Over 2019 to 2023 West Bengal and Jharkhand saw the share of girl child marriages in total weddings rise.
Efforts of the government have been successful in reining in the growth of population, she said in a written reply.
There has been a decline of four points in male U5MR and three points in female U5MR during the corresponding period.
Gender empowerment rather than hard-core 'family planning' lies at the heart of India's population stabilisation efforts, says Amarjeet Sinha
On the ground, rural medical infrastructure and more crucially, women's access to reproductive health services is practically non-existent in Uttar Pradesh, reports Geetanjali Krishna.
In an affidavit filed in the top court, the health ministry told the apex court that the family welfare programme in the country is voluntary in nature, which enables couples to decide the size of their family and adopt family planning methods best suited to them, according to their choice and without any compulsion.
An analysis of WHO data shows that most of the countries with an older cohort of population and higher in the development index had a lower excess mortality rate than India.
Gujarat has done a little worse than the national average when it comes to achieving decline in the Total Fertility Rate and Maternal Mortality Rate, according to the Union health ministry.
'...to come back to power because it was not doing well.'
The NSSO had enumerated 79,306 households in rural areas and 45,374 in urban regions.
Even though the overall death rate of children under the age of one in India has decreased by 7 per cent, the number from rural India is disturbing.
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