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Vajpayee to head National Commission of Population

The proposed National Commission on Population will be headed by Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and will comprise people from different walks of life.

This was revealed by K C Pant, deputy chairman, Planning Commission, at a press conference in New Delhi today. Also present on the occasion were Minister of Social Empowerment Maneka Gandhi and Minister of Planning and Programme Implementation Arun Shourie, apart from members of the Planning Commission.

The commission, which will meet twice a year, will review, monitor and give direction to the National Population Policy. It will promote synergy between demographic, educational, environmental and development programmes so as to hasten population stabilisation.

The commission will promote inter-sectoral coordination in planning and implementation across Central and state government agencies. It will also seek to involve the society and the private sector.

Pant himself will be the vice-chairman of the commission, while union ministers in-charge of various ministries like education, finance, health, information and broadcasting, social justice and empowerment, and women and child development will be its members.

Opposition leaders in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, chief ministers, deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha, chief ministers and members of Parliament will also be given representation in the commission.

The president of Assocham, CII and FICCI as also the presidents of the Editors Guild of India, the Indian Newspapers Society, the Indian Nursing Council, the Indian Medical Council and the Medical Council of India will get a place in the board.

Representatives of Star TV, Zee TV and Sun TV will also be on the board.

Pant said the immediate objective of the National Population Policy was to tackle the population growth, address the unmet needs for contraceptives, and achieve improvement in maternal and child health by 2010.

The long-term objective, he said, was to achieve population stabilisation by 2045, at a level consistent with the requirements of a sustainable economic growth, social development and environmental protection.

Pant said there was a need to encourage education among girls and women by co-ordinated action of Central and state governments, local bodies, voluntary organisations and dedicated individuals to exploit inter-linkages between literacy health and sanitation.

UNI

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