Early
Throughout history, women have practiced forms of birth control and abortion. These practices have generated intense moral, ethical, political and legal debates since abortion is not merely a techno-medical issue, but, "the fulcrum of a much broader ideological struggle in which the very meanings
Once effective methods of fertility limitation become widely available within a population, the impact of fertility intentions on subsequent fertility becomes a matter of both theoretical and practical importance.
A number of recent studies [A] [D] have documented evidence to show that couples have a decided preference for a particular sex combination of children. For example, in many South Asian countries, including India, there is a strong preference for sons over daughters.
Governmental efforts towards fertility reduction often face a dilemma: babies who are planners' worry are also a parent's hope and joy (Mandelbaum 1974:110). The beliefs of the people on this subject and what planners believe ought to be done may on occasion diverge substantially.
It is now common practice to infer the social status of women from their demographic characteristics. Yet it is not so easy to read through demographic progress, in terms of declines in mortality and fertility, to make unambiguous judgments about trends in women's social standing.
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 growth more economic backwardness.
During the last two decades, a large number of studies have been published on slums. The studies have usually been conducted by various agencies as a part of successive population censuses, or as a part of general physical and socioeconomic surveys.
For the year 1993 (latest available) Registrar General of India reports a death rate of 9 per 1000 population. World Bank (1993, p.290) reports the same figure as a death rate for the countries that the Bank classifies as high income economies (HIEs).
THERE is enough evidence to show that often, development policies adopted by governments have widened the disparities amongst sections of people.