One of the purposes of family planning programmes in developing countries is to provide for the unmet needs of couples for contraception.

The quinacrine trials raise a host of questions regarding the safety of this method of sterilization and the methodology used to assess this.

Otempora! O mores! This cri decoeur will perhaps be evoked in those reading the spate of reports lately, on surreptitious "trials" on the non-surgical sterilization of women with quinacrine, being carried out by NG0s and private doctors in a host of places in the country.

In recent years, with the increased pace of urbanisation and modernisation, Indian women of all social classes have entered professional occupations.