New Delhi: Having been neglected for a long time, issues related to family planning and population stabilisation seems to be back into thepolitical discourse. The national commission on population headed by the Prime Minister is expected to meet soon. The commission had last met in 2011.
“It is the irony of this country that issues related to population stabilisation have been ignored for long. The commission had not met in last four years. Since its inception it met only twice and the decision which were taken then also have just been gathering dust. We are serious about the issue and will soon write to the PM to give his time so that the meeting can be held soon,” Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said.
Health ministry officials say nothing fruitful happened in the last meeting. In fact in the last meeting under the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the health ministry had pushed back the target date for achieving population stabilisation to 2070 from 2045, stipulated in the National Population Policy (NPP) made in the year 2000.
While the key challenges like child marriage, sex determination, foeticide and domestic violence as spelled by the earlier government could not fetch its attention, the new government is likely to take up the matter with zeal.
Dr Harsh Vardhan, who attended the last meeting said, “Whatever was decided during that time remained only on paper. Our government is serious about the issue and I am sure we will soon take some decisions in this regard.”
