Title: Modern fertility control: people's experiences.

POPLINE Document Number: 281849

Author(s):

Patel T

Source citation:

In: Fertility behaviour: population and society in a Rajasthan village [by] Tulsi Patel. New Delhi, India, Oxford University Press, 1994. 18(3):185-214.

Abstract:

Modem means of fertility control have made inroads into Mogra in recent times. Since these means were introduced mainly under the national Family Planning Programme (FPP), this chapter focuses on people's response to it. How did FPP find its way into the village? What do people think about it? Do they evaluate its philosophy and techniques and then accept/reject the total package, or do they judiciously select certain components? Does FPP reinforce prevailing fertility practices or interfere with them? How is it seen in relation to indigenous practices of fertility control discussed in Chapter 6? How do these varying frameworks co-exist in the village? What is the process of acceptance of FPP in the context of prevailing norms, values and cosmology of fertility and its control? Although India is the first country in the world to have officially introduced FPP in 1952 along with the five-year plans, the people of Mogra became familiar with it during the national emergency of 1975-7. A state of national emergency was declared in June 1975 family planning then entered the forefront of Indian politics. The family planning compaign during this period was more intense than at any other time in India, using sometimes coercive methods for its acceptance. During the 22-month period 11 million people (many of them unmarried, many average, and many with less than two children) were sterilized compared with 1.3 million in the preceding year. (excerpt)

Keywords:

India
Philosophical Overview
Women
Family Planning Programs
Birth Spacing
Fertility
Family Size
Contraception
Female Sterilization
Male Sterilization
Developing Countries
Asia, Southern
Asia
Demographic Factors
Population
Family Planning
Programs
Organization and Administration
Population Dynamics
Family Characteristics
Family and Household
Sterilization, Sexual