40 Years of Planned Family Planning Efforts in India

This paper makes an objective assessment of the planned family planning efforts in India organised under the National Family Welfare (Planning) Programme during the period 1970-71 through 2010-11. The assessment covers the conceptual foundations of official family planning efforts, administrative capacity and organisational efficiency of the National Family Welfare (Planning) Programme, outputs of official family planning efforts in terms of needs effectiveness, capacity efficiency, goals effectiveness and realised efficiency of the National Family Welfare (Planning) programme, and impact of official family planning efforts in terms of realisation of demographic targets and goals. The analysis, based primarily on the services statistics of the National Family Welfare Programme, suggests that, at the policy level, there has been considerable dilution in the official family planning efforts which has implications for organising family planning activities at the grassroots level and the impact of these efforts in terms of reduction in the birth rate and population stabilisation. The paper argues for reinvigorating the official family planning efforts and proposes a framework for the purpose.