National population policy of 2000, a commitment on the part of the government towards stabilizing the population by providing for the citizens to make voluntary and informed decisions about their family size. The policy wants to build up capacities and to achieve certain population goals by 2020 so that by 2045 a stable population is reached.
The level of population should be consistent with sustainable growth and social development. The policy achieves to accomplish net replacement level of fertility. Total fertility Rate or TFR shows the average number of children a woman will have in her child bearing period.
The women will have to have same fertility pattern as observed by age specifics fertility rate currently the magic figure of TFR for India is 2.1. (TFR = 2.1) by 2010.
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Some major targets to achieve stable population by 2045:
(a) Reduction of infant mortality rate 30 per 1000 live birth.
(b) Universal immunisation.
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(c) Decline of natural mortality rate below 100 per 100,00 live birth.
(d) Access to information about AIDS, prevention and control of transmission diseases.
(e) Offer of incentive for two children per family.
(f) Stricter enforcement of Pre-natural Diagnostic Technique Acts as well as Child Marriage Act. Rising girl’s marriage age to 20.
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(g) A commission to be established under the chairmanship of Prime Minister to look about the observation and implementation of population policy.
(h) It has been decided to keep the population within the target of 1100 million by 2010.
(i) Health insurance covers to be extended who undergo sterilisation.
(j) There will be terminal methods of contraception for woman after 2nd child.
Critics of the population policy have pointed out that this Mohan Rao “Population Policy : From Bad to Worse” EPW, June 11,2000, policy has “population stabilisation rather than the health and well being of the people as a goal, it is not integrated with health or indeed with myriad other sectors that control population dynamics. Several state governments at the behest of an American Consultancy firm have announced population policies, which, in very significant ways, violate the letter and spirit of the population policy.”