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NEW DELHI: After a long break, the government is
talking family planning again. In what marks a change
from the "population dividend" argument that replaced "parivar
niyojan" of the 1970's, health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad
has suggested late marriages as a means of checking
population growth.
In a country where even now women in their mid-20s are
seen to be getting "past" the marriageable age and
where, in rural areas, girls in the age group of 16-18
getting married to boys in their early 20's is still
very the norm, Azad's idea may sound somewhat radical.
But the minister is quite serious and feels that late
marriages may be the solution to contain India's teeming
millions. At a function to commemorate the `World
Population Day', where rural couples opting to marry
after 18 and planning their families were awarded, Azad
pointed out that they were merely following the law.
"Only people who opt to marry at 30-31 should be
awarded," he said according to an agency report though
he quickly dismissed questions over whether he wanted
the marriageable age to be raised to 30. He said he was
talking in terms of awards as incentives to such
couples.
His concern over the fast growing population is a break
from the view that growing urbanisation, prosperity and
education would in themselves bring about smaller
families. Clearly feeling that an evolutionary process
would take too long, he said India's population was
putting tremendous pressure on depleting natural
resources.
"Even countries like Australia, United States and the
Middle East where people went in search of employment
are turning Indians back to secure jobs for their own
people," he warned. "This has been the trend over the
last one year," he said.
The rate of development of resources in India was far
less than the spurt in population, he said asking the
media, bureaucracy and the civil society to create more
awareness among rural masses. "The fight in the future
and at present is between haves and have nots. The
Naxalite movement is a result of this," he went on to
say.
Azad said information about family planning as well as
its importance should be imparted at the grassroots
level. He found some support from former rural
development minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh who said
giving incentives to people opting for good family
planning measures was the only option available. Apart
from this, strict vigilance and monitoring was also
needed, he said.
Azad also gave away awards to some couples who had
adopted good family planning measures in rural districts
and a 12-year-old girl Rekha Kalindi, who had refused to
be married off at such a young age.
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