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National Population Policy of India

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India’s population is estimated to be 1 billion i.e. 100 crore people in the next decade. It accounts for 16 percent of the world’s population with 2.4 percent of the world’s land area and 4 percent of its water resources. According to the UN Report on Economic and Social Affairs, India’s population will reach 1.5 billion by 2030 and 1.64 billion by 2050, making India the largest populous nation by overtaking China. 

The Government of India felt that India needed a population policy to control the birth rate. In subsequent years the government appointed an expert committee under the chairmanship of M.S Swaminathan to frame the National Population Policy. The committee formulated a new population policy in 1994, reviewed by the Department of Family Welfare in 1999, and approved by Parliament in 2000. The monitoring and implementation of the NPP 2000 were done by the National Family Planning Program of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Importance of NPP 2000

The main feature of NPP is to achieve a stable population in line with the needs of a sustainable economy, health control, and environmental protection of the country. For that, the NPP lays down a policy framework for the Government of India on maternal health, child health, and reproductive control policies, including contraception, for the next decade. High Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) indicates the disparity in health care, nutrition, and social and economic structure of people, so NPP plans to reduce MMR to less than 100 per one lakh births. and it also aims to reduce the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) to less than 30 per 1000 live births. However the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) was 3.2 at the time of the National Population Policy, 2000, the NPP was formulated with a feature to bring down the TFR to 2.1 by the next decade, i.e. by 2010.

The NPP-2000 recommends setting up a National Commission on Population, chaired by the Prime Minister, comprising Chief Ministers of all States and Union Territories and the center minister in charge of the department of family welfare and other relevant Union Ministries and Departments, and the Commission has supported the improvement of areas such as clinical, social science, demographic and behavioral science research on maternal, child and reproductive health care issues.

Adolescents represent the 5th part of India’s population, NPP-2000 was formulated with a feature to educate adolescents about the dangers of unwanted sex and unwanted pregnancies, and sexually transmitted diseases (STD),  for that awareness NPP-2000 is planned to be promoted and implemented among children by ICDS. Marriage Regulation Act, 1976. And it also has key features in controlling the spread of AIDS through greater integration between Reproductive Tract Infections (RTI) and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) and the National AIDS Control Agency.

The NPP-2000 has designed its core features to supply birth control devices and create a health protection framework and recruitment of health care workers. It, therefore, aims to establish convergence of service delivery at the village level and improve the health and nutrition of women and children through family welfare services. And it aims for 80 percent institutional deliveries and 100 percent deliveries by trained personnel and to achieve 100 percent registration of births, deaths, marriages, and pregnancies. And it also highlighted the role of Ayurveda, Yoga, Siddha, Unani, and Homeopathy (AYUSH) in the medical system in achieving public health goals.

The NPP-2000 directed the government to make schooling compulsory and free for girls and boys below 14 years of age and to focus on reducing dropouts of boys and girls to less than 20 percent by 2010. And this feature is meant to work against child marriage and encourage girls to marry in their 20s or above. The complex socio-cultural determinants of women’s health and nutrition have a cumulative effect across the lifespan, so NPP-2000 recognizes the need for women’s empowerment and it automatically improves women’s health and nutrition. For that NPP-2000 encourages late marriages and also promotes the standard two-child policy.

Nearly 100 million people live in urban slums without access to potable water, sanitation, and health care services. This contributes to high infant mortality and maternal mortality, therefore, NPP-2000 recommended primary and basic health care including reproductive and child health care needs to be provided. In this context, Panchayati Raj Institutions are responsible for village women and child health, family welfare, and education as per the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992.

Tribal communities, hill populations, and displaced and migrant populations in remote and low-density areas lack access to affordable health care services and have high rates of morbidity stemming from poor nutrition, often with low levels of literacy, in addition, it makes high infant mortality and maternal mortality, so the NPP-2000 recommended that these communities require special attention in terms of primary health and reproductive and child health services.

FAQs on National Population Policy 2000

Question 1: Why National Population Policy is mandatory for a country like India?

Answer:          

As early as the 1920’s Indian officials pointed out that population growth would threaten the nation’s economic development as well as the public health system. In the year 2000, India’s population is estimated to be 1 billion i.e. 100 crore people in the next decade. It accounts for 16 percent of the world’s population with 2.4 percent of the world’s land area and 4 percent of its water resources. According to the UN Report on Economic and Social Affairs, India’s population will reach 1.5 billion by 2030 and 1.64 billion by 2050, making India the largest populous nation by overtaking China.

Question 2: What are the practices made by the Government of India to control the population of India?

Answer:

  • The male and female sterilization technique and the copper-T (T-Cu) insertion technique were adopted in 1965.
  • The National Family Planning Program (NFPP) promoted natural family planning i.e. the rhythm method in the early stages of National Population Policy (NPP) implementation. It later recommended making birth control available in PHCs and CHCs.
  • National Population Stabilisation Fund launched a strategy that increased girl marriage and delayed first childbirth to second childbirth.
  • Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh (JSK) invites private sector gynecologists and vasectomy surgeons to conduct sterilization operations through the PPP model.

Question 3: What are the targets set by NPP-2000 to be achieved by 2010?

Answer: 

  • High Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) plans to reduce MMR to less than 100 per one lakh births.
  • The NPP 2000 aims to reduce the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) to less than 30 per 1000 live births,
  • The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) was targeted to reduce the TFR to 2.1 by 2010.
  • NPP-2000 has 80 percent institutional deliveries and 100 percent deliveries by trained personnel and aims to achieve 100 percent registration of births, deaths, marriages, and pregnancies.

Last Updated : 30 Sep, 2022
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