An Evaluation of Family Planning Programmes in Andhra Pradesh

Family planning refers to the use of modern contraception and other methods of birth control to regulate the number, timing and spacing of human births. It allows parents, particularly mothers to plan their lives without being overly subject to sexual and social imperatives. However, family planning is not seen by all as a humane or necessary intervention. It is an arena of contestation within broader social and political conflicts involving religious and cultural injunctions, patriarchal subordination of women, social-class formation, and global political and economic relations. Attempts to control human reproduction are not a modern phenomenon. Throughout history, human beings have engaged in both pro-and antinatalist practices directed at enhancing social welfare. In many foraging and agricultural societies, a variety of methods such as prolonged breast-feeding were used to space births and maintain an equilibrium between resources and population size. But, in hierarchical societies, population regulation practices did not bring equivalent or beneficial results to everyone.