FolIowing is the
text of Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee statement at
the meeting of the Chief Ministers of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan
and Uttar Pradesh on the implementation of Population Stabilisation
and Family Welfare Programmes held at here today:
"I welcome you
all to this important meeting to discuss the implementation of
the Population Stabilisation and Family Welfare Programmes in
your respective States.
You will recall that
a few weeks ago, the National Development Council met to endorse
the Tenth Five Year Plan. The Plan directs us to achieve an 8
% annual average GDP growth rate and thus double the per capita
income of our people in ten years. This is necessary to drastically
reduce poverty, create adequate employment opportunities, improve
the overall quality of life for all our citizens, and remove socio-regional
imbalances in development.
The Plan document
also makes it clear that stabilization of population is a pre-condition
for attaining targeted levels of socio-economic development. Among
the Tenth Plan’s 13 mandated objectives, as many as four relate
to population issues. These are: (a) reducing the percentage of
the decadal population growth from 21.3 in 1999-2000 to 16.2 by
2012; (b) reducing infant mortality from 72 to 28 per 1000 live
births; (c) reducing maternal mortality from the current level
of 4 to 1 per 1000; and (d) increasing literacy to 80%.
We have taken many
important steps in the past few years that reflect the Central
Government’s firm commitment to population stabilization. The
National Population Commission has been constituted under my chairmanship.
I have also agreed to chair the National Population Stabilization
Fund for mobilizing non-governmental resources to support the
many initiatives required for achieving our objectives. The Union
Cabinet has approved the National Population Policy laying down
several important targets and goals to be achieved within a time-bound
manner.
However, in the areas
of population stabilization, healthcare, and girls’ education,
what has been worrying me is the big gap between the progress
made in other States and the unsatisfactory performance of the
four northern States of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar
Pradesh. The high growth of population in these four States is
continuing to far outstrip rate of economic growth. And since
these four States alone account for 37% of India’s population,
their laggardly performance is pulling down the socio-economic
development of the country as a whole. I, therefore, urge the
political leadership, bureaucracy, NGOs, religious and social
organizations, and all the people in what is termed as the Hindi
heartland to take the issue of population to their heart and address
it with dedication and commitment.
After seeing the
presentation by the Secretary Family Welfare and reviewing the
evidence before us, it is clear that what is needed is a strong
and sustained political direction, backed by an equally determined
and effective implementation on the ground by the administration
in your States.
We have traveled
a long distance since the time population was first identified
as a national issue three decades ago. Today, unlike in the 1970s,
our people -- including those in rural areas -- do not need to
be convinced about the virtues of a small-family norm. They are
already convinced. What they want are necessary support services
in healthcare, education and family welfare, which are easily
accessible at the local level. Sadly, these services are grossly
inadequate, in numbers as well as in quality, in the four northern
States. There is a huge unmet need for contraceptive services,
in particular. Surveys show that in States like UP and Bihar,
25% of the couples do not want more children, but they are not
using contraceptives for want of access.
There is a crucial
link between population stabilization and improving the delivery
of health services. The Centre provides significant resources
for the provision of these resources, and we are ready to provide
more, wherever needed in these four States. However, I am distressed
by the fact that funds already provided by the Centre are not
only not being fully and properly utilized but, in several instances,
diverted for other purposes.
In some States, there
is a very high and frequent turnover of officers responsible for
implementation of family welfare, health care, and primary and
girls’ education programmes. A large number of posts of doctors,
ANMs and other technical staff are lying vacant and no efforts
have been made to fill them up. It saddens me to note that funds
released even for the payment of salaries to auxiliary nurse midwifes
(ANMs), who are the most important field functionaries in the
population stabilization and family welfare programme in rural
areas, are not paid to them for several months at a time. In several
areas, the public health systems are simply not functioning, and
no responsibility is fixed on the officials for poor performance.
This neglect of governance
is getting reflected in the number of infants who die within a
week of their birth or the women who die in childbirth in many
parts of these four States. There is a close correlation between
high infant mortality rates and parents wanting to have more children.
It is not surprising that the Total Fertility Rate in your States
is nearly double the targeted goal of 2.1, as laid down in the
National Population Policy.
I would like to draw
your attention to two more disturbing trends. One is the resurgence
of polio, which we were to have eradicated by 2000. I would like
Uttar Pradesh, in particular, to pay serious attention to effective
implementation of the polio vaccine programme, since most of the
remaining cases of polio are found in UP.
The second worrying
phenomenon is the falling female-to-male ratio in our population.
There are reports of as many as 1.4 million "missing girls"
in the last ten years because of the widespread practice of female
foeticide and infanticide. This is a blot on our society and an
alarm signal for future social problems. No doubt, this is rampant
in many other parts of our country, including those that are economically
more advanced. Parliament has recently passed an amendment to
the relevant legislation, strengthening punitive provisions against
the offenders. However, what is urgently needed is strong social
awakening, leading to effective social action against such evil
practices.
Before I conclude,
I would like to present the following Action Points to you.
1:Chief Ministers
of these four States should comprehensively review their population
policies to ensure that population stabilization targets are achieved
by 2010 as per the National Population Policy.
2:They should review
the progress of implementation of health, family welfare and girls’
education programmes every month with the concerned ministers
and officials. They should monitor the actual number of eligible
couples in their State accessed through field level workers with
various methods of contraception. They should also monitor the
progress of expenditure incurred by field level functionaries
out of funds sanctioned by the Centre and the State Government.
Copies of these monthly Action Taken Reports should be sent to
the PMO and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare regularly.
3:I shall hold regular
meetings to review the progress of work in these four States with
the Chief Ministers.
4:All the vacant
posts of important healthcare functionaries like ANMs, medical
officers, etc. should be filled up on a priority basis. Adequate
training should be given to all these functionaries immediately
after their recruitment. Similarly, there should be visible improvement
in the quality of health services. Towards this end, all the infrastructure
gaps should be removed in a time-bound manner.
5:We should make
population stabilisation, health and family welfare a People’s
Movement with the widest possible participation of all the institutions
of civil society, especially voluntary organizations, social reform
organisations and cooperative bodies in these four States. I would
especially urge you to make all your programmes gender sensitive
and make women’s empowerment central to your strategy. Patriarchal
attitudes, dowry system, and violence against women have to be
dealt with firmly. Unless we work towards bringing about a positive
change in attitudes and social behavior, achievement of our cherished
developmental goals will continue to elude us.
6:We will have to
mobilize all the available media outlets, both governmental and
privately owned, to launch an effective and sustained communication
campaign to create mass awareness about issues of population,
health and family welfare, and gender justice.
Thank you."
