Demography India Vol. 21 No.2 (1992)

From the Chief Editor’s Desk

BY the time this issue will reach you, we will be ready to enter 1994, a year which will be important for several reasons. First of all, we are hopeful that by the end of 1994, there will be no backlog of Demography India. We also expect that 1994 will be a year for consolidating our efforts to give the journal an enhanced visibility-both by increasing its subscription and improving its usefulness in the applied social science research. Our endeavour will be to make the journal a true representative of South Asian Studies in
Population Sciences.

In 1994, election of IASP is also due. The large number of significant activities undertaken by the Association during the last two years and the recognitions it has received both by the national and international agencies, speak of the leadership provided by Prof M K Premi and the team effort put in by the out going office bearers. I hope the new Executive Council will bring some new blood, new talents and new vigour to give the Association a still higher profile.
In 1994, IASP will be launching a yet another major activity i.e. IASP - Population Council Fellowship for Ph.D in the Population Sciences. The details of the fellowship is given on the next page. I hope this programme will go a long way in strengthening applied social science research in India.

At the national level we expect to have a new population policy. We hope the new policy will also give some concrete guideline for its effective implementation. From the available plan documents and policy papers it is evident that while we are good in policy formulation, we fail in its implementation. The present Family Welfare Programme needs major structural as well as qualitative changes to increase outreach of the programme, choice of contraceptives, competence of workers, counselling, post acceptance follow up, etc. Equally important is to understand women's perspective and their reproductive health needs before formulating new population policy or restructuring the programme. I also hope that before the policy is finalized, it will be openly debated and discussed both at national and sub national levels.

At global level, in 1994 the International Conference on Population and Development will be held at Cairo. The issues which are important and would be centre of the discussion include: population and environment, North-South collaboration and sharing of resources to solve population problems and achieving a sustainable growth, role of NGO in this endeavour and ensuring inclusion of women perspectives at all stages of development and planning. The outcome of the conference will have significant bearing on our national programme.

I am sure 1994 will be important for many other reasons also but let me stop here and wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year.

ME Khan
Chief Editor, Demography India