India’s Population Slowdown

How has India’s family planning program evolved?

• India’s family planning program started in 1951- making it one of the oldest in the world.
• The earliest efforts involved the government undertaking communication campaigns to promote smaller family sizes. This saw only limited progress and the Indian population grew rapidly.
• The population control measures took a dark turn when the government declared the Emergency in 1975. The government implemented a mandatory sterilization program which involved thousands of vasectomies. Many of these were forcibly performed on the people.
• This forced sterilization became a major electio