Dimensions of population policy in India: the psycho-social implications
Shariff, A.; Mouli, A.S.
Indian Journal of Behaviour 2(1): 17-25
1978
ISSN/ISBN: 0970-0897 PMID: 12268320 Document Number: 438292
All population policies, while seemingly identical in their formulation, differ in terms of their veritable ulterior objective. This is due to the fact that the formulation is done by a selected group of planning agencies and the health ministry. As the purport of the population policy rests more or less with the manipulation of the demographic variables, the important components of the population influencing policies should be discussed, as the population-influencing policies intend to impact on the population directly. The important components are fertility regulation, reductions in mortality and morbidity, and migration and population distribution. In India fertility regulations are directed toward achieving a reduced birth rate of 25 by 1984 or a growth rate of 1.25. While India has successfully reduced the mortality rate and the birth rate, the reduction in the rates are not proportional. This has led to a higher growth rate. Consequently, the pressure on the nation at this time is to reduce the birth rate. India has felt the strains of realizing this goal despite her concerted efforts for various reasons. First, birth control programs failed to gain as much acceptance as anticipated, whereas the plans designed to reduce mortality were moderately well received. Additionally, the birth control schemes came to have a cultural taboo, possibly attributable to inadequate and vague propaganda on the part of program administrators as well as illiteracy. Economic pro and con factors also contributed. The extent of migration in India is insignificant for various socioeconomic reasons. First, India is a country where illiteracy is predominant, and this has restrained the scope for migration. Secondly, as 80% of Indians depend on agriculture, they feel satisfied at home with whatever they earn. Regarding in-migration, India, as a developing country experiencing the ills of poverty, unemployment, low capital formation, and a slow pace of technological development, has not attracted in-migrants. India's efforts to delay the age at marriage either through law or persuasion have been futile as most of the young girls are neither in school nor gainfully employed. Laws governing inheritance should provide equal status for daughters whereby the preference to sons would undergo a change. Recently, India took a step in this direction by providing daughters with a share of their ancestral property, but this law gained little momentum in a society where daughters are deprived of any right over their ancestral or parental property. It appears that only a fraction of Indian women would welcome the provision of equal rights because nearly 80% of Indian women live in villages, which do not encourage a departure from the expected traditional role. When formulating population policy, attention should be given to its feasibility in the given social context.