It is an interesting question, isn’t it? if you were to choose one non-profit to close down, which one would that be?
My death wish is on Population First! They cleverly go with the times and don’t say clearly that their goal is to control population. But what else could this mean? “Population First is a communications and advocacy initiative for a balanced, planned and stable population.” ‘Balanced, planned and stable?’ Who decides what’s ‘balanced’ or ’stable?’ And who ‘plans’-the couple, the family, the community, the society, the state?
Further, “Reducing gender imbalances in population, investing for the current and future population and reaching the goal of a family size of two children per couple are our key communications objectives.” No they don’t want to control population, just achieve a family size of two!?
They of course also say a lot of politically correct things: “Population First is an NGO working on population and health issues within the framework of women’s rights and social development. We believe that population is not an issue of numbers alone. Numbers are but a manifestation of poor social development and lack of access to health and contraceptive services. Across the country, fertility is highest where social development is low and gender inequality is high.”
Nandan Nilekani says that one idea where there is consensus in India is that population is not a liability. Well, if there is no consensu, then there should be one.
If we are going to have one less non-profit in India, i say start with Population First. What say you?
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The opinions expressed in this essay are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of CCS.
