Fertility In India Research Articles

Analysis of age-specific fertility in India: Deterministic and non-deterministic modeling approaches

The main objective of this study is to investigate the pattern of age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) in India using deterministic and non-deterministic approaches. Toward this end, we proposed statistical polynomial regression models to study the distributional pattern of ASFRs for total, rural, and urban women in India. Further, a comparative study considering selected skewed regression models was undertaken. For this study, secondary data on ASFR were collected from Sample Registration System, Statistical Report-2020, and from National Family Health Survey 5 (NFHS-5; 2019 – 2021). It was found that all three subcategories of ASFRs, namely, the total, rural, and urban ASFRs, followed the reciprocal biquadratic polynomial model. On the other hand, all three subcategories of ASFR follow the skew-normal type 2 distribution. Similar findings were also obtained and validated based on NFHS-5 data. Further, the chosen statistical models’ validity and stability were tested using various model validation techniques and model selection criteria.

Assessing the Impact of Couple’s Caste, Age, Educational Level on Fertility in India: Evidence from National Family Health Survey

This study explores the association between a couple’s characteristics and women’s reproductive behaviour in India. Generally, the study on the population deals with only women considering women samples for evaluating fertility in India. The current research includes men and women to examine the effect of the differences in their caste, age and educational level on fertility behaviour in India. For this purpose, data from the National Family Health Survey-4 has been used carried out during 2015–2016. Differences in couple’s characteristics were tabulated with the children ever born to see the distribution by the caste, age and educational level differences in India. In order to obtain more accurate results, linear regression was applied to see the variation in children ever born to the couple’s characteristics and different background characteristics. We find that caste, age and education differences among couples significantly impact fertility; as these differences increase, children ever born among couples also increase. The study proposes that satisfactory educational levels have lessened the role of caste and age on fertility in India.

Development of Some Selected Stochastic Models of Human Fertility in India: The Untold Stories

Development of Some Selected Stochastic Models of Human Fertility in India: The Untold Stories

India’s date with second demographic transition

Using data from various sources, this paper discusses the recently documented below replacement level fertility in India in the context of the universality of marriage of girls, most of which are arranged by the parents, and increase in their mean age at marriage, mainly due to decrease in child marriage. There is virtually no increase in divorce rate, cohabitation, or voluntary childlessness, except for some anecdotal evidence from metro cities. The paper shows that the transition to small family in India is not due to cultural shifts towards post-modern attitudes and norms that accept and stress individuality and self-actualization. It is largely due to high aspirations among urban middle-class parents for children which can be fulfilled when they have one or at most two children in view of the rising cost of private English medium education and health care.

Waste to Wealth: Utilization of Slaughterhouse Wastes as Phosphate Fertilizer in India

Waste to Wealth: Utilization of Slaughterhouse Wastes as Phosphate Fertilizer in India

Inflammatory agriculture: Political ecologies of health and fertilizers in India

Across India, many farmers contend that synthetic nitrogenous fertilizers do more than impact soils, but also lead to tasteless food crops and weakened bodies more susceptible to aches, pains, and diseases. Although these complaints, long-documented across South Asia, have been theorized as embodied critiques of development or as reflecting hybrid epistemologies, there has been strikingly little focus on the potential biophysical currents that may underpin these perceptions of fertilizer harm. This paper works to fill this gap, analyzing qualitative data collected from farmers in two remote eastern Indian districts using an “integrated” political ecology of health (PEH) framework that utilizes two main approaches to examine bodily materiality and health. In particular, the framework looks at the multi-scalar political economies, cultural forms of meaning-making, as well as the visceral, affective ways that respondents come to see synthetic fertilizers as the cause of barren lands, tasteless foods, and weakened bodies. The article then deploys a critical reading of bioscientific literature to interpret respondent narratives and zoom in onto potential bio-social mechanisms that may help illuminate claims of fertilizer harm in new ways. In particular, I present evidence around how phytochemicals—literally chemicals produced by plants—may shift due to chemical fertilizer use in ways that may matter for hunger and health. Yet, not losing sight of the affective ways crops are grown, consumed, and discussed, I also highlight research examining how beliefs and perceptions measurably modify physiological responses to food in positive or adverse ways through the still ill-understood placebo/nocebo effect. The goal of such analysis is not to present a tidy conclusion to questions of fertilizer–health connections but demonstrate how a PEH that remains attentive to power, discourse, and materiality can bring disparate streams of thought together to forge pathways for transdisciplinary research and practice.

Age at First Birth in Uttar Pradesh: How Much Has It Actually Changed? Over Inter-NFHS Period?

Culturally, there is always pressure among newly-wed to conceive early and have births in India. Previous studies have documented relationship between age at first birth & fertility, besides the socio-demographic factors that influence age at first birth. The current study aims answering directions and quantum of such relationships using frailty models. The successive rounds of NFHS data (1, 2, 3 & 4) from Uttar Pradesh is used in the study. Fertility in India is characterized as too-early-too-fast. By age-30 majority women would have completed the childbearing. However, the data from NFHS-4 shows some striking changes in the initiation of child bearing in Uttar Pradesh breaking away from the stereotypes of too early too fast characterization. While 44.67 percent of the women aged 30-34 had experienced first birth by age 18 in the year 1992-93 (NFHS-1), the percentages declined during 2015-16 (NFHS-4) to 28.25%. However, by ages 26 majority of women (>95%) aged 30-34 have had experienced first birth. Births at younger age are also a reflection on enforcement of child-marriage restraint act & adherence to legal minimum age at marriage which is 18 for girls & 21 for boys. The data from NFHS-4 have some quality issues. Women aged as low as 5 have shown to have experienced first birth by that age. This may not be possible. The Kaplan Meier survival Graph provided the survival probabilities with respect of each predictor sub groups. The log rank test was used to test the equality of survivor function for each sub group of the predictor variable. The survivor function was significantly different among sub groups of the predictor variables except for the categories of ever use of contraception at NFHS1 and categories of religion across rounds of NFHS data. The Cox Proportional Hazards model was used to study the risk of first birth by socio demographic characteristics. The Frailty model capturing the unobserved heterogeneity in the event time was preferred over standard survival model. For the current study, gamma frailty with Weibull-hazard is used as it fits the data well. Age at marriage and women’s literacy significantly determines the Age at First Birth. The inverse relationship with regard to ever use of contraception needs further analysis. The model also predicts significant frailty with variance parameter (theta) greater than one across the NFHS datasets.

Effect of long term fertilization on phosphorus dynamics in root zone environment under finger millet - Maize cropping sequence

In an agro-ecosystem, phosphorus (P) is found in organic and an inorganic form which includes soluble P, sorbed P and mineral bounded P. In soil, added P sources undergo various soil processes like mineralization, immobilization, precipitation, weathering, dissolution, sorption and desorption. For understanding the P dynamics in clay loam (Vertic Ustropept) soil, the present study was undertaken in P dynamics under rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere environment of maize in Long Term Fertilizer Experiment at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. The results revealed that the fractions of various pools of inorganic NaOH extractable Fe - P, H2SO4 extractable Ca- P, NH4F extractable Al- P, NH4Cl extractable Saloid P and Na citrate - Dithionate extractable Reductant soluble P were dominant in the non-rhizospheric soil than rhizospheric environment. The order of inorganic P fractions in the non-rhizospheric and rhizospheric region of the soil was found as Ca-P > Fe-P > Al-P > Reductant soluble-P > Saloid P and the knee-high stage of the non - rhizosphere soil recorded the highest inorganic as well organic P fractions. Irrespective of P fractions, Ca – P was recorded high (192.5 & 186.7 mg kg-1 ) followed by Fe - P (40.8& 34.9 mg kg-1) at a knee-high stage in non-rhizosphere and rhizosphere, respectively. Practising various nutrient management systems, application of 100% recommended dose of fertilizer along with FYM @ 10 t ha-1 (T8) recorded significant changes in all inorganic (Ca-P, Fe-P, Al-P, Reductant soluble-P, Saloid P), organic fractions and also Total P followed by 150% NPK (T3) in sandy clay loam soil. Nowadays, increasing demand for P fertilizer in India, judicious use of P fertilizer is important. Despite that, intensively cultivated soils have a lot of P reserves like organic and inorganic P pools and effective way of P transformation management could reduce the quantum of P fertilization in soil.

735Dynamics and Determinants of Birth Spacing in India

Abstract Background Birth spacing is an important determinant of the high fertility populations and has a strong bearing on maternal and infant health. The birth interval is composed of three major components namely postpartum amenorrhoea (PPA), waiting time to conception and gestation. To manage the high fertility in India, the present study is aimed to investigate the differential pattern of duration of birth interval components with respect to various socio demographic, child mortality, family planning services etc. Methods The data for this analysis was taken from National Family Health Survey 2015-16 (NFHS-4), provides information on population, health and nutrition for India and each State / Union territory. It gathered information from 601,509 households from overall India. Results Cox’ regression explores infant mortality, lactation, use of contraceptive devices, son preference and religion are found significant (P < 0.01) factors on the dynamics of birth interval components After adjustment of the effects of other explanatory variables, duration of breast feeding (P < 0.01), infant mortality (P < 0.01) and family income (P < 0.05) are found to have their significant impacts on the variation of PPA whereas death of previous child in infancy (P < 0.01), sex of previous child (P < 0.05), lactation (P < 0.01), education of mother (P < 0.05), and use of effective contraceptives have are found to be significant factors influencing the duration of waiting time to conception. Conclusions Among the determinants, infant mortality, lactation and religion have significant impacts on both duration variables in the Cox’s stepwise regression models. Key messages To control the growth of population, birth spacing must be maintained.

Sustainable Feasibility of the Environmental-Friendly Policies on Agriculture and Its Related Sectors in India

In terms of economic development and feeding the world’s populations, the importance of the agricultural sector is well known. However, agriculture and its related sectors are also known for contributing more than one-quarter of the world’s GHG emissions. To address this issue, we evaluate the performance of agriculture and its related firms in India from 2013 to 2019 with its environmental efficiency under the paradigm shift promoted by the National Agroforestry Policy in 2014. To evaluate the feasibility of this paradigm shift in agricultural policy, the non-radial slack-based measure (SBM) is utilized in the first stage, and Tobit regressions are used to assess the determinants of efficiency (or sources of inefficiency) measures at the second stage. The results from non-radial SBM show that Indian agricultural firms (foreign direct investment, private, and public) show huge potential with 32.2% on average to enhance their performance if they move toward the frontier of the production possibility curve. This suggests that Indian policymakers should regulate much stronger regulations for firms, especially for the use of agricultural inputs such as energy (fertilizers), with performance-oriented financial measures for sustainable agriculture. To determine the strategic variables for these firms to enhance their performance, Tobit regressions showed that fertilizers use (−3.350%) appears to have the highest negative impact on environmental efficiency. On the other hand, credit access (2.710%) has the highest positive impact on environmental efficiency, implying that policymakers should provide subsidies to firms in the form of soft loans (or credit access) for the purchase of high-quality fertilizers and to adopt energy-saving equipment/technology to minimize the use of chemical fertilizers in India.

Analysis of Indian and Canadian Laws on Biofertilizers

Biofertilizers are known to be effective green alternatives to chemical fertilizers. Biofertilizers are regulated under the Fertilizer (Control) Order, 1985 in India and the Fertilizers Regulations (C.R.C., c. 666) of the Fertilizers Act, 1985 in Canada. The laws in both countries originally evolved to regulate chemical fertilizers; however, appropriate amendments have been made to accommodate biofertilizers and organic fertilizers in India, and organic fertilizers in Canada. Yet there have been no critical analyses of the laws and regulations governing the manufacture, business, transport, storage, use and disposal of biofertilizers in India and Canada. This article seeks to understand the different legal provisions of the Indian and Canadian laws regulating biofertilizers. The legal analysis is based on dialectical, qualitative and comparative legal research, as well as gap analysis. This study not only identifies the legal gaps existing in the Indian and Canadian frameworks, but also suggests ways forward to avoid bottlenecks impeding the entry into the market and free trade of biofertilizers.

Nitrogen Challenges and Opportunities for Agricultural and Environmental Science in India

In the last six decades, the consumption of reactive nitrogen (Nr) in the form of fertilizer in India has been growing rapidly, whilst the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of cropping systems has been decreasing. These trends have led to increasing environmental losses of Nr, threatening the quality of air, soils, and fresh waters, and thereby endangering climate-stability, ecosystems, and human-health. Since it has been suggested that the fertilizer consumption of India may double by 2050, there is an urgent need for scientific research to support better nitrogen management in Indian agriculture. In order to share knowledge and to develop a joint vision, experts from the UK and India came together for a conference and workshop on “Challenges and Opportunities for Agricultural Nitrogen Science in India.” The meeting concluded with three core messages: (1) Soil stewardship is essential and legumes need to be planted in rotation with cereals to increase nitrogen fixation in areas of limited Nr availability. Synthetic symbioses and plastidic nitrogen fixation are possibly disruptive technologies, but their potential and implications must be considered. (2) Genetic diversity of crops and new technologies need to be shared and exploited to reduce N losses and support productive, sustainable agriculture livelihoods. (3) The use of leaf color sensing shows great potential to reduce nitrogen fertilizer use (by 10–15%). This, together with the usage of urease inhibitors in neem-coated urea, and better management of manure, urine, and crop residues, could result in a 20–25% improvement in NUE of India by 2030.

Causal Factors of Unwanted Fertility in India’s Easternmost Border State Manipur

Causal Factors of Unwanted Fertility in India’s Easternmost Border State Manipur

Education, caste and occupational differentials in fertility in India

This study analyses the impact of four prominent factors (education, caste, occupation and development) on fertility in India. The study has also analysed the spatial variations of TFR in India. This spatial analysis also helps in identifying the impact of fertility on Development in India. Present study estimates fertility from census that covers all the reproductive age-women, and it does not allow any chance of sample error; this method has also adopted by UNFPA. Logistic regression analysis used to understand the impact of education, caste and occupation on fertility. Co-relation matrix and regression analysis used to determine the relation between TFR, IMR and Development. In India, West Bengal (2.41) state has the least fertility rate while Jammu and Kashmir (4.70) has highest one. Southern states have lower fertility along with Eastern states while North-east and central states have recorded high fertility. Women who have passed above secondary school of education give a prominent impact on fertility reduction in comparison to illiterate, primary and middle school passed. Marginal workers have very high fertility compare to main workers due to their feeling of insecurity in earnings and they increase number of child counted as gross family income.

Status of the use of Organic Fertilizers in India: A Review

This research paper aims to identify the emerging trend and prospects of organic farming throughout the world. This paper also gives stress on the usage of organic fertilizer in India. India is a country with huge climate diversity hence different regions of the country have different agricultural climates. The diverse agro-climatic on the country has a direct impact on the natural nutrients of soil which are the key source of soil nutrition for organic cultivation. India covers 1.18 mm hectares of organic agriculture land which led the county on the 9th position globally in 2014-15. In this total organic area, 26% of the land is cultivable and rest 74% is covered under the forest or wild land. In the same year Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and, Maharashtra have been identified as having most organic agriculture area regions in the country. The country also has a leading position in organic production with consent increment in the organic producers throughout the globe. In the year 2014-15, the county has 0.55 mm producers which led the country on the first position in the world. The country exports more than 135 products including basmati rice, cotton and oil corps. In this review, article research had tried to analyze the significance of organic farming, export and marketing of organic products in the country. Consumption and production of organic fertilizers in the county also have been discussed in this article.

Nutrient Budgeting of Primary Nutrients and Their Use Efficiency in India

The imbalanced use of fertilizers in India is evident from the fact that the current ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in agricultural soil in several states is skewed towards nitrogen. This imbalance causes problems, right from stagnating or declining productivity to soil sickness, widespread deficiency of macro nutrients and micronutrients, and soil alkalinity and salinity. Eventually, it results in reduced efficiency of fertilisers, low yields and low profitability for farmers. Also, nitrogen pollution of surface and groundwater due to excessive fertiliser use has reached alarming levels in several states. Chemical fertilizers are currently the major emitters of nitrous oxide gas, a potent greenhouse gas and ozone depleting substance. Nutrient budget is an important tool to provide an early indication of potential problems arising from nutrient surplus and nutrient deficit. Balanced use of all types of fertilizers, including traditional organic manures and biofertilizers are needed to bring about a change in the prevailing regime that encourages excessive use of chemical fertilizers. However, meeting future food security targets in an over-populated developing country like India, needs to increase the nutrient use efficiency. This ultimately leads to site-specific need-based nutrient application and minimizing nutrient losses from fields. This leads to the 4R Nutrient Stewardship concept, applying the Right Source of nutrients, at the Right Rate, at the Right Time and in the Right Place. This paper provides a historical overview of the nutrient budgeting efforts and systematically reviews major challenges, opportunities, in defining, quantifying, and applying nutrient budgets and improving nutrient use efficiency.

Fertility transition in india: An application of Bongaarts model

Fertility in India has been steadily declining. It almost reached the replacement level in 2015 to 2016 and evidence shows that proximate determinants has a direct influence on fertility. The study aims at calculating the proximate determinants of fertility in India for the period from 2005 to 06 and 2015 to 16 as well as determine the most significant proximate determinant of fertility in India. It also examines the rural – urban fertility differentials for the year 2015 to 2016. The proximate determinants of fertility for few selected states in India has been calculated from 2015 to 2016. The study of the proximate determinants can help expanding clinical and community based contraceptive distribution, promoting breastfeeding, increasing age at marriage and reduce unintended pregnancies. The study is based on data obtained from National Family and Health Survey Round 3 and National Family and Health Survey Round 4. Bivariate analysis had been done to analyze the distribution of currently married women at age of 15 to 49 by biological and behavioral characteristics as well as decomposition analysis had been used to find the contribution of each indices. It is revealed from the study that an increase in use of contraception has led to decline in Total Fertility Rate (TFR) over the decade. The knowledge of contraception is almost universal in India. Even after a slight decline in proportion married, there had been a considerably high contribution of the proportion married towards increasing Total Fertility Rate (TFR). It is evident from the decomposition that only the increase in use of contraception has a positive impact on declining fertility.

Women’s Worth: Trade, Female Income, and Fertility in India

AbstractThis paper shows that trade policy can have significant intergenerational distributional effects across gender and social strata. We compare women and births in rural Indian districts diffe...

Modelling Fertility Schedules of India

Age-specific fertility distribution of India is skewed and thus deviates from the classical bell-shaped (normal) curve which is evident in fertility data from the developed countries. In the present paper, empirical analysis based on NFHS-3 (2005–06) data is undertaken to propose a new fertility model in order to portray prevalent patterns of single-year age-specific fertility in India. Fertility behaviour among Indian women in the childbearing age groups is modelled as a function of reciprocal of mothers’ ages. Model selection criteria of coefficient of determination and cross-validity prediction power suggest that the proposed polynomial of degree five is a suitable model to describe the varying fertility patterns of India and its sub regions.

Quantifying the Effect of the Proximate Determinants of Fertility in India: An Application of Bongaarts (1978) and Bongaarts and Potter (1983) Method

Quantifying the Effect of the Proximate Determinants of Fertility in India: An Application of Bongaarts (1978) and Bongaarts and Potter (1983) Method