Modern Fertility Control: People's Experiences

Abstract

Modem means of fertility control have made inroads into Mogra in recent times. Since these means were introduced mainly under the national Family Planning Programme (FPP), this chapter focuses on people's response to it. How did FPP find its way into the village? What do people think about it? Do they evaluate its
philosophy and techniques and then accept/reject the total package, or do they judiciously select certain components? Does FPP reinforce prevailing fertility practices or interfere with them? How is it seen in relation to indigenous practices of fertility control discussed in Chapter 6? How do these varying frameworks co-exist in the village? What is the process of acceptance of FPP in the context of prevailing norms, values and cosmology of fertility and its control? Although India is the first country in the world to have officially introduced FPP in 1952 along with the five-year plans, the people of Mogra became familiar with it during the national emergency of 1975-7.