Woman chosen as key player in population control

Expressbuzz, July 11, 2009

BHUBANESWAR: With the theme “Investing in Women is a Smart Choice” for the World Population Day tomorrow, the United Nations Population Fund Agency (UNPFA) has significantly chosen woman as the key player in controlling the population.


The objective is to provide a conducive atmosphere and make prudent investments in women welfare encompassing all aspects right from quality education to quality reproductive health, gender equality and family planning to effect a conclusive shift in the population dynamics.

But in Orissa, the three main determinants - women’s reproductive health, empowerment and population-cum-development strategies - are not in convergence.

At the recently-concluded International Conference on Population and Development at London, experts noted that family planning programmes are losing steam in the least developed states and the unmet need of contraception remains high.

In Orissa, as per National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-3, some 15 per cent or over 30 lakh women of a total population of two crore do not have access to contraception. This, at a time when the total fertility rate (TFR) of the State in rural areas still is at a high of 2.5. The net replacement rate of 1.8 is needed for the State to stabilise its population. The slow pace of decline in TFR is mainly due to the failure of the Government to address effectively the three vital determinants in the districts of Malkangiri, Nabrangapur, Koraput, Rayagada, Kalahandi, Gajapati and Nuapada and partly in Kandhmal, Balangir, Boudh, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar and Bhadrak.

It is noticed that institutional deliveries - a significant determinant in limiting the family - in the first seven districts is below 40 in 2007-08 and for the latter ones it ranges between 40 and 50. All these districts have a very poor female literacy and women empowerment index.

The NFHS-3 report stands testimony to the poor women empowerment. Family planning is still considered an all- woman issue as only one per cent male opts for sterilization against 33 per cent of the opposite sex.

Condoms, as family planning tools that brings into focus males as players, is used by only 3.2 per cent. As high as 35 per cent have no say on issues pertaining to their own reproductive health.

Over one-third women in Orissa still get married at the age of 18, which is not a good sign for population control solely because of the longer reproductive period they have.

Thus, it is prudent for the Government to focus directly on the troubled districts to bring a paradigm shift in the State’s population dynamics.