Resuscitate family planning programme

Incredibly, but entirely in keeping with the national habit of ignoring mountainous problems while focusing on political trivia, the United Nations World Population Day (July 11) came and went almost totally ignored in the worlds second most populous (1.18 billion) and demo-graphically fastest growing country. According to projections made by the Washington-based Population Reference Bureau, in the year 2050 the population of this country will have surged to an alarming 1.63 billion.Instead of focusing on universalisation of adult literacy and primary-secondary education, official policy in the early years after independence was to offer cash incentives to citizens undergoing voluntary sterilisation, and imposing disincentives on citizens breaching family planning norms. But given widespread adult illiteracy (35 percent currently), high infant mortality and the financial insecurity of the general populace (which prompts the procreation of children to work and support the elderly), in the countrys most illiterate states — Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand — officially sponsored family planning programmes have proved lamentable failures. Moreover panic-driven forcible sterilisation of millions of minority and poor citizens by rogue elements within the Congress party during the Emergency (1975-76) when the Constitution and civil rights were suspended, not only created a huge electoral backlash which forced the Congress party out of office in 1977, but also made family planning a taboo term in the Indian political lexicon. Yet despite quadruplication of the nations population during the past 60 years stretching resources and socio-economic infrastructure to breaking point, Indias shabby intelligentsia has readily embraced the trendy proposition that Indias young population — 550 million below age 34 — is a demographic dividend. According to this proposition, with Western nations suffering negative birth rates and rapidly ageing population profiles, Indias youth will inevitably emerge as the manufacturers and service providers of the world. However this prophecy will be fulfilled only if this countrys youth population is sufficiently healthy and well educated. On both these counts theres little cause for optimism. With malnutrition, hunger, disease and poverty stalking the nations child population even as public expenditure on health aggregates a mere 0.9 percent of GDP, and 53 percent of the nations children dropping out of school before completing primary education, the prospect of harvesting the demographic dividend is dim. Quite clearly furtherance of the national interest demands the resuscitation of the countrys moribund family planning programme to proactively restrict procreation, especially within the countrys socio-economically most backward states. Simultaneously theres urgent need to redraw national priorities and double outlays (and outcomes) for education and public health immediately. While education is the proven best contraceptive, a two-pronged strategy which combines sustained family planning propaganda with larger outlays for education and health, is necessary to reduce the heavy pressure of numbers which is negating the impact of Indias impressive 8 percent plus annual rates of GDP growth. Time to review set positions on Kashmir The Kashmir valleys long hot summer marked by the desperate stone-pelting war declared by youth following the collapse of governance in the…