The tenth-plan has proposed to fully meet the need for family welfare services and enable families to achieve their reproductive goals with paradigm shift through, focusing on fulfilling the demographic targets by the couples, to achieve their reproductive goals, launching of women centric programme to meet the health care need of the family with involvement of men in the planned.
Parenthood, target oriented area specific micro-planning as well as implementation of Reproductive and Child Health Care (RCH) progamme to reduce infant mortality and reduce high level of desired fertility. The Tenth Plan also wants to set method for specific targets to meeting all the unmel need for contraception to minimise undesirable pregnancies.
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Tenth plan targets for population parameter:
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The tenth plan targets to reduce infant mortality rate to 45/1000 by 2007 and 28/1000 by 2012, reduction in MMRto 2/1000 live births by 2007 and 1/1000 live births by 2012 and reduction in decadal growth rate of population between 2001-11 to 16.2.
Total money allocated for family welfare is Rs. 27,125/- crores against Rs. 15120/- in 9th Five Year Plan. A recent study suggests that from 1980s late 1990s there has been an appreciable fall in Total Fertility rate (TFR) 3.9 to 2.4 in urban areas and 5.2 to 3.6 in rural areas.
Estimates of future projections reveal population size would be at the vicinity of 1.4 billion in 2026 and approach 1.6 billion in 2051. An extremely optimistic assumption about future fertility put this Figure to 1.5 billion.
“The projected population of 1.5 billion would not be reached, in the event of an unexpectedly severe HIV/AIDS epidemic or a full scale nuclear war”. But that is hardly possible. Half of Indian population in 2026 would remain in urban areas. Inspite of urbanisation, India would remain predominantly rural among even 2026.—Shama Perveen” Population growth and Sustainable Development EPW, Feb. 14, 2004.
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Thus government is resolute in reducing the birth rate with much careful action in family welfare. Mere allocation of money without adequate infrastructure will not carry us further. Hence government needs to ensure more involvement of common man for long run stable growth and population stability. It is not the Government’s responsibility alone. NGOs, Panchayats, Municipal bodies have also to contribute and supplement government’s efforts.