The more we are, the harder we...

Art Hoppe had once rightly said, “We all worry about the population explosion, but we don’t worry about it at the right time.” With the population of India hovering at around 1.3 billion, this sure is a time to deter the exponential growth of the Indian inhabitants. Well, isn’t that something people knew already? But what people do not seem to know is that India has managed to attain this burgeoning population figure despite the incorporation of various Population Stabilisation Programmes. In fact, India was very much a signatory to the Improved Pyramid Construction Design programme, by the virtue of which various family planning programmes were implemented, and consequently imploded and destroyed.

One forgets that India was supposed to be a nation of 1.26 billion by 2015; a figure we’ve crossed already. And now, there’s a new initiative round the block, the Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh (JSK). This programme, which is an outcome of Government and civil society put together, seeks to achieve its goals through different social sectors. Interestingly, JSK has already undertaken many initiatives, like the National Rural Health Mission, Janani Suraksha Yojana, GIS Maps, call centres, virtual resource centres and workshops for adolescents and youth. A new strategy called ‘Prerna’ (aimed at promoting responsible parenthood) and ‘Santushti’ (directed towards encouraging gynaecologists to perform 100 tubectomies) are at the forefront of innovative society inclusive strategies.

Will JSK succeed? Perhaps; but surely only if this programme is made free of bureaucratic & political over indulgence. Moreover, unless the involvement of various stakeholders is encouraged – quite akin to UNDP initiatives globally, that involve not only the ‘trainer’ but also the affected party itself – such programmes can only end up in a mammoth waste of time, effort and of course, money!