NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said that the essence of the population policy must be to transform people into social and national assets.

Speaking after releasing a report — "Person-to-Person Advocacy with Parliamentarians on Population issues" — brought out by the Indian Association of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, Dr. Singh said that a person could be regarded as a "liability" if he or she could not be a productive member of society. However, we can convert a "liability" into an "asset" by investing in that person's education, health and skills. It is such investment in our people's capabilities that not only enrich and liberate individual lives, but also contribute to overall national progress, he said.

Of national concern

Pointing out that health and population policy also happened to be an area of great national concern, Dr. Singh said there was a vital link between reproductive health, the health of mother and child and the general health of the entire family. He said he was happy that emphasis had shifted from population control to reproductive health, improvement of the health and social and economic status of our women, with special emphasis on the needs of our children.

"There are, of course, related challenges like HIV/ AIDS and others which impose an enormous social and economic burden on us. I make particular emphasis on the control of AIDS because in our setting, there are still many cultural taboos that prevent the openness in discussions on matters relating to human sexuality. But if we don't wake up, this will leave a deep burden on our economy as it affects the most productive sections of our population," Dr. Singh said.

Low awareness

The report, based on interaction with 250 Members of Parliament, has come up with interesting facts, including that more than half of the respondents believed HIV/AIDS could be spread by sharing clothes, food and utensils. While 95.6 per cent of the MPs were aware of sexually transmitted infection and HIV/AIDS, few were aware of how it was transmitted.

A discussion about their priority areas as MPs revealed that most of them were involved in activities in the development sector, followed by health, education and social service in their constituencies. All of them expressed concern about the country's size of population and said that it was a big barrier to economic growth and poverty alleviation. They felt the need for proper logistics, supply of contraceptives, medicines, equipment and other related facilities at health services centres.

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