PHA-Exchange> Coercive population stabilisation policy of Rajasthan - An appeal

[Claudio]

From: prayas 


Dear friends:

The state government of Rajasthan has launched a new anti-women and anti-poor drive to control the population of the state. A high powered body called Rajiv Gandhi Population Mission under the chairpersonship of the Chief Minister has been created for it. This mission has recently drafted and approved an action plan to achieve replacement fertility by the year 2011 through all possible coercive methods. The plan brings back the target regime back and directs for use of three approaches to accomplish it -

- increase the number of sterilisations (read tubectomies)
- use injectable contraceptives and 
- disincentives (read punish) to families having more than two children

The draft action plan goes to the extent that the state Government will fix targets for each district and sign a MoU with the collector of the district to achieve those targets. Collectors will have all powers to deal with health officials to achieve the targets as s/he deems fit.   

The interesting feature of the action plan is that the entire strategy of  population control is based on the concepts of unmet need and unwanted fertility. Nobody knows how scientific these concepts are. The entire action plan directs to use all overt and covert means to achieve targets and allocates minimum targets for sterilisation and spacing for three years. The effect of it is that health officials of the Govt. have forgotten about all other health programmes and now just running around to meet sterilisation and spacing targets. There is tremendous pressure on nurses to find cases for sterilisation and not meeting targets may result into bad remarks in service records, transfer to far off places or non-payment of salary.   

Govt. of Rajasthan has continuously maintained a very bad track record as far as population issues are concerned. It introduced a two child norm policy in 1994, which debarred people from contesting elections of local bodies and government jobs if they had more than two children. Women have been the major victim of it. There had been instances where women were permanently sent to their natal homes to hide the birth of third child by their husbands intending to contest elections. In some instances husbands disowned their wives by disclaiming the fatherhood of the third child borne. In another set of instances women were forced to demit their elected position because husbands and families wanted a third child. In other instances this policy was used to settle political scores by falsely implicating opponents on grounds of third child. The effect of this policy is clearly visible in the form of very sharp decline in child sex ratio of Rajasthan.

 National Muslim Women's Organisation, Prayas and many more organisations have protested against such a anti human rights action plan of population stabilisation and launched a campaign for the withdrawal of this action plan.

We appeal to the all concerned to write/fax/e.mail  letters of protest with a demand to scrap the action plan to the Chief Minister of Rajasthan Mr. Ashok Gehlot at following address :

Mr. Ashok Gehlot,
Chief Minister Rajasthan,
Jaipur  302 005  INDIA 
Fax No : +91 141 22287052227687
E. Mail :  ckmathew at hotmail.com (e.mail of secretary to the C.M.)

In solidarity

Narendra, Komal, Rajendra Saiwal, Kavita, Nishat 
Rajasthan PUCL, MFC, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, Janwadi Lekhak Sangh Rajasthan, Rajasthan Vichar Manch, BGVS Rajasthan, National Muslim Women's Organisation, Prayas 


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