The Hindu : Govt. speaks in different voices on population stabilisation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 26, 2002

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Govt. speaks in different voices on population stabilisation

By Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI SEPT. 25. The first meeting of the State Population Commissions organised here today by the National Commission on Population with K.C. Pant in the chair, and the Union Ministers, Murli Manohar Joshi and Shatrughan Sinha, on the dais, showed up the different voices in the Government on how best population could be stabilised. On the other hand, the States had their own views on how they could achieve the target set by the Centre in the National Population Policy, 2000. India's population today is 102.70 crore with an average growth rate of 1.93 per cent.

The meeting revealed the lack of clear direction on how best to achieve the couple replacement level or Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 2.1 in 2010. While Mr. Pant concentrated on how soon each State would achieve the TFR, the Human Resource Development Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, endorsed the controversial view of using "incentives and disincentives'' in the family welfare programme and, when asked, the Family Welfare Minister, Shatrughan Sinha, said he would not like to comment on it. However, all the three agreed on one point: that there should be no coercion.

In his wrap-up remarks, Mr. Pant glossed over the burning issues of some of the States introducing the two-child norm in their State Population Policy such as Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra (Uttar Pradesh has dropped the idea); or on the subject of States such as Haryana and Bihar seeking to give incentives and disincentives or on the issue of introduction of injectable contraceptives in New Delhi without complete clinical trials. At the end of the meeting, NGOs said these views sent confusing signals to the grassroots, harming the programme, even preventing its take-off at places.

Later, speaking to mediapersons, Mr. Joshi said he believed that there should be some kind of disincentive— though no coercion— for a couple having a third child, in terms of withdrawal of financial assistance in education, health or government holidays. Asked whether this would not go against the child, he said this would bring pressure on the couple to limit the family. He said he was all for introducing the two-child norm for politicians. Asked about the Ministry's policy on the subject, Mr. Sinha said he was yet to take a view on the issue of "incentives and disincentives''. "It requires a big debate,'' he said.

Mr. Pant, on the other hand, was of the view that it should be left to the States on how best to achieve results.

The National Population Policy talks of a holistic approach to the "small family norm'', away from targets, incentives and disincentives, in line with the norms laid down by the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1996 to which India was a signatory. However, the Population Commission is covertly pushing for a two-child norm and possible incentives and disincentives to achieve TFR goals by 2010.

There was a tug-of-war between the National Population Commission and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, on who would control the corpus of Rs. 100 crores. The corpus has been transferred to the Ministry.

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