Raj Bhavan opens doors to family planning

In just two months (November-December 2003), says Raj Bhavan PRO U.R. Kashikar, 800 men have been vasectomised at these camps, receiving Rs 500 each as reward.

The idea came to Fazal from statistics which are available in government files. In 2001, when the government started giving cash incentives for vasectomy operations, the number of these procedures almost trebled in Maharashtra. There was no reason, the Governor figured, for that not to happen again if people were offered enough incentive.

Fazal believes this should be in the range of a whopping Rs 20,000. A comparison? Currently, Health Department officials say, the Centre offers an incentive of only Rs 150 and Maharashtra Rs 351 for a vasectomy operation.

But the Governor’s mathematics is simple. If 50 per cent of eligible couples are sterilised, the projected population of the state (going by the present rate) over time would fall by 60 lakhs. The Government would save a budgetary provision of Rs 11,024 crore if that happens, say Raj Bhavan officials.

While the state government is yet to consider the Governor’s Rs 20,000 suggestion, Dr Prakash Bhatlawande, Additional Director of the State Family Welfare Bureau, admits that cash incentives had led to a surge in the number of vasectomies in the state. This is particularly true in tribal areas of Gadchiroli, Gondia and Chandrapur where vasectomies recorded for the year 2002-2003 are 6,231, 4,270 and 4,260 respectively.

However there is one thing that remains unchanged: the number of tubectomies (performed on women) still far outweigh the number of vasectomies. Consider Pune circle’s performance during November 2003. As against 10,159 tubectomies, there were only 1,806 vasectomies. Similarly, only 582 vasectomies were done in November last year as against 12,162 tubectomies in the Nashik circle. Mumbai circle’s performance during the same period for vasectomies was a mere 122 while there were 9,116 tubectomies. As for the entire state during the same period, there were a total of 69,369 tubectomies as against a dismal 5,960 vasectomies.