Family planning still a far cry in Assam

GUWAHATI: More than a year after Dispur adopted the population control policy, majority of the people in the State are yet to follow various family-planning methods.

While male sterilization is only 0.1%, the use of condom is prevalent among 4.9% married couple in the age group of 15 to 49 years. The percentage of female sterilization is 9 per cent, and 27.5% women are using pills to prevent unwanted pregnancy.

The Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare in its latest National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-20) has found that 31.8% women in the age group of 20 and 24 years in Assam got married before the marriage age of 18 years. The men in the age group of 25 and 29 years got married before the legal age of 21 years. While 11.7% women (15-19 years) have already become mothers or pregnant at the time of the survey, the adolescent fertility rate among women of the same age group is 61%.

The NFHS-5 2019-20 provides information on population, health, and nutrition for India and each State/ Union Territory (UT).

The Centre's survey also found that the quality of family planning service is unsatisfactory in Assam. While 21.4% health workers have never talked to female non-users (those not following the family-planning methods) about family planning, 70% workers have not talked to the current users (those following family-planning methods) about the side effects of the current family-planning methods.

In 2019, the Assam Government had announced that government jobs will be out of bounds for people with more than two children from January 1, 2021. The 'Population and Women Empowerment Policy of Assam' has specified that candidates with only two children would be eligible for government employment; and the existing government employees have been directed to follow the two-children family norm. The State government has been arguing that implementation of the population policy is very necessary, given the pressure on land and resources in Assam.