Azad suggests late marriage to reduce population

Health minister blames child marriage for failure of 10-year-old population control programme

NEW DELHI: Health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is hell bent on finding a solution to reduce the country's population. After suggesting the "watch TV to stay away from sex" formula, Azad came up with "marry late, delay child birth and maintain age gaps between two children" while discussing population stabilisation in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
The health minister feels child marriage is the main reason why India's 10-year-old population control programme cannot succeed.
He said the failure to stabilise the country's population was because 35% of girls are married at the age of 15 in rural India. "In Bihar, the figure touched 70%, while in Uttar Pradesh it was 69%," the minister said adding, "If child marriages are checked, it would automatically bring down the population."
BJP MP Sumitra Mahajan supported Azad's stand. Mahajan said development was the best contraceptive and advocated it to prevent child marriages.
This discussion on population stabilization took place almost after 35 years. Azad stirred clear of talking about any stringent or forceful measures by the government to reduce population. "Once bitten twice shy," said Azad, a prodigy of Sanjay Gandhi who implemented family planning measures in a coercive way.
"The government would not impose quotas on officers on the number of sterilizations and also refrain from giving out incentives likes promotions," he clarified, adding that there was a need to create awareness so that people voluntarily adopted family planning measures.
Azad said high population growth rate, particular in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, had an adverse impact on the national resources and was a matter of serious concern. "We talk about rising costs of essential commodities, inflation, etc. All these are a direct result of increasing population and limited availability of resources in the country," he said.
The total fertility rate (TFR) - average number of children a couple should have in their lifetime - in central states, including Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, was about 3.8, which was double the desired levels. It was estimated that going by the 2.1 rate, India's population would stabilize by 2045.