On the 16th of March 1998, at the final hearing of the writ petition filed by the All India Democratic Women's Association and the faculty of the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, the Drug Controller of India gave a written commitment to

The focus on mother and child health as a key element in Indian health policy evolved out of what was identified as one of the strongest explanatory factors for continued high fertility, viz., the high infant mortality rates.