The accomplishments of the Indian family planning program have been substantial and impressive. Public knowledge of contraception is now widespread among a population of some 700 million, all of whom were unaware of modem birth control technology 30 years ago. Nearly one-quarter of married couples of reproductive age now use contraceptives, compared with an insignificant proportion in the 1950s. Nonetheless, the program's overall performance in meeting the targets set by the government has been consistently inadequate. One major deficiency has been the program's oscillation between different contraceptive methods: First the IUD was heavily promoted, then vasectomy, and now tubal sterilization. Only very recently have oral contraceptives been seriously promoted; IUDs have been neglected since the late 1960s. Delivery strategies have also tended to be polarized, fluctuating between rural clinics, sterilization camps and communitybased workers. Despite the liberalization of abortion in 1971, abortion facilities continue to be extremely inadequate; only about 376,000 procedures are performed legally each year, compared with an estimated 4-6 million done illegally. Although the government is planning to expand its network of rural clinics and hospitals and to increase the number of family planning workers, it needs to make much greater use of voluntary organizations, private-sector institutions and social marketing programs in providing contraceptive services. The program's targets for contraceptive practice are considerably out of line with current levels of program performance. It is intended in the next three years, for example, that the program will increase the proportion of married women currently using contraceptives to 37 percent, although the rate has remained at about 23 percent for the past six years. To bring about this increase, it will be necessary to raise the annual number of new users of contraceptives by 174 percent, from the current eight million to 22 million. About 2.5 million people (net) are added to the population of married couples of reproductive age each year; consequently, a large segment of the program's annual performance serves merely to maintain contraceptive use at its present level. The increases in contraceptive practice called for by the target appear to be unattainable without major changes in program policies. As yet, there are no signs of any shifts in policy sufficient to bring program performance into line with program targets. Introduction It has been more than 30 years since India initiated a program to make family planning services generally available and to reduce high rates of population growth. It is clear that the program's accomplishments, though impressive in their own right, have fallen short of national economic requirements, or even of what the leaders of the family planning program have aimed at over the years. During the 1971-1981 decade, the Indian population increased by some 140 million (a growth rate of 2.2 percent-the same as in the previous decadel). About 50 percent of the total population are living below the poverty line, despite impressive gains on the development front: Annual food grain production is 130 million tons, as against 50 million tons in 1950; one out of two villages are Vasectomy camp, 1973. Until the late 1970s, vasectomy uwa heavily emphasized by thelIndian program.