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Partnerships for
Population Stabilisation: World Population
Day 2009
“I don’t want
to get married before I finish school. I
have seen with my own eyes my elder sister
who was married at twelve, lose all her
3 children in infancy. Today she is physically
weak and ill and detested by her in laws.
I do not want such a fate for myself.”
Narrating her story at the World Population
Day 2009 celebrations in Vigyan Bhawan,
New Delhi was Rekha Kalindi, a diminutive
but confident 13 year old from Purulia district
in West Bengal who shot into the limelight
when she refused to comply with her parents’
wishes to get married at the age of twelve.
The World Population Day 2009 with the theme
‘Partnership for Population Stabilisation’
sought to learn from and recognize initiatives
that impact population stabilisation in
the country from courageous individuals
like Rekha, to government and corporate
partnerships.
Delivering his Presidential Address at the
occasion, the Minister for Health and Family
Welfare, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad emphasised
that the benefits of developments are being
negated by the ever rising population which
is the basic cause of many problems facing
the country including poverty, unemployment
and rising prices. Problems like Naxalism
are also a reflection of this mismatch between
population and resources.
Reminding the audience that India which
has just 2.5% of the global land area contributes
to about 17% of the world population, he
said there is a need to refocus on population
control in a concerted way of which delaying
marriage and suitable gap between two children
are possible solutions.
“Population control is in everybody’s interest
and should be promoted from every available
forum”, emphasized the Minister.
Already a billion plus, India in the coming
decades is headed towards becoming the world’s
most populous country. Fifty one percent
of the population is in the young reproductive
age group. Commenting on the projected demographic
dividend for India, the Minister of State
for Health and Family Welfare, Shri Dinesh
Trivedi said that in order to make country’s
young population an asset for the future,
there is an urgent need to promote education
and awareness amongst them.
The challenges are many. A high percentage
of girls marry by age eighteen in rural
areas and begin child bearing soon after;
thirty five lakh adolescent girls begin
childbearing each year, high levels of child
malnutrition persist even in prosperous
states, high levels of illiteracy among
married women limit their capacity to negotiate
their reproductive rights. Meeting these
challenges is essential to stabilise the
population for promoting sustainable development
and equitable growth.
The former Union Minister and Member of
Parliament Dr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh described
the rising population as one of the most
critical problems facing the country. “We
need to do three things to stabilise population
– Increase awareness generation, build people's
participation and have transparency and
strict vigilance to tackle this problem”
he said.
Partnerships for Population Stabilization
between government and civil society, public
and private sector are the need of the hour.
Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh (JSK) has partnered
with Jindal Steel Works (JSW), Nehru Yuvak
Kendra Sangathan to implement Prerna a strategy
that awards couples for demonstrating their
Responsible Parenthood practises of marrying
after legal age and birth spacing.
4 Prerna awardee couples from Orissa, Chattisgarh
and Barmer were felicitated on the occasion
by the Union Health Minister. Narrating
her personal experiences, Surekha Patel
from Rajnandgaon, Chattisgarh recalled that
when she did not produce a child within
a year of marriage, friends and family used
to taunt her. But when she and her husband
were selected for the Prerna Award, they
were praised by the same people for being
samajhdaar. She acknowledges the supportive
role that her husband played in spacing
the birth of their child.
Also speaking on the occasion were Ms Kiran
Walia, Health Minister, Govt of NCT Delhi;
Mr Sandeep Dixit, MP; Ms Shailaja Chandra,
former Chief Secretary, Govt of NCP Delhi
and former Executive Director JSK on JSK’s
initiatives with civil society; Mr Gopi
Gopalakrishnan, Founder, JANANI and President
World Health Partners on the experience
of partnerships in Bihar; Mr T. V. Antony,
National Advisor on Population Stabilisation
on the Rajasthan experience and Mr Ravi
Jain, District Collector, Barmer, Rajasthan.
Mr Amarjeet Sinha, Joint Secretary MoHFW
and Executive Director JSK addressing the
gathering focused on the huge unmet demand
for contraception in the most problematic
states of Bihar, UP, Jharkhand Orissa and
Chattisgarh and stressed on the need for
partnerships at all levels for making services
available to the people.
JSK in collaboration with Network 18 has
produced 3 spots on issues of child marriage,
teenage pregnancies and male child preference
that were also shown on the occasion.
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