With high fertility rate, Bihar lags behind in family planning

Bihar has an uphill task to bring down the total fertility rate (TFR) from 3.4 (source: SRS 2013) to 2.1 under the Centre’s ‘Mission Parivar Vikas’ by 2025, especially with 36 of its 38 districts being identified as ‘high fertility’.
TFR, which is the child bearing capacity of a woman, has been alarmingly high in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh (3.1; source SRS 2013), Madhya Pradesh (2.9) and Rajasthan (2.8), as compared to the national average of 2.2. West Bengal (1.6), Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Punjab (1.7), Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are the better ones.
Barring Patna and Arwal, TFR is high in all other Bihar districts. This, say experts, is primarily because the state faces challenges in terms of low use of contraceptives.
The National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-4 data (2015-16) reveals that 21% of currently married women in 15-49 years age group in Bihar do not have access to contraception, and only 23% women use modern methods of contraception.
Male participation in family planning is abysmally low in Bihar. Adoption of male sterilisation method is almost nil as per NFHS-4 data. Despite being safer, quicker and easier, male sterilisation in last 10 years has fallen from 0.6% to 0% among currently married men in 15-49 years age bracket.
The skewed sterilisation ratio points to the fact that family planning is seen primarily as women’s duty.
“The dismal statistics on family planning in Bihar are a result of interplay of socio-cultural factors. Women bear the disproportionate burden of adopting contraception when easier, safer and quicker methods are available for male sterilisation. Both men and women think men are the bread earners and they need to stay fit, and that undergoing surgery would reduce their capacity to do heavy work in field which is a myth,” said Aparajita Gogoi, executive director, Centre for Catalyzing Change, an NGO working on reproductive health and women’s empowerment issues in over 20 districts of Bihar.
Bihar, which accounts for 8.58% of the country’s total population, or nearly 103.8 million people (Census 2011), is India’s third most populous state.
-
Delhiwale: This way to Ajmeri Gate
This venerable stone gateway originally signposted the way to the aforementioned pilgrim town. One of the 14 Mughal-era gateways to punctuate the Walled City’s wall, the graceful Ajmeri Gate today is like a queen without her palace.
-
Delhi: Cop’s hunt for kidnapper ends after a 15-year wait
Assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Sanjeev Tomar’s quest ended on May 28, when he and members of his team arrested a man named Hari Om for abducting and killing Choudhary. Tomar, 47, now posted with the crime branch, was a constable at the Badarpur police station when the crime took place in 2007.
-
89 new trucks to help DFS speed up rescue operations
The approval for purchasing 89 new fire trucks was sought against the condemnation of 60 fire trucks, which have diesel engines and have reached their expiry time of 10 years, and have to be taken off service.
-
ED arrests 2 more in money laundering case against Delhi minister Satyendar Jain
Vaibhav and Ankush were arrested under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). ED said both are directors of Ram Prakash Jewellers Pvt Ltd, which was raided on June 6. After the searches at premises linked to six people including the jewellery firm’s five directors, ED said it recovered ₹2.85 crore and 133 gold coins, alleging that the gold was from “unexplained sources” and was “secreted” in the properties.
-
Problem of plenty: Ban no bar, Delhi markets struggle to get rid of plastics
Following the latest notification of the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2022 in February, the central government directed all states and union territories (UTs) to phase out SUPs in a planned manner by July 1, 2022.