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India Evolves New Strategy in Family Planning
Anew package of awards and incentive* has been formulated by the Indian government to step up the pace of birth control.
Many observer* believe that the family planning programme has hit a plateau and that it require* drastic reforms and pruning.
Policy maker* and analyst* have told Depthnews. "We are facing a difficult situation. If we launch disincentives, the danger 1s that the entire birth control project may collapse Politicians may hit the entire programme. So. a compromise formula has to be found."
One of the major planks of the family planning programme so far has been the giving away of cash incentives to state governments. Individuals and promoter*. Now. such Incentives are to go with the exception of compensation money given to Individual acceptor* for fos* of
restructuring of the package has been thoroughly discussed by planner* and official* In the Health Ministry recently. Analyst* pointed out that the state governments tn their anxiety to win large sums of money a* award* had hooked their book*.
A* one senior official pointed out. They were over reporting the number of sterilisation operations. The family planning targets fixed by the state governments were often unrealistic and driven by the desire to win awards "
The belief has hardened that thi* scheme has not helped much In bringing down the population figures
A whopping sum of 1.000 million rupee* (USg80 million) I* being spent annually by the Health Ministry on Incentive package*. Of this. 500 million rupee* (US640 million) is awarded to the state government*. Now this will go
But 500 million rupee* will still be available to individual acceptor* of the sterilisation scheme "We do not want to be seen a* a big bully or a central regulator But we have to make »ure that the money we spent must yield result*." says one government official
Policymaker* worry that if ■uch funds are totally withdrawn. there would have been a hue and cry. Now It Is believed that the state governments will come round the view that the Incentive scheme has not done much to push the family planning programme.
It has been suggested that there should be soft options like curtailment of maternity leave and leave travel allowance for those civil servants and employees of public sector firms who Insist on having large families.
Policymakers have now agreed that there should be a community-based package of incentives These will Include house-building loans and allotment of house sites on a preferential basis. A young civil servant who has Just one or two children will be offered a house or land for building a house at a concessional rate.
A major departure point Is the dropping of predetermined targets for various
method* of family planning Instead, different parameters are to be used These will take Into account the literacy rate of women, the maternal and Infant mortality rates, the birth rate, the state of the maternal and child health services and the marriage age.
Thus, there will be a greater stress on the rote of women for giving award* and the grant of incentives.
One policy analyst has calculated that the share of family planning tn the total public sector outlay has remained static at 1.3 to 1.8 per cent .
"How can you achieve anything by spending such poor amounts on family planning when you are spending thousands of millions of rupees on the defenceservices and buying arms?” asks one observer.
It ts now increasingly felt that the state governments are living on the bounty of New Delhi. They must dig In their own purse to find money for running health centres and
medical clinics.
Another aspect of the strategy I* to identify district* which are doing poorly in the state* of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar. Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan tn what I* known a* the Cow Belt A* many a* 206 districts have been pinpointed. Area specific plans will be prepared to strengthen the infrastructure In these Northern states.
A different kind of? . monitoring and evaluation ' mechanism will be set up. It should not be based on the achievement of targets, but on success measured on the basis of declining birth rates, reduction in infant and maternal mortality rates and the rise In the marriage age.
Appalled at the lack of response of non-governmental organisations to the family planning programme (barely 300 agencies are working in this field), a new plan will have 20 per cent of the money coming from voluntary organisations. ‘ — Depthnews.