Case study india national population policy

Family Planning In

India

• High proportion of its population in agriculture (62%)

• Many areas are classified as rural & remote

• Avg income: low (US$290 per capita)

• Hi BR: 31/1000

• Fertility rate=4

• Population has doubled from 431,463 000 in 1960 to 1, 014,003 800 in 2000

• It may overtake China in the next half century

Case Study: India

• Current Population of India in 2012 -1,220,200,000 (1.22 billion)

• Total Male Population in India -628,800,000 (628.8 million)

• Total Female Population in India -591,400,000 (591.4 million) Sex

• Ratio 940 females per 1,000 males

• Age structure 0 to 25 years - 50% of India's current population

• Currently, there are about 51 births in India in a minute.

• Population of India in 1947 - 350 million

• India's Population in 2001 - 1.02 billion

• India's Population in 2011 - 1.21 billion

• Although, the crown of the world's most populous country is on China's head for decades,

• …India is all set to take the numero uno position by 2030.

• With the population growth rate at 1.58%, India is predicted to have more than 1.53 billion people by the end of 2030.

Reasons to control population:

• A quickly regenerating population exacerbates shortages of food and water

• the nation’s long-term growth will be hampered by a less healthy therefore less productive work force,

• greater demand for natural resource consumption,

• a higher level of environmental degradation resulting from such consumption.

Realizing these consequences...

• Since 1950s - India has been implementing official family planning programs to curb population growth.

• However, India’s population has more than doubled since those days (from 431,463,000 in 1960 to 1,014,003,800 in 2000)

• current projections predict that India has a good chance of overtaking China as the most populated country in the world within the next half century.

India’s rate of population growth is actually decreasing...but..

• In 1991 India’s annual population growth rate was 2.15% and by 1997

• this figure dropped to 1.7%, which indicates that India is indeed making some progress.

• While this may be true, most evidence would suggest that the country’s policies have been largely ineffective

• changes must be made to prevent further problems resulting from overpopulation.

So where did India’s efforts fall short?

• Education regarding temporary methods of contraception was neglected in favor of encouraging sterilization.

• Government agencies would have sterilization quotas to fill among the employees, and the inability to meet them was sometimes met with withheld salaries.

• Workers were often rewarded with a radio or television if they successfully convinced enough people to opt for the surgery.

• At its worst, India’s policy included declaring a state of emergency in 1976 and implementing forced sterilization in poor neighborhoods.

• When applying for government loans, or jobs people were told that their chances of receiving such aids would be increased if they could produce a certificate of sterilization.

India - Family Planning

• Efforts at population control -in the end successful.

• Some states of India eg Kerala barely produce enough growth to maintain the existing population levels.

• India tried unsuccessfully in the 70s to use compulsory sterilisation, one of the causes for Mrs Gandhi's defeat at the polls in 1977.

• Source: http://www.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/Famplan.htm