Ministry seeks free foodgrains for pregnant women

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 11. On the World Population Day today, the Ministry of Family Welfare declared its intention of seeking extra foodgrains free of cost for needy, pregnant women to ensure proper nutrition for them and reduce maternal and infant mortality. A proposal for providing free or discounted foodgrains to pregnant women for three months before and two months after delivery will soon be moved by the Ministry for Cabinet approval.

The suggestion was made at the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday by the Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, Dr. C.P. Thakur. He plans to back it up with a formal proposal. At a National Consultation on the role of NGOs and media in the implementation of the National Population Policy here today, the Minister announced a plan to de-register doctors involved in sex determination tests leading to a large number of cases of female infanticide.

According to Mr. Asish Bose, demographer, except Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and the northeast, no State was free of this malaise, not even progressive States such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In fact, the more advanced a State the more the cases of foeticide as in Haryana and Punjab, the reason being that there were service providers facilitating the tests for sex determination.

On the growing trend of State Governments introducing their own legislation on the two-child norm, he said it was a State subject but the Central policy was against incentives and disincentives. Six States, including Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Delhi and Gujarat favoured the introduction of two-child norm and debarring candidates with more than two children from seeking elections to panchayats and assemblies.

The Government also planned to change the internship pattern of MBBS students to include training in anaesthesia and surgery to enable them to participate in such programmes.

There was also a move to set up a committee to monitor the functioning of NGOs in the field and route funds to them through the mother NGOs with whom the Ministry would interact.

In her key-note address at the Consultation, the UNFPA's Goodwill Ambassador, Ms. Shabana Azmi, took exception to the State setting a disincentive on the two-child norm. ``Disincentives on the surface may reflect the Government's commitment to population stabilisation. A deeper analysis would show that political disincentives ultimately affect the poorest of the poor and further power imbalances in the society.''

Ms. Azmi said a mechanism should be evolved whereby there was inter-action with State Governments on the issue. The media had a major role to play in creating awareness as the country shifted from number to people, from quantity to quality, from statistics and targets to reproductive health issues and well-being.

Memorandum submitted

Even while several women groups held a demonstration outside his office against the trial of injectable contraceptives in 12 medical colleges, Dr. Thakur, speaking to presspersons today said no injectable would be introduced in the family welfare system unless found ``satisfactory''.

A memorandum submitted by the NGOs and women groups to the Prime Minister office sought increase in allocations to the primary health system instead of wasteful expenditure on injectables. The speakers at the demonstration included Ms. Brinda Karat of the All-India Democratic Women's Association, Dr. Mohan Rao of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Dr. Amit Sen Gupta of the Delhi Science Forum. The groups which participated were Saheli, Jagori, Sama, AIDWA, National Federation of Indian Women, Delhi Science Forum, Jan Swasthya Sabha, YWCA and Nirantar among others.

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