Family and Child Welfare

Family and Child Welfare 3 (3+0)

Lesson 22 : Programmes for Women

Changes in Government Policy

During the First and the Second Five Year Plans, Government regarded the problem of population control as a long-term objective which depended as much on 'improvement in living standards and more widespread education, especially among women' as on making the people adopt methods for family planning. In the Third Plan, the programme received greater emphasis and priority, with time-bound targets for reduction of the birth rate, a large administrative network, and adoption of such methods as mass camps or monetary incentives for sterilization. Legalization of abortion was another step in that direction. Some State Governments even restricted the right to maternity benefits of women government servants to two children only.

The Fifth Plan visualizes integration of family planning in to the general health services such as maternity, child care, and nutrition programmes. The proposed integrated health services will provide a far greater incentive to the adoption of family planning measures than the earlier reliance on 'motiva­tion' and 'incentives' which have come in for severe criticism. In our opinion the inadequacy of qualified medical personnel, specially in rural area, and absence of mature counseling are the greatest drawbacks to the success of family planning.