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Population Foundation Urges Shift from Control to Informed Choice in Family Planning
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CNBC TV18•21-09-2026, 16:28
Population Foundation Urges Shift from Control to Informed Choice in Family Planning
- •The Population Foundation of India (PFI) advocates moving beyond population control to focus on informed choice, equity, and demographic preparedness.
- •PFI welcomed the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) paper, 'The Ghost of Population Past,' which calls for abandoning outdated population control policies.
- •India's national total fertility rate is now below replacement level, with significant regional disparities requiring varied approaches to demographic challenges.
- •Family planning should prioritize reproductive autonomy, birth spacing, maternal and child health, and access to quality services, not population reduction.
- •PFI highlights the dominance of female sterilization in contraception and calls for a broader range of choices, improved counselling, and better support for frontline health workers.
Key Questions Answered
India's national total fertility rate is currently 1.9, which is well below the replacement fertility rate of 2.1.
The PFI called for moving beyond population control to focus on informed choice, equity, and demographic preparedness because India's total fertility rate has dropped below replacement level.
The EAC-PM working paper recommended ending sterilisation-linked incentive payments, eliminating ASHA incentives tied to limiting couples to two children, repealing the two-child norm across states, and removing population control language from policy frameworks.
