The causes of demographic change in rural south India: a micro approach
Caldwell, J.C.; Reddy, P.H.; Caldwell, P.
Population and Development Review 8(4): 689-727
1982
ISSN/ISBN: 0098-7921 DOI: 10.2307/1972469Document Number: 412166
Although rural India often appears timeless, much social, economic, and demographic change has been observed in a study of one small area in rural Karnataka, about 125 kilometres west of the city of Bangalore. Among the demographic changes since 1950 are declining mortality, rising age of female marriage, reductions in fertility, and shortened periods of postnatal sexual abstinence and lactation. These demographic events are products of massive social and economic changes, including the growth of non-agricultural employment and a monetized economy. Institutional change has also been influential: the provision of schools, a denser network of health centres, and attempts to implement land reform. Sterilization remains virtually the only fertility control method offered to the rural masses. Resistance to having the operation remains strong, mainly due to fear of side effects and to doubts about the reality of economic gains resulting from fertility regulation.