PARTICIPANTS IN POPULATION POLICY
Jain (1998) identifies the following nine participants in population policy.
- Political leaders
- Religious groups
- Ethnic groups
- Feminist factions and women's groups
- Non-governmental organizations
- Census and survey organizations
- International agencies which influence the national population plolicies
- International conferences on population and development
Political leaders play a critical role in the making of population policy. They are responsible for developing the statements of vision and mission. Yet, they would not be able to ignore popular sentiments on contraception and abortion, views of major religious groups and their doctrines, politics of ethnic communities/identities, and role and views of national and international non-government organizations. In plural countries, religious leaders can influence the policy debate in a significant manner. They wield a powerful influence on the community and they may think that by declaring population policy, the government is intruding in their religious matters. In some countries like Bangladesh and Malaysia, the government has been able to obtain support of the religious leaders in population control. The religious leaders may support the idea of family planning, emphasising certain methods like condoms or even sterilization. In Bangladesh they have gone up to supporting sterilization for the health of with mother and child. But involving religious leaders in plural societies is fraught with risks. If the government manages support from one specific cleric this may boomerang and isolate that cleric in the community. In that case whatever was achieved through secular appeals may be lost to communal frenzy. Secular appeals through media and neutral and respected persons may be more effective than the involvement of religious leaders. Yet, if it is possible to have a broad consensus among the different religious schools on a few aspects of the policy, that can go a long way to make the population policy more effective. |
