Compulsory sterilization: the change in India's population policy.

Abstract

Indias official advocacy of compulsory sterilization has caused dismay among those who think voluntary birth control services were never provided on a mass scale and that compulsory measures will cause resistance to family planning in general but it has also brought relief to those who felt Indias stand at the World Population Conference in 1972 was not nearly antinatalist enough. The new policy is in effect an admission that education and economic development will not bring about a drop in fertility soon enough. The timing of the policy shift can be explained by the state of emergency declared in June 1975. Prior to that it would have been politically impossible for Mrs. Gandhi to make any strong statements in favor of birth control. Since the family planning programs inception in 1952 sterilization has been an important part and incidence increased significantly every year until 1974 when budget cuts did not allow for program expansion. There are various possible explanations for the governments rethinking of its priorities but what was clear was that there was no clamor from the people to reinstate the services. The motivation to have small families seemed to be lacking perhaps because it is connected to a certain socioeconomic threshhold which had not been reached by the populace when the focus shifted from sterilization to economic development as the best contraceptive. The 5 states that appear to have had a significant decline in fertility have also done well in economic development while the family planning performance of the poorest states Bihar and Uttar Pradesh has been dismal. The problem of motivation is further complicated by a tradition and culture that require large families. The current population contains a huge growth potential for the future; all projections of the population show substantial increases. The Chinese example in family planning cannot be followed without fundamentally changing the structure of the entire economic and political system. Only the most economically prosperous states have the personnel and facilities to enforce a compulsory sterilization law. 1 of those Maharashtra is on the point of passing such a law. The experience of the state will be important for future consideration of compulsory sterilization nationwide.