Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
Notice (8): Undefined variable: urlPrefix [APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8]interviews/poonam-muttreja-executive-director-of-the-population-foundation-of-india-interviewed-by-govindraj-ethiraj-india-spend.html"/> Interviews | Poonam Muttreja, executive director of the Population Foundation of India, interviewed by Govindraj Ethiraj (India Spend) | Im4change.org
Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Poonam Muttreja, executive director of the Population Foundation of India, interviewed by Govindraj Ethiraj (India Spend)

-IndiaSpend.com

The United Nations projects that India's total population will surpass China's much sooner than expected, but even so, data show that India's population is actually declining, says Poonam Muttreja of the Population Foundation of India

Mumbai: "What could women do if they wanted fewer children? They were opting for, amongst other things, abortion," says Poonam Muttreja, executive director of the Population Foundation of India. "Abortion rates as a proxy for contraception are unacceptably high in India."

Muttreja is talking of Indian women who do not have access to contraception, and are instead forced to abort unwanted pregnancies as a way of family planning, which is important in light of the United Nations' World Population Report 2022 that has forecast that India will surpass China in terms of total population in 2023, four years ahead of the previous UN forecast of 2027.

India will thus become the most populous country next year and is expected to reach a total population of 1.5 billion by 2030 and 1.66 billion by 2050, the UN said. To discuss the social implications, we spoke with Muttreja, who has a Master's in Public Administration from Harvard University, USA and has spent over 40 years in various roles in India's development sector.

Even if all these millions of young people have just one child, India's population is going to grow, says Muttreja. But India did not need a UN report for this, as its own data, from the National Family Health Survey, and the Census, already show what direction the country was headed, she explained. "Why express shock as a nation that we are overtaking China, or our population is increasing in terms of numbers?"

Muttreja talks about what India must do to avoid demographic disaster, why women need easier access to contraception, and why men need to be involved in family planning.

Edited excerpts:

* Let's look at India's population growth numbers in terms of our own resources and our ability to provide good social and economic prospects, including job opportunities, to our young population. Where do we stand right now in terms of our capability of providing these resources to manage a growing population?

I give India literally three or four out of 10, and I'll explain why. We in India knew where we stood in terms of demographics and numbers, and in which direction we were going, but we have done very little to invest in either health or education or skill development. We talk a lot about skill development and India's demographic dividend, as though it's an automatic thing that will happen. Though there is a window of opportunity we still have [to reap the demographic dividend], it's limited. It won't last forever.

About 15 years ago, we got a study done which showed that only 2% of Indians had the skills and capabilities of entering the job market, where the good job opportunities exist. That hasn't improved very much, if you look at the numbers. It could be 3% by now, but it is still dismally low.

Second, where is our investment in health? We invest 1.4% [instead of] 3% of our gross domestic product in health. The previous and current government have talked about increasing investments in health. But within the health sector, [family planning accounts for] a meagre 6% of the meagre health budget. We don't even invest much in temporary [family planning] methods, which is what young people who want to postpone having children or to space [apart] childbirth, need. Why do we invest 85% of our [family planning] expenditure in permanent methods, which is sterilisation? Around 77% of Indian women who undergo sterilisation have never had prior experience with temporary methods of family planning.

In education, I think India has made some progress, though we need to do a lot more. I'm not going to talk about learning achievements, but just in terms of the fact that if a woman is educated up to class 12, she'll have fewer children, i.e. two or less, and if she has lesser education, she will have three or more children. So there, we've made some progress.

Please click here to read more.

Image Courtesy: India Spend