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The Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss today released the State of World Population, 2004 Report in New Delhi. Speaking after releasing the report, Dr. Ramadoss said that the Government is working on a comprehensive package for population stabilization which would include measures for reducing IMR and MMR, improvement in child survival and maternal health standards and motivation for institutional deliveries. Infrastructure will be strengthened through private partnership for institutional deliveries. However, Dr. Ramadoss stressed that the Government’s strategy will be voluntary compliance and there will be no coercion. The strategy would be twofold:awareness creation on the one hand with creation of suitable infrastructure on the other.
The Minister explained at length the adverse effect of not stabilising population at the rate of 2.1 and pointed out that if measures are not taken towards population stabilization, we would be confronted with a population of 180 crores by 2045. Moreover, we will not reach a target of 2.1 by 2010 if the current trend continues.
Secretary, Family Welfare speaking on the occasion sought the endorsement for induction of professional management and accounting skills to give momentum to the programme. He said that the next 10 years following the Cairo Consensus should be underlined as ICDP plus action.
The state of world population, 2004 report has several references to India. It mentions the adoption of a declaration of reproductive rights adopted by the Indian Human Rights Commission. The report commends India’s collaborative action to promote gender equality which include:-
Development of a gender policy analysis framework;
Support for a comprehensive gender-disaggregated database;
Support to promote gender equality;
Assistance in developing gender-sensitive state plans;
Promotion of inter-agency action research on gender.
Through the report, several Indian achievements have been enlisted such as addressing inequality in health programmes, reproductive rights and diminishing gender gaps in literacy in some states.
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