A study of family welfare programmes in south 24 parganas district, west bengal

The formulation of proper Population Policies are indeed important for any Government since unrestrained population growth can be a hindrance for the socio-economic development of a nation. In India the Family Welfare Programmes were undertaken since the First Five Year Plan initiated way back in 1951-56. Since then various measures ranging from permanent and temporary methods of birth control, sterilization, sex-education, counseling, regulation of age at marriage etc has been initiated by Government under different plan periods. The paper is an attempt to trace the achievements and failure of these programmes in South 24 Parganas District of West Bengal considered as one of the fastest developing districts within the State. The study has been carried out through analysis of secondary data collected from various Government departments and through extensive field investigation, personal interview and focused group discussion to bring out the real scenario of implementation of these programmes in the district under study.