For the past two decades, a serious thought about family planning has assumed the greatest importance of our country. In the past, India made a tremendous progress in industrial development. A strong base has already been laid for the progress of the country. On the other hand the speed with which our population is multiplying will one day bring a great turmoil for the country.

A few days back, Sharad Pawar announced, the price of sugar might rise by 6 rupees a kilo. Not only sugar, but the prices of all essential commodities has gone up dramatically. The government has not been able to regulate the prices as a result, the common man has suffered. The ongoing recession is one reason, however, our huge population is also a big problem. Unless the growth of population is checked, there will be a great impediment to the progress of the country. And without progress there caannot be prosperity.

In this context, family planning measures are most important. Family planning is understood to mean planning the size and the growth of the family to ensure a reasonable standard of living. As such, the standard of living in our country is poor as compared to the developed world. This is mainly because they have maintained a small family size.

Family planning lays emphasis on birth control on one hand and education and other amenities on the other. Our government is spending crores of rupees on the family planning programme. Various methods of birth control are being propagated through newspapers, radio, television, films and internet.

The social workers and doctors are paying visits to villages where the awareness of the problem is required to the greatest extent. The people must understand that unless the population is kept under check, India cannot march towards progress.

Unless people think for themselves and the size of their families and adopt adequate measures to check the growth of population, no amount of propaganda or education will be of any avail. Its the people who need to join hands to make a difference in the way we live today. A small family is always a happy family.