Azad favours late marriages to curb population growth

New Delhi, Jul 11 (PTI) Parents wanting their children
to settle down quickly may disapprove but Indian Union Health
Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Saturday asked people to opt for
late marriages to curb the exponential growth in population.

At a function to commemorate the 'World Population
Day', where rural couples opting to marry after 18 and
planning their families were awarded, Azad said there was no
need to felicitate them as they were only abiding by the law.

"Only people who opt to marry at 30-31 should be
awarded," he said.

However, when questioned by reporters as to whether he
wanted the marriageable age to be raised to 30, he replied in
the negative saying he had only talked about giving awards.

Observing that the fast growing population of India
was putting tremendous pressure on the depleting natural
resources, he said, "even countries like Australia, United
States and the Middle East where people went in search of
employment are turning Indians back to secure jobs for their
own people".

"This has been the trend over the last one year," he
said.

The rate of development of resources in India was far
less than the spurt in population, he said asking the media,
bureaucracy and the civil society to create more awareness
among the rural masses.

"The fight in the future and at present is between the
haves and the have nots. The Naxalite movement is a result of
this," he said.

Azad said information about family planning as well as
its importance should be imparted at the grass roots level.

Delhi Health Minister Kiran Walia said apart from the
growth in population, female foeticide was the biggest problem
facing the country.

"Why are laws which are meant to curb these evil
practises never implemented," she asked.

Observing that awareness generation was the biggest
issue involved, former Indian Rural Development Minister
Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said giving incentives to people
opting for good family planning measures was the only option
available.

Apart from this, strict vigilance and monitoring was
also needed, he said.

Azad also gave away awards to some couples who had
adopted good family planning measures in rural districts and a
12-year-old girl Rekha Kalindi, who had refused to be married
off at such a young age. PTI SPC