P+-+India+Case+Study

China's OCP was designed to mainly focus on contraception but other policies such as India's focuses on both contraception as well as social changes. This started in 1952. In the south-western state of Kerala the government has focused on social changes to create a society that encourages smaller families. Its decrease in birth rate has been the most dramatic in India.

Kerala has 32 million people living there which makes up 3.4% of India's population. It has a population density of 819 people per sqkm and is three times the Indian average. Fortunately, its population growth rate is the lowest in India.

Kerala's policy to reduce its previously high population growth has involved:
 * improving education standards and treating girls as equal with boys
 * providing adult literacy classes in towns and villages
 * educating people to undersatd the benefits of smaller families
 * reducing infant mortality so people no longer need to have so many children
 * improving child health throught vaccination programmes
 * providing free contraception and advice
 * encouraging a higher age of marriage
 * allowing maternity leave for the first two babies only
 * providing extra retirement benefits for those with smaller families
 * following a land reform programme

In Kerala more girls go to university than boys and education is taken to even the most remote villages. Land in Kerala was redistibuted so that no one was landless. No family was allowed more than 8 heactares and everyone could be self-sufficient. This does however disadvantage large families.

However not all of the policies in India are quite so friendly. The first link is to an article about population in India. The second link is an audio file of an interview with mothers who have suffered as a result of the population policies in India.

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