Birth Control in India: The Carrot and the Rod?

Abstract

The fall of the Indira Gandhi government seems to validate the prediction made six years ago by demographer Frank Notestein that any attempt by a developing country to force its people to use birth control methods "would be more likely to bring down the government than the birthrate." This author, however, interviewing couples seeking sterilization, contraception and abortion, as well as the doctors, nurses and administrators who provided the service, just weeks before the upset election, found that family planning was very much wanted and needed by the people, and was being provided in an efficient and humane way. Thus, pressing the population panic button was probably not only unnecessary, but a tragic mistake on the part of the Gandhi government.