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A POPULATION OUT OF
CONTROL
India was one of the first
countries in the world to try to do
something about reducing its
population growth rate.
Contraceptives were to
be made available to the
whole population – even
those living in the most
isolated areas of the
country.
Progress was slow during the 1950s
and early 1960s, despite the
government increasing its family
planning education services and
promoting the wider use of
contraceptives.
legalising abortion.
rewarding men who had a vasectomy.
Women accounted for 95 per cent
of all sterilisations at this time.
Male sterilisation became a more
favoured method of contraception
because it was both permanent and
cheap.
Men were
encouraged
to volunteer
for
vasectomies.
In 1971, a district official in
Kerala organised a family
planning ‘fair’. During the month
the fair was on for, 60,000
vasectomies were performed.
After his 10 minute operation,
each man received gifts
including money, a week’s food,
a lottery ticket, an umbrella, and
a bright sari for his wife.
The red
triangle
is India’s
family
planning
symbol.
From the beginning, India’s
population control policies had
always been guided by the
perception that a growing
population is a major obstacle to
raising living standards.
In 1994 a “New Population Plan”
(NPP) was formulated.
Its aim was to reduce India’s fertility
rate to 2.1 by 2004.
Child Survival
and
Motherhood
programmes
were set up.
Population
growth falls to
replacement
level if the NPP
was to achieve
its objective.
A cartogram showing the countries of the world
according to their size of population.
The impact of
India’s recent
population
control policies
on the age
structure of the
population.