India is a large country with a large population She has; more than fourteen per cent of the world population although her land area is just a little over two per cent of the total area of the world. According to 1971 census India had a population of:548 million. The annual population growth rate was 2.2 per cent duringthe decade. The rate of growth of population during 1911;21wads^ per thousand. The reason for the low growth rate was|that the death rate was as high as 47 per thousand, as ^^^^1°^ per thousand as per 1921 ceusus records. The death rate was high because of frequent occurrence of famines, pestilenee, and other natural calamities. During the decades that followedth £e was a decline in both the death rate and the birthrate. The death rate came down to 22.8 per thousand in 1951-61 and to 169_ per thousand in 1972. The birth rate declined to 40.9 and 343 per Sand £ 1961 and 1974 respectively The ^Sffg^ was moderate during 1941-51 ; it ranged between 14 to 11 per cent but there was a phenomenal rise in the population at the rate 01
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..! cent and 24 8 per cent during 1951-61 and 1961-71 respecti-Thls wus alarming because India was to touch the one billion ..j by the end of the century if this rate of growth of population i to be allowed to continue. The rapid increase in population was not matched by corresponding increase in India’s llopmcnt. While in European countries the high rate of increase i population was accompanied by accelerated socio-economic Jlopmcnt, in India it caused a big strain on whatever develop-nt wmk there.
The problem of rapid growth in the population was viewed as litter Oi serious concern by many eminent Indians. The Plan-’1 Committee of the Indian National Congress under the chairman-tOflh. Jawaharlal Nehru, had said in its report as early as in In the interest of family happiness and national economy, planning and limitation of children are essential, and the hotlId adopt a policy to encourage these.” The years imme-1 following the independence of the country were full of many •”"ling problems that called for more urgent attention. Never-, ,„ 1952, the Government of India adopted the policy of •dinning as an integral part of the planning for socio-eco-divelopment. Our Five-Year Plans laid great emphasis on P planning programmes.
Thi high rate of increase in the population in the economically ‘”"id countries is not a big problem (it is no doubt a problem ‘ tOO have taken care to see that the growth rate of popula-t within a certain limit), but it does create numerous socio-problems in underdeveloped and developing countries, I already over-populated and which have missed the indus-llution. In a developing country like India, for instance, , te population means more children to feed, clothe and look-in India wealth has increased but the population has grown JutoU rate. This has made our economic planning ineffective. ‘ plan for development is likely to fail or unlikely to be as success-It we aim or wish because our population is growing at an Ring rate. As long as we are not able to control the population ‘ On, the benefits of planning are difficult to reach the common
The family planning programme was started in 1952. Our . and Second Five-Year Plans emphasised that a high rate of Illation growth was bound to affect adversely the rate of eco-i advancement and the standard of living of the people. The jramme was taken up in a very modest way during the First Plan ,JK>d. The objective of the programme was to give through the lilting government hospitals and some new clinics, advice on lily planning to those who came to seek it and to conduct research different aspects of family planning. Under the Second Plan the |§re|ramme received greater attention and about 5000 rural clinics Ipifi opened. The research scheme under the programme became more meaningful. Facilities for sterilisation and other family plan­ning devices were made available and extended. The Third Five-Year Plan saw a major breakthrough in the area of family planning. It was recognised that the objective of estabilising the growth of population over a reasonable period must be at the very centre of the planned development. With this end in view a massive campaign was launched and famiiy planning services were expanded vastly to reach the door-steps of the people. The figures of 1961 census showed a higher rate of growth of population than anticipated. The evalua­tion made by the Planning Commission revealed the need for re­organisation of the programme, which was accordingly done. The programme was redesigned so as to make it more responsive to the needs of the people. Schemes of mass education, motivation, services and supplies, training for the workers, involvement of the voluntary organisations were drawn up and implemented. During the Fourth Five-Year Plan and the three years preceding it, which were not covered by any of the Five-Year Plans, Family Planning Programme was given great importance and urgency. The pro­gramme was reconsolidated, expanded and made goal-oriented. Time-bound plans were formulated. Two significant features are noteworthy – free distribution of Nirodh and enactment of the Medi­cal Termination of Pregnancy Act.
The Fifth Five-Year Plan can be regarded as a landmark in the growth of the family planning programme. It provided for greater integration of the family planning programme with general health, nutrition and maternity and child welfare schemes. A sum ofRs. 516 crores was earmarked for this programme in the Draft Fifth Five-Year Plan as against Rs. 14 Lakhs in the First Plan, Rs. 215 crores in the Second Plan, Rs. 24’48 crores in the Third Plan and Rs. 280’36 crores in the Fourth Plan. According to the Revised Fifth Plan the likely expenditure during the first three years of the Fifth Plan was expected to be of the order of Rs. 237’65 crores. The proposed outly for 1977-79 has been fixed at Rs. 256’71 crores. The family planning programme has acquired the importance of a great national effort. It is so closely related to our national welfare that any indifference, neglect or slackening of effort may prove vitally grievous to our national developmental efforts. The unchecked high rate of growth of our population may undo all our economic planning and progress. Announcement of the National Population Policy in April 1976 was a great leap forward. While speaking in Lok Sabha, the then Union Health and Family Planning Minister Dr. Karan Singh said that family planning should receive the highest priority for the sucess of all our economic development programmes. Emphasising the magnitude of the problem he said that the population of India had incressed by 250 million since independence ; this was equal to the entire population of the Soviet Union and every year the country was adding 13 million to its population, which was equal to the population of Australia. The National Population Policy placed the task of–population control
at the centre of all programmes of development. Family planning is no longer an exclusive responsibility of the Ministry of Health and Family Planning at the Centre and their counterparts in the states. It is equally the responsibility of all other agencies of the Govern­ment. The policy seeks to involve more directly and extensively all those capable of influencing public opinion, like .women’s organi­sations, teachers’ association, village panchayats, trade unions, etc.
The family planning programme in the Fifth Plan envisaged to reduce the annual birth rate from about 39 per thousand in 1969 to 30 by the end of the plan period. The programme was to be implemented through the State Governments for which cent percent assistance was assured to them by the Central Government.
According to the figures available in January 1977, the family planning programme had made a remarkable success in India. Out of 104 million eligible couples 24’8 million couples (23’6 per cent Uples) had been covered under various methods of family planning. the States except Kerala, Tamilnadu, Jammu and Kashmir and “ichal Pradesh had gone much ahead of the targets fixed for , Against a target of 4’3 million sterilisations in the year 77 about 7 miilion sterilisations had already been done. India “lich to be proud of in regard to its achievement in 1976 on the Itlon front. As the New York Times said, India had the of decidedly the most significant progress in birth control had made in any year in its history. A major part of the the success of the programme goes to the 20-point Of the then Prime Minister and 5 point programme of , louder Sanjay Gandhi, but for whose personal interest, IMlfle would have not made such strides. Despite the lltitinients and policy announcements made by the govern-it h did not propose to use any punitive or coercive to curb birth rate, there were large scale excesses and a r of people were either bribed or forced to under go 11 Inspite of the promises of the government that it would iliation and engage itself in massive publicity and propa-apularising family planning, all sorts of pressures were WWC terrorised and even forcibly driven to sterilisation who showed the guts to oppose these excesses were _t)0 fonr of the rod or by putting them behind the bars. f planning programme had struck terror in the hearts of the liy OVIf-enthusiastic officers acted beyond their authority Inf IttTSOtl fixed for them. There are many awful tales of “ini Who ure victims of family planning excesses. A large poof, uneducated labourers, who had migrated to big tnf ft livelihood, hud to leave their petty jobs and go VlllMgCN to huvc themselves from being forcibly Mop la were not protected by the civil or judicial if. WHS how the programme of family planning Indiscriminate use of coercion made the worst of a good programme.The 20-Point and the 5-Point Programmes alongwith their authors were rejected by the people in the March 1977 elections. The use of force and coercion in family planning is now a thing of the past. The Janta Government has changed the nomenclature from Family Planning to Family Welfare Programme an absolutely voluntary programme. It is good that the terror and fear have dis­appeared, but what is not good is the general impression among the people that the family planning programme has now been shelved. It will be appreciated that this wrong impression is born of the long cherished freedom from terror and highhandedness. No Government, even the present Janta Government, can minimise the importance of the population control programme, which must be implemented in right earnest without use of force. If India does not adopt family planning, all its plans for the country’s prosperity, will be in vain. The following description will clearly bring out the imperative need for population control in the country :—
The Janta Government has made it clear that Family Planning will be pursued vigorously as a wholly voluntary programme, and as an integral part of a comprehensive policy, covering education, health, maternity and child care, family welfare, women’s rights and nutrition. The government is against compulsion with regard to sterilisation. In the words of the former Health Minister Mr. Raj Narain, “In this task there is no room for compulsion, coercion or pressure of any sort. Our approach is educational and wholly voluntary. There will, however, be no slackening of our efforts in this direction.” The draft five-year plan 1978-83 has adopted as its demographic goal, reduction of the birth rate to about 30 per thousand by 1982-83 and an operational programme designed to achieve that goal has been worked out. Intensive efforts are being made to check the population growth through a comprehensive edu­cational and motivational programme. The govemmant machinery available for the implementation of the programme in the States is being geared up and efforts are being made to involve voluntary organisations, labour organisation, employees organisations, co­operatives, etc. in a coordinated programme.
The population explosion is a great threat to our national development and the only remedy for it is to plan every family in our country. In almost all developed countries people make extensive use of pills, and abortion in those countries is very much liberalised. Such countries have been able to achieve the objective of planned parenthood, mainly because they have educated their people and have made them aware of their responsibilities to their nation. But in our country, though literacy has increased consider­ably, still 70% people are left without any schooling. Most of these people live in rural areas and are fatalists. The message of planned parenthood has not reached them. They believe that children are gifts of God. They also believe that every child brings his own luck with him. Then, there are very wrong ideas among
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I Of the people regarding various birth control methods. The It common of them is that sterilisation of males and females 111 adversely the health of persons undergoing these operations. j| to this village population that the knowledge about family Itlini must be communicated at the earliest and also in such a liner that they may understand and accept the message.