From: Tom Gray <tgray@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: sci.environment
Date: 13 Oct 92 05:25 PDT
Subject: IPS: India's Population Puppet
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1466601806:000:4943
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!tgray    Oct 13 05:25:00 1992


/* Written 12:37 am  Oct  3, 1992 by newsdesk@igc.apc.org in igc:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "INDIA: PUPPET TAKES THE 'SMALL FAMI" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Area: Europe, western
Reference: Women
Title: INDIA: PUPPET TAKES THE 'SMALL FAMILY' MESSAGE TO THE VILLAGES


an inter press service feature

by mahesh uniyal

new delhi, sep 30 (ips) -- in the far-flung, dusty hamlets of a
district in india's desert state of rajasthan, a family planning
film is enthralling villagers.

the women specially are charmed by mangli, a puppet playing a
village girl who dares to defy her husband and in-laws
persuasions to have a baby though she is still under 18 years.

'jaag uthi kathputli' (the puppet awakens) is made by the
united nations population fund (unfpa) and the world food
programme (wfp). it borrows from folk theatre and uses the local
dialect of the indigenous people in banswara to tell them why and
how to have small families.

the film is being taken from village to village in a region
where fertility levels are among the highest in india. it is the
first such venture by international agencies to check the
country's seemingly unstoppable baby boom.

india's present population of about 883 million is swelling by
over two percent annually. this, warn experts, will make india
the world's most populous country by the year 2035, nullifying
efforts to improve the living standards of the country's poor.

planners are belatedly realising that motivation and not just
birth control devices -- condoms, pills and loops -- is the key
to averting this demographic nightmare.

initial evaluations show that the film is right on target. it
has been shown so far at wfp's food distribution centres in
banswara to villagers working on reforestation schemes supported
by the u.n. food agency.

all the women viewers interviewed by unfpa evaluators said
they should have the right to choose the size of their families
and when to have a child.

''if it works in southern rajasthan then we could consider
making similar films for other wfp projects in india,'' says
kenneth noah davies, wfp's project officer here. ''as part of the
communication effort, people would also be directed to where
family planning services are available,'' he adds.

''the film has been tailor-made for the tribals in southern
rajasthan,'' says deepak gupta, the unfpa's information
coordinator who has made the film. (more/ips)



india: puppet (2)

india's four-decade-old family planning programme is south
asia's oldest. while officials have been able to reduce the
average family size from six children to four and prevent over
118 million births, the 'small family' message is still to reach
millions of illiterate men and women.

a recent report of the u.s.-based population crisis committee
(pcc) observes india's population policy goal of zero population
growth by 2050 is over ambitious.

at present only 43 percent of the over 140 million couples in
the reproductive age group are using contraceptives. demographers
had targeted for 60 percent coverage by the year 2000.

even this is far from satisfactory as women comprise the bulk
of contraceptive users. barely 20 percent use spacing methods,
and most women resort to sterilisation only after they have had
three or more children.

pointing to ''serious shortcomings'' in the programme, the pcc
says without greater political commitment and stepped up funding,
it will not be possible to arrest the runaway demographic growth.

the report has caused a flutter among indian population policy
planners. however, a leading demographer, ashish bose, is
critical of the pcc's ''funds and political will'' approach.

''politicians should be kept out of family planning which is a
socio-medical and not political problem,'' says bose. illiteracy
is the biggest obstacle to india's birth control goals, he adds.

''you must first tackle the basic problem which is making
people literate. the issue is whether people can take decisions
for themselves,'' he told ips.

bose argues that all funds being used for the ineffective
family planning propaganda should be used instead for mass
literacy schemes. experts cite the example of kerala, india's
southern state, where the growth rate is among the country's
lowest and literucy levels the highest in the country.

officials have identified 90 problem districts in bihar,
madhya pradesh, uttar pradesh and rajasthan which account for
over 45 percent of the country's births. these four north indian
states are among india's most backward with low literacy levels
and high rates of infant mortality.

the 1991 census revealed that while almost 40 percent of
indian women can read and write, only 25 percent are literate in
rural india. in rajasthan's villages only nine percent are
literate. (end/ips/pr/mu/an/92)




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