Page 66 - DECO502_INDIAN_ECONOMIC_POLICY_ENGLISH

Indian Economic Policy

Notes (b) Composition of Investment Effect : With an increasing population, a share of investible
resources has to be utilised towards reproducing for additional people ‘unproductive’
facilities of the economy.
Thus, the pressures of population growth have become progressively more intense.
Population Policy in India
The population problem in India needs a policy which aims at a rapid reduction in the birth rate of
the country. The focus of the population policy should be :
1. To increase the rate of employment at a rate that it will do away with unemployment among
population of working age.
2. To control the growth of population through family planning.
National Population Policy, 2000
The National Population Policy, 2000 has the following aims :
1. The immediate objective is to meet the “unmet” needs for contraception, health care
infrastructure, health personnel and integrated service delivery in the country.
2. The mid-term objective is to bring the total fertility to replacement levels, that is, two children
per couple.
3. The long-term objective is aimed at stabilisation of population by 2045.
In the policy, 16 promotional and motivational measures have been outlined to implement it. Some
of the important are given below :
1. For couples below poverty line, with two living children, who undergo sterilisation, a health
insurance cover of Rs. 5,000 has been fixed.
2. Panchayats and Zila Parishads to be rewarded for promoting small family norm.
3. Child Marriage Restraint Act and Pre-natal Diagnostics Techniques Act, to strictly enforced.
4. Provision of funds and soft loans for providing ambulance services in rural areas.
5. Abortion facilities scheme to be strengthened.
6. Couples below poverty line, who marry after legal age, have first child after the mother reaches
21, accept small family norm and undergo sterilisation after birth of two children are to be
rewarded.
Government has established a National Commission on Population, headed by the Prime Minister,
to monitor the new policy measures.
Indicators of Development
National income estimates (and the corresponding per capita income estimates) are used as indicators
of economic growth. There is another concept called economic development which is a broader concept
than economic growth.
Economic Growth and Economic Development : An increase in real terms of the output of goods
and services that is sustained over a long period of time, measured in terms of value added may be
defined as economic growth. On the other hand, the concept of economic development focuses on
the achievement of the following three aims :
1. Increasing the availability and widening the distribution of basic life sustaining goods.
2. Enhancing the levels of living.
3. Widening the range of economic and social choice to individuals and nations by freeing them
from servitude and dependence not only in relation to other people and nation-states, but also
to the forces of ignorance and human misery in society.
Keeping the above three objectives in mind, the quality of life is regarded as an important index of
development. Several factors are involved in the measurement of such ‘quality’. For example, life
expectancy, the level of nutrition, education and literacy rates, consumption of energy per head and

60 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY