Govt offers new incentives for family planning
After the scheme to provide door-to-door contraceptives showed encouraging results, the government has now decided to rope in Accredited Social Health Activists (Asha) to motivate couples delay having children.
With an aim to lay emphasis on spacing rather than limiting, the health ministry has decided to utilise its 8 lakh 60 thousand Ashas for counselling newly-married couples to ensure spacing of two years after marriage and couples with one child to have spacing of three years after the birth of first child.
The Asha would also counsel couples (who have upto two children) to opt for permanent limiting methods. The services however comes with a price. To encourage Ashas the government has decided to pay `500 to an Asha for ensuring spacing of two years after marriage, `500 again for ensuring spacing of three years after the birth of the first child and `1,000 in case the couples opt for a permanent family planning method after two children.
The scheme has already been implemented in states like Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Gujarat, Haryana, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
All eligible couples would be covered under the scheme irrespective of their APL, BPL, SC/ST status. “Although the scheme has been designed for Ashas in rural areas this would be applicable in urban areas of similar community workers are designated and are in place,” said a senior official in the health ministry.
With the recent data suggesting a substantial drop in the total fertility rate in India, the health ministry has decided to lay more emphasis on spacing rath-er than limiting children.
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