The term ‘population policy’ refers to the legislative measures,
administrative programmes and other government actions in a country intended to
regulate population size and its various attributes in the larger interest of
the social, political and economic goals. The United Nations has defined
population policy as “measures and
programmes designed to the achievement of economic, social, demographic,
political and other collective goals through affecting critical demographic
variables”.
In other words, population policy
refers to a set of government actions – legislative and administrative – which
intend to influence, alter or modify some aspects of population. Population
policy also includes those aspects of overall public policy of a country that
affect its demographic attributes. Thus, population policy embraces both direct
as well as indirect measures that influence demographic variables for the
achievement of the desired national goals.
A positive population policy which
aims at reducing the birth rate and ultimately stabilizing the growth rate of
population. In India, where the majority of people are illiterate, fatalist,
and custom-ridden, and do not believe in family planning, only the government’s
initiative can help in controlling population growth.
Components of the current population policy in India
With the advent of independence,
family planning as a measure of population control has been given top priority
in the development plans of the country, starting with the First Five Year Plan (1951-56). The increasing financial allocations
for the family planning programme in each successive plan are also indicative
of the growing emphasis accorded to the family planning programme.
i.
National
Population Policy 1976 and 1977: Though implied in the family
planning programme undertaken by the government, the population policy of the
country was not explicitly stated, and it remained unarticulated in the formal
sense. It was on April 16, 1976 that
the National Population Policy was
declared. It underwent some modifications in June, 1977.
Till the National Population Policy
was first declared in April, 1976, the Population Policy of India was generally
equated with the family planning policy. One of the grounds on which India was
criticized in international circles was that other solutions to the population
policy were ignored. The statement of the population policy took into account
some of the complex relationships between the social, economic and political
aspects of the population problem.
It included appropriate measures to
tackle the population problem, many of which went “beyond family planning”. The policy statement also contained
several approaches to the improvement of the family planning programme. The
statement of policy regarding the Family welfare Programme issued on June 29,
1977, eliminates all measures which have the slightest element of compulsion or
coercion, and emphasis on the welfare approach to the problem. The name of the
Family Planning Programme, has also been changed to the Family Welfare
Programme to reflect the government’s anxiety to promote through the programme
the total welfare of the family and the community. Many of the measures
outlined in the National Population Policy, declared in 1976, have been
retained. These include the following:
a.
Raising the minimum legal age at marriage for girls to
18 and for boys to 21,
b.
Taking the population figure of 1971till the year
2001, in all cases where population is a factor in the sharing of the Central
resources with the States, as in allocation of the Central assistance to the
State Plans, devolution to taxes and duties and grants-in-aids,
c.
Accepting the principle of linking 8 per cent of the
central assistance to the State Plans with their performance and success in the
family welfare programme,
d.
Including population education in the formal school
education system,
e.
Plans to popularize the family welfare programme and
use of all media for this purpose,
f.
Participation of voluntary organizations in the
implementation of the programme,
g. Improvement
of women’s educational level, both through formal and non-formal channels.
The Policy
Statement also declared that the government would give special attention to the
necessary research inputs in the field of reproductive biology and
contraception.
ii. National Population Policy 2000: India has
framed a new National Population Policy in 2000. It enumerates certain
socio-demographic goals to be achieved by 2010 which will lead to achieving
population stabilization by 2045. The policy has identified the immediate
objectives as meeting the unmet needs for contraception, healthcare infrastructure
and trained health personnel and to provide integrated service delivery with
the following interventions:
a. Strengthen community health centres, primary health
centres and subcentres,
b.
Augment skills of health personnel and healthcare
providers
c. Bring about convergence in the implementation of
related social sector programme to make Family Welfare Programme people
centred.
d. Integrate
package of essential services at village and household levels by extending
basic reproductive and child healthcare through mobile health clinics and
counseling services; and explore the possibility of accrediting primitive
medical practitioners and assigning them to defined beneficiary groups to
provide these services (Govt. of India 2003).
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