• He highlighted that the strategy of putting family planning at the core has helped to achieve remarkable results.

About:

• In the last decade alone, India’s Crude Birth Rate (CBR) has reduced from 21.8 (SRS 2011) to 20 (SRS 2018) while the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) has declined from 2.4 (SRS 2011) to 2.2 (SRS 2018).

• The teenage fertility has halved from 16 (NFHS III) to 7.9 (NFHS IV).

• These efforts have taken India closer to reaching the replacement fertility level of 2.1 and 25 out of 36 States/UTs have already achieved replacement level fertility.

• Use of contraceptives has helped in averting 5.5 crore unintended pregnancies, 1.1 crore total births, 18 lakh unsafe abortions and 30,000 maternal deaths in 2019 alone.

• About 50 percent of the country’s population falls in the reproductive age group of 15-49 years.

Family Planning initiatives:

• The major initiatives under Family Planning include Mission Parivar Vikas, Injectable Contraceptive MPA, Family Planning – Logistics Management Information System (LMIS), Family Planning Communications Campaign.

• The National Family Planning Program has introduced the Injectable Contraceptive in the public health system under the “Antara” program.