Context: NFHS-5 data revealed that India’s Total Fertility Rate has declined to 2 from 2.2 of NFHS-4.
Factors that helped India bring down the Total Fertility Rate:
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Women and their aspirations to plan and manage families have helped reduce the TFR.
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There are about 16.4 mn abortions every year. This shows that people are taking family planning seriously.
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Education, particularly women’s education, has helped delay marriage and also imparted knowledge of family planning to women.
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The efforts put by the government in educating administrators, policymakers in controlling all 3 components of population growth – fertility, mortality and migration has helped bring down the TFR.
Why the decline in TFR does not signal population stabilization? (Prelims Q can be asked on this statement.)
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Kerala has had low TFR for decades, but it still has a growing population.
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It is because of population momentum and a large young population. Population momentum is when the population continues to grow and there is no negative growth rate.
Should India adopt coercive population control measures?
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India should continue with the current policy design.
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Data from Kerala, TN shows that TFR was controlled without coercive measures.
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Even if certain states attain a negative growth rate, the migration will still balance the population.
What measures should be taken to balance the population?
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Focus on providing spacing between children.
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Focus on girl education and increase the age of marriage.
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Invest in ageing and improving the health of people.
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Adopting coercive measures might target one particular community and create disharmony.
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Propagate and promote temporary sterilization measures.
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Spread awareness about sterilization measures so that women don’t end up taking all the burden of sterilization.