Economics · Ch 7 — Population
Population Policy of India
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Population Policy of India
India was the first country in the world to launch an official Family Welfare (Family Planning) Programme, in 1952, aiming to reduce the birth rate through voluntary family planning. Over subsequent decades this programme evolved — and its most comprehensive modern statement is the National Population Policy (NPP), 2000.
Objectives of the National Population Policy, 2000
| Term | Objective |
|---|---|
| Immediate | Address the unmet need for contraception, healthcare infrastructure and trained health personnel, and provide integrated service delivery for basic reproductive and child health care. |
| Medium-term | Bring the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) down to the replacement level (2.1 children per woman). |
| Long-term | Achieve a stable population by around the middle of the century, at a level consistent with the requirements of sustainable economic growth, social development and environmental protection. |
Key Measures and Programmes
- Universal access to contraception and reproductive healthcare, particularly in rural and underserved areas.
- Promoting girls' education and delaying the age at marriage, since female education is one of the strongest levers on fertility decline (Section 4).
- Improving maternal and child health to reduce infant and child mortality — since parents who are confident their children will survive tend to have fewer of them.
- Incentive and awareness schemes under successive Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) and Family Welfare programmes, including more recent state- and central-government initiatives to improve the spacing and quality of family planning services. …