Family planning cannot be forced

Discussing the issue of population stabilisation specifically for the first time after 33 years,the Lok Sabha on Wednesday arrived at the consensus that there was no scope of legislative force for family planning and called for tactical use of incentives and disincentives to achieve population goals. The discussion was piloted by Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Members across party lines today reminded about Sanjay Gandhis family planning exercise Emergency years. That was a different era when the Congress was in power on its own in the Centre and in most of the states barring a few8230;. I believe that it population stabilisation cannot be achieved through legal force. There are 14 states from all parts of the country which have demonstrated that population can be stabilised without any legal force or coercion, Azad said.

Azad singled out UP,Bihar,MP,Rajasthan,Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh as areas of serious concern as the total fertility rate TFR in these states stood at 3.8 per family. This was in contrast to the 14 states that have managed to achieve a TFR of 2.1 required for population stabilisation by 2010 as envisaged in the Population Policy 2000 during NDA regime.

He said early marriage was one of the worst social customs contributing to population boom.