This document summarizes India's population policies from the pre-independence period up until the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012). It notes that in the pre-independence period, the British showed indifference to population issues. After independence, the First Five Year Plan (1951-1956) introduced family planning programs. Subsequent plans emphasized reducing birth rates and increasing access to healthcare. The National Population Policy of 1976 aimed to raise the marriage age and promote women's education. The Ninth Five Year Plan adopted the National Population Policy of 2000, aiming to reduce fertility rates and achieve zero population growth by 2045. The Tenth and Eleventh Plans continued implementing previous policies and targets.

1. Mithun Ray
Department of Geography
Malda College (University of Gour Banga)
E-mail: mithun.ray147@gmail.com
Population Policy in India

2. What is Policy!
 Policy describes what to do and what
not
 Set of ideas or plans that is used as a
basis for decision making
 Attitude and actions of an organisation
regarding a particular issue
 General statement of understanding
which guide decision making

3. Population Policy
Legislative measures, administrative programmes and other
government actions in a country intended to regulate
population size and its various attributes in the larger interest
of the social, political and economic goals.
“Measures and programmes designed to the achievement of
economic, social, demographic, political and other collective
goals through affecting critical demographic variables” [UNO,
1995]

4. Why India
needs
population policy

5. Population Policy in Pre-Independence
Period (Before 1947)
Before independence, the Britishers did not consider population growth as a problem
Their attitude towards birth control was one of indifference because they never wanted
to interfere with the values, beliefs, customs and traditions of Indians. That is why this
phase is called the Period of Indifference.
The intelligensia in India was aware of the problem of growing population and did
advocate birth control. Among them P.K. Wattal was the pioneer who wrote a book on
Population Problem in India in 1916, followed by R.D. Karve, Rabindranath Tagore,
M.K.Gandhi, P.N. Sapru, Jawaharlal Nehru and Bhore Committee among others who
advocated birth control.

6. The period following independence and before the beginning
of the planning era was one of neutrality. The Government of
India was busy with the post-independence problems like
rehabilitation of the people following the Partition,
reorganisation of the States and Pakistan’s invasion of Kashmir.
However, at one of the meetings of the Planning Commission
in 1949, Jawaharlal Nehru laid emphasis on the need for family
planning programme in India.
Period of Neutrality (1947- 1951)

7. First Five Year Plan (1951-56)
 Introduction of Family Planning
 Allotted 65 lakh

8. Second Five Year Plan (1956-61)
 Emphasis on reducing birth rate
To reduce birth rate Clinical Approach was
introduced
 Allotted 5 crore

9. Third Five Year Plan (1961-66)
 Emphasis given on literacy growth to reduce birth
rate
 Health workers were advised to go door to door to
make women aware about family planning
 Allotted 27 crore

10. Fourth Five Year Plan (1969-74)
 Population problems was viewed through socio-
economic approach
 Training of health workers for safety of mothers and
childs
 Allotted 315 crore

11. Fifth Five Year Plan(1974-79)
 National Population policy, 1976
 Allotted 700 crore

12. National Population Policy 1976
 Minimum age of marriage was raised from 15 to 18 years for
girls and 18 to 21 years for boys.
 Emphasis on Women education at least up to middle level
 Economic assistance for sterilization
Modifications of Population Policy 1976
by Janata Sarkar in 1977
• Family Planning Programme was renamed as Family Welfare
Programme
• Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Act, 1978
• Sterilization was made optional
• Introduction of population studies in education system

13. Sixth Five Year Plan (1980-85)
 Target Year 2000 to minimise CBR and CDR/ CMR below 21
and 9 respectively

14. Seventh Five Year Plan (1986-91)
 Integration of Family planning with health of both mothers
and childs
 Encouragement to couples to not giving birth more than
two childs
 Child Survival and safe Safe Motherhood Programme was
introduced
 1.3 lakh primary health centres were established

15. Eight Five Year Plan ( 1992-97)
 Indian population projection
 Innovations in family planning
 Integration of population policies along with policies related
to women right, poverty alleviation etc.
 New Child Health Programme 1997

16. Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002)
National Population Policy 2000 (NPP,2000)
Target:
A. Short Term: To reduce infant mortality rate to below 30 per thousand live
births by 2012
To reduce maternal mortality rate to below one per 1000 live births
B. Medium Term: To reduce total fertility rate to 2.1 by 2010
C. Long Term: To achieve zero growth rate of population by 2045

17. Objectives of NPP 2000
 To meet the unfulfilled needs for basic reproductive and child health
care services, supplies and infrastructure.
 To make school education upto age 14 free and compulsory.
 To achieve universal immunization of children against all vaccine
preventablediseases.
 To promote delayed marriage for girls not earlier than age 18 years of
age.
 To achieve 100 per cent deliveries by trained persons.
 To make registration of birth, death, marriage and to information for
pregnancy compulsory.
 To curtail spread of AIDS.
 To achieve universal access8.contraception.
 To propagate vigorously the benefits of small family norms.

18. Strategic Themes of NPP 2000
The National Population Policy has identified the following strategic themes
 Decentralized planning and programme implementation under which
panchayats and other local bodies will plan and implement the family s
programme. They will "think, plan and act locally and support nation
 Expansion of family welfare.
 Special provisions child health.
 Empowering women for improved wealth and nutrition.
 Special family welfare programme for urban slums, tribals and hilly people
 Use of Indian medicines and homeopathy for family welfare.
 Research on contraceptive technology.
 Support for senior citizens.
 Increasing male participation in family welfare programme.

19. Tenth Five Year Plan ( 2002-2007
 Janani Suraksha Yojana
 Neonatal Management initiative
 Implementation of previous policies

20. Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)
 To reduce child death rate below 28 per 1000 births by 2012
 Maternal Mortality Rate below 1 per 1000 by 2012
 Economic encouragement for implementation of NPP 2000

21. This Power Point Presentation (PPT) has been
prepared especially for Undergraduate
Students. The materials (Maps, Diagrams and
Images) used in this presentation were
collected and compiled mainly from variours
academic blogs, research papers, books etc.
The author has designed this PPT according to
his convenience to deliver the lecture.

22. THANK YOU