Empowering them with adequate financial
resources and training would make it possible to diffuse
the population bomb. "The self governance at the local
level alone can ensure the needed supervision to push
ahead the programmes and check defaults", he said.
Underlying the importance of empowerment of women
for achieving rapid decline in unwanted fertility and
population stabilisation, Mr Gujral said women can be
empowered through a number of programmes: by
providing them with modern, secular education; by giving
them better skills; by providing them with employment
opportunities outside home; and securing them
independent income and by enabling their proper
representation in managerial, political and administrative
positions of power and responsibility. "They should be
recognised as equal and responsible partners in all our
developmental and nation building efforts", he said and
added that enlightened men, social reformers and leaders
should carry the message of gender equity and
empowerment across the country.
Mr Gujral admitted that in communities riddled with
child marriage, violence against women, labour involving
more girls than boys; prostitution, and preference for sons
over daughters within and outside family, such
empowerment is no easy task. He emphasised the role of
enlightened leadership and the civil society in this context.
Mr Gujral said there may be a few regions in our
country "where all children, boys and girls, are at school;
where there is no child labour;'no child marriages; no
preference of boys over girls, drinking water is available,
sanitation is good, health and family planning services are
available". Every effort should be made to carry the
messages from such parts across the country in the form
of a social crusade, he said.
"Laws can only help to some extent; it is the civil society
which should carry the torch of empowerment of women
and the disadvantaged. It is not as if someone is going to
transfer power ~o women or to the disadvantaged
overnight by a law or decree. Organised self help .groups
too may be formed in each village and strive towards such
empowerment" .
Mr Gujral
said if about the
one
million
women, who are
already in elected
positions in the
pancha ya ts are
systema tically
trained,
and
Dr Bharat Ram, Chairman of PFI
welcoming Mr I K Gujral.
mobilised for this
task, the day is
not far when
women of this country will be equally powerful partners
of development and social change and build a strong and
prosperous India.
Mr Gujral suggested the following as the main elements
of successful population policies and programmes:
• Strengthening of Panchayat Raj institutions with
appropriate transfer of authority and resources without
any further delay;
• Empowerment of Panchayat Raj institutions by
organising training programmes in areas of their rights,
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1.10 Page 10 |
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• Provision of basic education especially for the girl
children as a fundamental right of children;
• Primary health care, reduction in infant mortality, and
good family planning services;
• Basic household economic security, including group self
employment.
Mr Gujral complimented the Population Foundation
of India for initiating a large number of training
programmes for the elected members of Panchayats in rural
areas involving NGOs. This initiative, he said, centering
on health, population environment and family planning
was highly useful. He suggested that such training activities
should be carried across the length and breadth of the
country in an organised manner with good partnership
between governmental agencies and non-governmental
organisations. "If the elected village leaders are handed
out responsibility for management of primary education,
primary health care and family planning, there will be
hardly any need for macro level population policies and
programmes", he said.
Exhorting the people of India to reassert their sovereign
authority, Mr Gujral said, they must "coax, cajole, persuade
and if necessary force the State and its various agencies to
deal with the twin problems of demography and
development in the shortest amount of time".
Paying homage to late Mr JRD Tata, Mr Gujral said
the great leader knew that an unchecked growth of
A view of the audience at the Fourth JRD Tata
Memorial Oration.
population would never let this country emerge out of the
poverty syndrome. "While many watched and some
lamented, he took some commendable initiative to set up
institutions that would re-educate the public mind and help
in transforming rigid mind-set."
In his welcome address, Dr Bharat Ram said that the
late JRD Tata in whose memory the PFI has instituted the
JRD Tata Memorial Oration, believed that family planning
programme was an important determinant for humanising
the population. Dr Bharat Ram said family planning
needed a concerted national effort with a resolute political
will which was so far not in evidence. Along with
improvement of contraceptive services, it was necessary
to launch intensive campaign for empowerment of women,
he said.
•
Voluntary Sector in MP
Continued from Page 2
work in M.P. 72% of the volags work in
only one district of the State. The
"established volags" are at least 15 year
old and have at least 15 fully paid
workers. Nearly one-fifth of the M.P
volags are "established" in this sense.
They operate in 5 or more districts
and frequently have a number of
branches.
Two-thirds of the volags cater to
scheduled tribes, scheduled castes or
both.
While there may be a high level of
overlap, the sector orientation of volags
is as follows: education 37%, women's
development 33%, environment and
rural development 15%, health
and family planning 9% and other
sectors 7%.
Government and foreign donors
are much more important as sources of
volag funding than other sources, such
as business and individual donors.
Contributions from beneficiaries and
fees charged by volags also exist in
some cases but their relative
importance is low.
According to the book, while
volags are capable of strong
commitment
and community
mobilisation, they are weak on
managerial competence which has
been defined as the capacity to
mobilise resources, handle crises, co-
ordinate activities, develop staff, install
administrative systems and plan
judiciously.
Many volags, being highly
dependent on the government are
weak in terms of their capacity, and
their situation is further attenuated
when they do not act in concert with
ether volags to redress their grievances.
Volags have an important role in
providing training and support to the
Panchayati Raj system. Panchayat
leaders need intensive awareness
building and orientation. For volags
to fill this gap, a massive capacity
building effort needs to be mounted to
equip them to play an effective role.
This is a challenging idea for the donor
agencies because the voluntary sector
can provide the essential linkages
needed in implementing the new
integrated
programmes
in
reproductive health.
•
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Highlights
NGO Forum Identifies
Progress and Problems
NGO Forum at The Hague, attended
by more than 800 NGO participants
from around the world, provided an
opportunity for a realistic assessment of
the progress made since the Cairo
Conference in 1994 as well as identifying
the problems.
Summarising the outcome of the
two-day forum, Dr Mahmoud Fathalla,
immediate past Chairman of the
International Federation of Gynaecology
and Obstetrics identified three areas of
concern.
Resources have not been
forthcoming and there is grave concern
among the NGO community at the gap
between resources from the developed
and developing worlds. Dr Fathalla also
focused on the continuing tragedy of
maternal mortality - with one woman
every minute still dying during
pregnancy or child birth. He said: "This
is not a disease tha t should have to fight
for resources. Women are entitled to the
right to be protected". The continuing
violation of women's sexual an'd
reproductive rights was also identified
as an area in which the implementation
of ICPD has not been successful.
The Executive Director of PFI, Dr K
Srinivasan was a member of the Indian
delegation to the NGO Forum.
The Hague Forum
Makes Final Report
The Hague Forum was attended by
delegates from 177 countries who
discussed five main themes which
resulted in the approval of a final report
which will be a background document
at the Commission on Population and
Development being held in New York
from March 24-31.
The Forum identified progress in a
number of areas; the acceptance of the
concept of reproductive and sexual
health is growing; adolescent
reproductive health issues are now on
of ICPD+5
the public agenda; in a growing number
of countries, women and adolescents
now have the right to confidentiality and
privacy in the delivery of services, and
many countries have enacted gender
action plans aimed at promoting and
protecting women's rights.
However, little progress has been
made in reducing the high levels of
maternal mortality in a number of
countries. The Forum called on
governments
to promote safe
motherhood as a human rights issue
and give it greater priority. It was agreed
that the situation with HIV / AIDS is now
worse than in 1994.
The Young Re-assert
Their Role
A global delegation of 132 youth
participants from 111 countries came
together a t the Hague to review the
progress since Cairo from a youth
perspective. As the largest generation
of young people ever in history - with
almost 20% of the world's population,
1.06 billion people, between the ages of
15 and 24 - young people reasserted their
key role in population and development
issues by sharing their experiences and
innovative ideas on the implementation
of the ICPD Programme of Action at the
grassroots level.
Hillary Clinton Addresses
United States First Lady Hillary
Rodham Clinton affirmed support for
International Reproductive Health
Programmes. She declared : "When
600,000 women still die every year due
to pregnancy-related causes, this is no
time to cut back on our commitment to
family planning."
Parliamentarians Pledge
Political Action
The three-day International Forum
of Parliamentarians (February 4-6)
reviewing the ICPD Programme of
Action, provided lively debate and
informal discussion from over 200
parliamentarians representing 103
countries world-wide. Presentations
were made at the meeting by
parliamentarians
with reviews of
reproductive health and rights, gender,
adolescent sexuality, ageing, food
securi ty,
economic
crises
and population
and resource
mobilisa tion.
The meeting provided an
opportunity to recognise the positive
changes many countries are making to
advance women's status and provide
better reproductive health care.
A Declaration was agreed by the
parliamentarians which identified seven
priority areas for action. These included
reproductive health and reproductive
rights, with a call for particular attention
on enhancing the role and responsibility
of men in reproductive and sexual
health, as well as a commitment to create
and promote an enabling environment
through legislation, advocacy and
resource mobilisation to ensure that
Governments meet their obligations.
The Declaration pledged to translate
the personal commitment of the
parliamentarians into collective political
action.
Workshop on Empowerment of Panchayati Raj Institutions
An extract from ISEC News of October-December 1998 is reproduced below:
A state-level workshop on November 28, 1998 dealt with "Empowerment of
Panchayati Raj Institutions on issues related to Population, Health and Social
Development". The project was supported by the Population Foundation of India, New
Delhi. It discussed at length the appropriate training methodology and the impact of the
training of Gram Panchayat members carried out in Chitradurga district, Karnataka, in
collaboration with MYRADA and GRAMA. Prof K Srinivasan, Executive Director,
Population Foundation of India, inaugurated the seminar, at which senior officials of
Karnataka Health Department and others participated. Dr T V Sekhar, Assistant
Professor, co-ordinated the workshop.
•
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2.2 Page 12 |
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Mr Natarajan Given Farewell
and evaluating PFIprojects all over the
country, Mr Natarajan had the
responsibility of data analysis for
selection of the best state and the best
districts for presentation of JRD Tata
Award for Population and
Reproductive Health programmes,
and for bringing out the yearly Wall
Charts and State of India's Population.
Mr K S Natarajan and
Mrs Vijayalakshmi Natarajan.
M r K S Natarajan, Joint Director
(Monitoring and Evaluation)
was given a warm send off at a
function organised at PH on February
22, 1999. The Executive Director Dr
K Srinivasan praised the contribution
made by Mr Natarajan and hoped his
service would be available, whenever
necessary in future. Mrs Padma
Srinivasan presented a gift to Mrs
Natarajan, who was present on the
occasion, on behalf of the PFI staff.
Mr Natarajan worked in PFI for
three years. Apart from monitoring
Beforejoining the Foundation, Mr
Natarajan was the Deputy Registrar
General of India. He had been a
member of various expert committees
on population projections appointed
by the Planning Commission.
An eminent demographer with
rich and varied experience in the field
of population projections, indirect
estimation of fertility and child
mortality and evaluation of census
data, Mr Natarajan made an
appreciable contribution in building
the data bank in the Foundation on
various socio-economic and
demographic variables at the district
level.
Population Programme on Doordarshan
DD-I showed a programme on Population Explosion under the series India
2000 on February 9, 1999. The programme depicted the present population
scenario and the situation as it would be in the year 2000. The programme had
a number of interviews with noted experts in the related fields including Dr V
A Pai Panandikar, member of the PFI Governing Board and the Executive
Director Dr K Srinivasan. The programme had some lively footage of interviews
with common people. The programme was quite comprehensive though easy
to understand.
PFI has started using the programme for the Reproductive and Child Health
tr?ining being given to middle level managers working in Delhi slums.
The programme has been produced by Ms Shashi Mehta. PFI had earlier
taken the initiative to not only motivate the Producer but help her with research
and information.
•
Training in
Reproductive
Health
P FI, with financial support
from the Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare,
Government of India, has
organised a series of training
programmes on Reproductive
and Child Health for Non-
Governmental Organisations
(NGOs) working in slums of
Delhi.
The training programmes
aim to develop a cadre of
voluntary workers who would
have working knowledge and
skills on issues related to
development, implementation
and
monitoring
of
reproductive and child health
programme. The duration of
each training programme is
five days. There are two
programmes each month. The
training is open to two middle
level managers working in a
NGO. There are no charges
for the training.
For more information, kindly
contact:
Dr Amita Bardhan
Course Co-ordinator
Population Foundation of India
B-28, Qutab Institutional
Area, New Delhi - 110 016.
Tel: 6568181, 6867080,
6867081
Fax: 6852766
E-mail:popfound@deI2.vsnl.net.in.
Published by POPULATION FOUNDATION OF INDIA, 8-28, Qutab Institutional Area, New Delhi-110016. Tel.: 6867080, 6867081
Editorial Direction & Guidance : Dr. K. Srinivasan Editor: Ajay Sunder
Printed by Reproductions India, 54 A, SFS HIG, Mayur Vihar-III, Delhi-110096.