India has the distinction of being the first country in the developing world to initiate a family planning programme-it later came to be called the Family Welfare Programme (FWP)-with a view to bring down the country's fertility level and contain population growth.
The demographic transition in the developed countries occurred without a government sponsored family planning programme. The transition took place in a synchronized manner along with socio-economic development. The rate of growth of their population was never very high.
INDIA IS A VAST country with a population of more than 844 million. The tribal populations of India constitute a significant proportion of India's total population. There are more than 400 tribal population groups constituting
The success of a good planning strategy for the overall development of any society (population) depends upon two main factors.
The rapid rate of population growth in India is adversely affecting every sector of its economic and social development and the country seems to be in the grip of the vicious circle of economic backwardness-high rate of population growthmore economic backwardness.
Although India started its official family planning program way back in 1951, a formal statement on population policy was issued by the Congress Government in 1976 when India passing through Internal Emergency.
India can take legitimate pride that it was one of the earliest nations to introduce a population policy, yet fertility control remains a most contentious problem of electoral politics of India in the 1990s.
Policy decisions taken out of fear result in folly. The author introduces the paper with a plea for critical reflection about the population problem.
Explicit concern over India's rapid rise of population originated in the third decade of this century. Until 1920, India's population had been growing very slowly owing to the heavy toll from famines, epidemics, and wars.
India is one of the few countries where life expectancy of women has been less than that of men till very recently. For rural women this still holds good [1]. More girls than boys die in infancy and childhood.