Family Planning

This study investigates the quality of the National Family Health Survey-4 data on contraceptive use by estimating investigator-induced bias. An outlier-bound approach was used to detect investigator bias, and contraceptive use was re-estimated adjusting for the bias in six study states. The findings suggest investigator bias at two levels: over-reporting of women as “never users” of contraception and a tendency to report sterilised women as current non-users and as cases of hysterectomy. Re-estimation of contraceptive use confirmed a declining trend in contraceptive prevalence in four study states. While the effect of the bias was moderate at the state level, it can potentially distort district-level estimates to a great extent.

The Haryana legislation, now upheld by the Supreme Court debarring those with more than two children from contesting panchayat elections, is a serious misreading of the relationship between population and resources and an egregious assault on the process of democratisation. The law selectively affects socially and economically deprived groups, given that it is they who register higher fertility rates.

With states evolving independent policies which appear to be contradicting the National Population Policy's core statement regarding the government's commitment to a target-free approach to family planning, the World Population Day saw the launch of a broad-based campaign of protest.