India National Population Policy 2000

National Population Policy 2000 - INTRODUCTION

1 The overriding objective of economic and social development is to improve the

quality of lives that people lead, to enhance their well-being, and to provide them

with opportunities and choices to become productive assets in society.

2 In 1952, India was the first country in the world to launch a national programme,

emphasizing family planning to the extent necessary for reducing birth rates "to

stabilize the population at a level consistent with the requirement of national

economy"1 . After 1952, sharp declines in death rates were, however, not

accompanied by a similar drop in birth rates. The National Health Policy, 1983

stated that replacement levels of total fertility rate2 (TFR) should be achieved by

the year 2000.

3 On 11 May, 2000 India is projected to have 1 billion3 (100 crore) people, i.e. 16

percent of the world's population on 2.4 percent of the globe's land area. If current

trends continue, India may overtake China in 2045, to become the most populous

country in the world. While global population has increased threefold during this

century, from 2 billion to 6 billion, the population of India has increased nearly five

times from 238 million (23 crores) to 1 billion in the same period. India's current

annual increase in population of 15.5 million is large enough to neutralize efforts

to conserve the resource endowment and environment.

Box 1: India's Demographic Achievement

Half a century after formulating the national family welfare programme, India has:

? reduced crude birth rate (CBR) from 40.8 (1951) to 26.4 (1998, SRS);

? halved the infant mortality rate (IMR) from 146 per 1000 live births (1951)

to 72 per 1000 live births (1998, SRS);

? quadrupled the couple protection rate (CPR) from 10.4 percent (1971) to

44 percent (1999);

? reduced crude death rate (CDR) from 25 (1951) to 9.0 (1998, SRS);

? added 25 years to life expectancy from 37 years to 62 years;

? achieved nearly universal awareness of the need for and methods of

family planning, and

? reduced total fertility rate from 6.0 (1951) to 3.3 (1997, SRS).

4 India's population in 1991 and projections to 2016 are as follows:

Table 1: Population Projections for India (million)3

March 1991 March 2001 March 2011 March 2016

846.3 1012.4 1178.9 1263.5

1 Milestones in the Evolution of the Population Policy are listed at Appendix II, page 30

2 TFR: Average number of children born to a woman during her lifetime.

3 Source: Technical Group on Population Projections,Planning Commission.

5 Stabilising population is an essential requirement for promoting sustainable

development with more equitable distribution. However, it is as much a function of

making reproductive health care accessible and affordable for all, as of increasing

the provision and outreach of primary and secondary education, extending basic

amenities including sanitation, safe drinking water and housing, besides

empowering women and enhancing their employment opportunities, and providing

transport and communications.

6 The National Population Policy, 2000 (NPP 2000) affirms the commitment of

government towards voluntary and informed choice and consent of citizens while

availing of reproductive health care services, and continuation of the target free

approach in administering family planning services. The NPP 2000 provides a

policy framework for advancing goals and prioritizing strategies during the next

decade, to meet the reproductive and child health needs of the people of India,

and to achieve net replacement levels (TFR) by 2010. It is based upon the need to

simultaneously address issues of child survival, maternal health, and

contraception, while increasing outreach and coverage of a comprehensive

package of reproductive and child heath services by government, industry and the

voluntary non-government sector, working in partnership.

OBJECTIVES

1 The immediate objective of the NPP 2000 is to address the unmet needs for

contraception, health care infrastructure, and health personnel, and to provide

integrated service delivery forbasic reproductive and child health care. The

medium-term objective is to bring the TFR to replacement levels by 2010, through

vigorous implementation of inter-sectoral operational strategies. The long-term

objective is to achieve a stable population by 2045, at a level consistent with the

requirements of sustainable economic growth, social development, and

environmental protection.

2 In pursuance of these objectives, the following National Socio-Demographic