Indian population problems: a household economics approach

In the pursuit of the twin goals of economic development and population control, India's achievements have often lagged behind targets. This is due, at least in part, to the fact that policies adopted to serve one objective have often emerged as inconsistent with the achievement of the other. As such, the interactions between specific technological and employment strategies on the one hand and population policies on the other have remained unexplored.
Using a new home economics approach in tandem with other quantitative aproaches, Dr Bahnisikha Ghosh examines the relation ship between economic and demographic forces in India and focuses on both the inherent conflict and the complementarity between them. She highlights the relatively lower socio-economic status of women vis-à vis men, and argues that their share in total employment is determined by the particular nature of technological change in the Indian economy. The home economics approach shows that decisions regarding the desired number of children are taken jointly by the. family along with other decisions regarding migration, investment in human capital, etc. Given the increasingly adverse status of women, such decisions often tend to inhibit fertility control.
Dr Ghosh argues that policies to raise per capita income per se, without considering men and women as separate beneficiaries of such increased income, are likely to further enhance sex disparities and prove detrimental to the control of fertility and infant mortality. There is need, the author concludes, for an integrated package of economic demographic policies designed for specific community and contextual environments. Such a package alone would facilitate the attainment of the objectives of economic and human resource development in India.
This invaluable study will be of interest to students of economics, demography, sociology and the development process, as also to professionals in government departments and national and international agencies.