Thiruvananthapuram: The incorporation of health concerns into development goals has been the highlight of the National Population Policy (NPP), Mala Ramanathan, Associate Professor, Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, the public health research wing of Sri Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, has said.

However, whether population growth is at the root of all of India's development problems and whether less population means more development should be thought about, Dr. Ramanathan pointed out.

She was delivering a lecture on India's population policy, at the Centre for Development Studies here on Tuesday, on the occasion of World Population Day.

More than imposing family planning programmes and contraceptive measures, it is enabling conditions like literacy, access to food, work and health that motivate families to keep the family size in check. With development, people will adopt contraception on their own, she pointed out.

The population policy has incorporated many `promotional and motivational measures' like rewarding panchayats for exemplary performance in achieving small family norms. On the other hand, States with high birth rates have to face penalties such as restrictions in electoral representation.

Instead of the State assuming responsibility for creating conducive environment for fertility reduction, the reproductive rights of individuals are held to ransom, Dr. Ramanathan said.

The first national population policy of the country was formulated in 1976 and it laid down the targets of a birth rate of 25 per 1,000 live births, a growth rate of 1.4 per cent by the end of the Sixth Plan period. The proposed legislation of compulsory sterilisation of a couple after they had a certain number of children was one of the most controversial aspects of that policy, which was dropped later.

The National Population Policy 2000 has been based on the need to simultaneously address issues of child survival, maternal health and contraception, while providing integrated service delivery of basic reproductive and child health care.

It aims at bringing the Total Fertility Rate (average number of children a woman would have during her lifetime) to replacement levels (when number of births equals the number of deaths) by 2010.

The new approach, it is hoped, will help reach population stabilisation by 2045, at a level consistent with the requirements of sustainable economic growth, social development and environmental protection.

However, the emphasis continues to be on fertility reduction and total fertility rate seems to be the sole indicator upon which the National Population Policy is being monitored. The policy also makes no mention of mortality reduction, Dr. Ramanathan said.

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