Govt not contemplating legislative measures for population control: MoS

Pawar said that according to the Sample Registration System of the Census, the Crude Birth Rate (CBR) had declined to 19.7 per 1,000 people in 2019, and “hence, the government is not contemplating any legislative measures.”

The MoS further highlighted that the government “accords top priority to the National Family Planning Program,which is guided by the tenets of the National Population Policy 2000 and National Health Policy 2017, to address the unmet need for Family Planning, with the objective of attaining Population Stabilization by 2045”.

“Efforts of the government have been successful in reining in the growth of population, ” she said in a written reply.

Pawar, specifically, presented the data that the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) declined to 2.0 in 2019-21, according to the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS 5), — which is below replacement level — while fertility rates in 31 out of 36 states and UTs were found to have come down to the replacement level fertility in the same survey.

Pawar further informed Parliament that modern contraceptive usage has increased to 56.5 per cent and the unmet need for family planning is only 9.4 per cent, according to NFHS-5.