Measures to control population:
Following steps should be taken to control population:
1. Mass education and awareness:
- In order to reduce birth-rate it is necessary to make people realise the importance of small families.
- Demographers believe that the best method of population control is to educate people in this regard.
- Awareness should be spread by telecasting various programmes through media. Lectures, .seminars, plays, mock and songs should be arranged in schools and colleges to educate people and create awareness on population control.
- In year 2000, government put a special emphasis on upliftment of women in its population policy. Such initiatives can help drastically to control population.
2. Effectiveness of family planning programme:
Government increased its family planning services so that family planning programme and its public awareness can be made more effective.
- It is essential that contraceptives which play a major role in preventing birth¬rate are available to people easily and at cheap rates.
- In the population policy of 2000, changes were made in the programme related to family planning. It was decided to give more focus on preventing unwanted pregnancy by adopting suitable preventive methods rather than giving undue importance to sterilization.
3. Increasing the age of marriage and raising the status of women:
- One of the ways to reduce birth-rate is by increasing the legal age of marriage particularly for women.
- In the population policy of 2000, it was emphasized to increase the age of marriage for women from 18 to 20 years.
- The size of family can be controlled if the status of women is increased in the society and if equal opportunities are given to both men and women in the matters of education and employment.
4. Encouragement and discouragement:
- The encouragement and discouragement offered by the Government play a very important role in family planning. For example, government gives financial compensation to those couples who undergo sterilization.
- To discourage the rising population China has adopted a policy in which if a couple has more than two children than the government withdraws several facilities from that couple. However, China has relaxed this policy to some extent. This discourages the couples to give birth to more than 1 child. Similar policy can be adopted in India as well.
- In India, people contesting for local self-government elections are disqualified if they have more than two children.
5. Expanding medical services and its effectiveness:
- In India death-rate has come down but it is still higher than some of the developed countries. Advancement in medical science has increased the services and facilities for child birth and health of the new born.
- Efforts should be made to see that vaccination facilities are available easily and everywhere. Awareness regarding communicable and sexual diseases like AIDS, various infections, etc. should be increased. This can help to reduce death-rate and infant mortality rate.
- India was the first county in the world to introduce population policy to control population. A committee was set up to frame New Population Policy of 2000 under the Chairmanship of Dr. M.S. Swaminathan.
