The health ministry has also proposed to substantially enhance compensation to women undergoing sterilisation from the present Rs600.
The government plans to make contraceptives available at people’s doorstep in villages.
The decision was taken at an important meeting on population stabilisation between the health ministry and the prime minister.
The meeting of National Commission on Population on Thursday was attended by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party chief and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, a few other cabinet ministers, the chief minister of Rajasthan, health ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and nine experts, including presidents of Indian Medical Association and other groups.
Under the new scheme, accredited social health activists (Ashas) will home-deliver contraceptives on demand at highly subsidised rates. For extremely poor families, the service could be free.
At present, the Centre supplies contraceptives to states. But Azad said, “Most of the time these supplies do not reach below the district level. We, therefore, propose to introduce a new system under which contraceptives will be available at the doorstep at the village level through Ashas. This would enable the village community to have direct and easy access to contraceptives.”
The health ministry has also proposed to substantially enhance compensation to women undergoing sterilisation from the present Rs600.
Azad said to scale up efforts for population stabilisation, the government was formulating strategies. These include establishing a division in the health ministry dedicated to population stabilisation with similar administrative set-ups at the state, district and block levels. This division will focus on providing access to services by co-opting the private sector and undertaking advocacy efforts at the village level and upwards.
The government intends to establish postpartum (post-delivery) centres at all facilities where institutional deliveries are conducted.
During the meeting, the prime minister called for a multi-pronged approach involving education, women’s empowerment, rural development, panchayati raj and civil society.
He sought a detailed analysis of nine problem states for finding enduring solutions.
While there is a declining trend in fertility rates in 14 states, northern and central parts of the country continue to have persistently high fertility rates ranging from 3 to 3.9. It is estimated that nearly half the population growth will be from just seven states - 22% from Uttar Pradesh alone. This is against the combined contribution of 13% by Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
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