Essay – Family Planning in India
Family Planning in India Essay: India holds the 2nd position in terms of the most populated country in the world with a population of 1.417 billion following only China with a population of 1.426 billion in the world. Since independence itself, the population has been a major source of concern in relation to natural resources such as land, water and food and man-made resources such as education, employment and medical facilities. As such it was only natural for the country to initiate policies of family planning to place checks on the increase in population.
Discussion
India set a precedent by initiating a programme called the National Programme for Family Planning in 1952. There has been a paradigm shift in the policy-making and execution of the policies in establishing the family planning programme. The National Population Policy of 200o has brought a turn-around change in the reduction of births by removing any target-based approach.
The programme has spread to the rural centres and towns as opposed to its concentration in the metropolitan cities and urban centres of the country. It has reached the primary Health centres and Sub Centres in villages and towns, family healthcare centres and post-partum centres in the cities and metropolitan centres.
Some of the factors that influence Family Planning are as follows
i) Marriage and childbirth: According to the survey of NFHS-V, a percentage of about 23.3% of women are married off when they are below 18 years. The marriage Act of India in 2022 has instructed that the age for marriage for both men and women is 21 and defiance of the law is a punishable offence. Out of the total successful deliveries, almost 7% of the deliveries are from adolescent and young adult girls of 15 to 19 years. The worrisome scenario of women getting married off before the legal age is particularly concentrated in the states of Bihar with 40.8%,2 5.4% in Rajasthan, 32.2% in Jharkhand and 15.8 % in Uttar Pradesh.
ii) Recovery gap between births: It is clinically suggested to have a gap of three years between the birth of two children. It increases the chances of the safety of the infants in addition to decreasing the negative impacts of population explosion. Statistics provided by SRS Data state that a gap of three years between two children is less followed in rural areas as 49.1% of births take place there and is considerably followed in urban centres.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the aims and strategies of the family planning programme are initiated to assuring welfare for families. The integral use of advanced technologies and improved conditions and coverage for healthcare has resulted in a drastic decrease in the Crude Birth Rate. This reduces the impacts of population explosion and recovery of resources necessary to maintain lives.
FAQs related to Family Planning in India
Q1. What is India’s population in 2022?
Ans: India holds the 2nd position in terms of the most populated country in the world with a population of 1.417 billion following only China with a population of 1.426 billion in the world.
Q2. Why is the fertility rate in India a major concern?
Ans: Out of the total successful deliveries, almost 7% of the deliveries are from adolescent and young adult girls of 15 to 19 years.The worrisome scenario of women getting married off before the legal age is particularly concentrated in the states of Bihar with 40.8%,2 5.4% in Rajasthan, 32.2% in Jharkhand and 15.8 % in Uttar Pradesh.
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