A honeymoon package

Rupali and Sopan Barge talk about their honeymoon package with rare candour: they have been married for two years....

Rupali and Sopan Barge talk about their honeymoon package with rare candour: they have been married for two years,decided they would delay their first child by at least two years and ending up earning a cheque of Rs 5,000 from the Satara district administration.

The Barges are beneficiaries of a scheme,introduced by the zila parishad three years ago,that tracks newly-weds and introduces them to a unique family planning scheme that comes with cash incentives. Couples who delay their first child for two years bag Rs 5,000 and if they remain in the scheme for another year,they get Rs 7,500.

As Indias population clock ticks on unchecked after several disastrous attempts at population control,Sataras honeymoon package is an innovation that holds promise.

So far,nearly 4,000 couples from Satara have enrolled in the scheme. And the results are already showing: the birthrate in the district has come down from 16.7 per cent in 2005 to 15 per cent in 2010. Happy with the success of the project,Maharashtra issued a government resolution asking for the scheme to be replicated in all the districts.

We introduced this scheme under the National Rural Health Mission. It is purely voluntary. We started with a corpus of Rs 6 crore on August 15,2007. The first year,988 couples enrolled in this scheme and the numbers have only been increasing, says Bhagwan Pawar,Satara district health officer.

Rekha Kanem,who works at the Chinchner Vandan primary health centre,says auxillary nurses approach newly weds and talk to them about the scheme as soon as they get to know of a wedding in the neighbourhood. With nearly 30,000 weddings registered in Satara every year,thats a lot of work for the auxillary nursesthey manage to target at least 10 per cent of these couples.

We have had instances of people throwing us out of their homes for suggesting the scheme. Its tough persuading the elders of the household that the newly-weds need their space and time, says a staff at a Satara public health centre.

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In the last three years,the district administration has issued cheques worth Rs 26 lakh to 537 couples, says Pawar.

The scheme has had its social benefits too. Pratibha Damane,who married in 2008 and is excited about her first cheque,says she is glad she got enough time to know her husband better. Damane now wants to start a family and calls the money she earned from the honeymoon package an investment for my child,when I have one.

Satara is the only district that has marked funds from the National Rural Health Mission for this unique package and has used 100 per cent of the money.