National Population Policy 2000.

Abstract

India evolved a comprehensive national population policy in April 1967. The primary assumption behind this policy was that the population explosion was an offshoot of poverty and must be dealt with as a part of an overall design for a better life. Clear demographic goals were defined, and several programs were initiated as part of the policy in an effort to integrate family planning with the overall strategy of socioeconomic development. The following are among the more important features of the 1976 national population policy: 1) increase the marriage age from 15-18 years for girls and from 18 to 21 years for boys; 2) freeze the population figures at the 1971 level until the year 2001 for purposes of representation in the national parliament as well as for allocation of central assistance, devolution of taxes, and so forth to the States; 3) more attention to the education of girls; 4) a proper place for population education in the total system of education; 5) involvement of all ministries/departments of government in the family planning program; 6) increase in monetary compensation for sterilization; 7) institution of group awards as incentives for various organizations and bodies representing the people at local levels; 8) the intimate association of voluntary organizations with the implementation of the program; 9) more attention to research; and 10) greater use of motivational media, particularly in rural areas, for increasing acceptance of family planning. According to Indira Gandhi, the objective is not simply to curb population growth but to have happier and healthier families, which, in India's circumstances, means smaller families. In the 1st 5-year plan (1951-56) India's outlay on family planning (Rs. in crores) was 0.65. It had increased to 1010.00 by the 6th 5-year plan (1980-85).

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 62 citations exist upstream.