The CM of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath has decided to roll out an entirely new family planning scheme which would be named as “Mission Parivar Vikas” in UP. While the centre directed to implement this kind of family planning scheme in November’ 2016, but, Akhilesh Yadav, the predecessor of Yogi Adityanath, ignored it completely.
UP Government to Spread Awareness About family Planning
In order to spread awareness about the family planning, Uttar Pradesh’s government is planning to take diverse steps, including placement of free condom boxes at the strategic locations in the villages and the cities, kits for the newly-wed couples with emergency contraceptives, pack of condoms and pregnancy testing strips, and the saas-bahu sammelans in the most populous districts of the state.
Centre’s Directions to UP for Family Planning Intervention
On 10th November’ 2016, the union health ministry wrote to seven states in India, to address te maternal and infant mortality issues and spread awareness about the family planning. There are about 145 districts in India, which are termed as the “High Fertility Districts” and these hail from UP, MP, Rajasthan, Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand, and Chattisgarh. The Total fertility rate in these districts is 3 and above, and nearly 30% of the entire country’s maternal deaths and about 50% of the infant deaths occur in these regions. Also, these collectively account for about 28% of the India’s population.
The scheme as planned by the Centre, targets the 145 most populous districts in the country which have a TFR (Total Ferility Rate) of 3 or more. TFR implies that a woman in these districts bears three or more children in her lifetime.
Yogi Government Aiming to Bring the TFR Down in UP
UP, which has a total of 75 districts, is required to implement this scheme in 57 of its districts. The TFR in UP is the highest in the country, and is 3.3, and this is how, it contributes the most to the India’s high population growth. In UP, there are 11 districts where the TFR is more than 4, including Sidharthnagar with TFR 4.9, and Balrampur & Bahraich with TFR 4.8.
The prime aim of the Yogi government in the implementation of this family planning scheme is that it aims to bring the TFR down in these districts to 2.1 by 2025. With the enhanced awareness and easy availability of condoms contraceptives, the TFR can be brought down.