FAMILY PLANNING 23 26 Samir Amin seems to be right when he states that there are only a few areas in the Third World which are over-populated, according to his definition: The West Indies, the Nile Valley, the delta regions of Asia, and Java. Most other areas, including the southern part of the Indian subcontinent cannot be considered absolutely over populated. Samir Amin, Underpopulated Africa, Reprinted in Family Planning in Ethiopia, No 3 August 1973, Ethiopian Nutrition Institute, Addis Ababa, pp 86-87. 2 7 Goran Djurfeldt and Staffan Lindberg, Some Features of the Political Economy of Agriculture in a Tamil Village, Social Scientist, New Delhi, Vol II No 1 (pp 27-42); and Vol II No 2 (pp 14-23). 2 8 We will make a full analysis of these phenomena in our forthcoming work on the economy ofThaiyur Panchayat. We have sketched an analysis in our 1973 article. 2 9 Another evidence is the 30 rupees incentive scheme. Recently it has been proposed that family size should he considered by the government when employing people in public work schemes etc. (Mandelbaum op. cit. p 157). Men with too many children should be barred from such employment unless they consent to participate in a family planning programme. 8 ° According to our opinion this is wrong. If they are motivated, no method is too complicated. One indication of this is the great risks that many women are prepared to run to get an abortion. Compare the drastic method to reduce population among hunters, (Sahlins op, cit. p 34; and Douglas op. cit) 81 Hans Schenk, India: Poverty and Sterilization, Development and Change, 1973-74 Vol V (1) pp 36-53. He shows that the programme in practice is also directed primarily towards these classes. 82 C D Rajeswaran, Application of Scientific Methods and Family Planning, Monthly Bulletin, Madras Institute of Development Studies, vol II No II, pp 52-76. 88 Samir Amin, op. cit, pp 93-94. 84 S N Agarwala, The Arithmetics of Sterilization in India, Eugenics Quarterly, New York 13 (3) pp 209-213, 1966. 85 J de Leeuwe, N V S H and I P P F and Population Policies, Paper presented to the Seminar on Population and Economic Growth in Africa, Afrika Studie-Centrum, Leiden 18-22 December 1972. Compare also the following statement by the Indian delegates to the WHO Regiona Committee, 1969: "Family Planning becomes a controversial issue as soon as it is identified with population control; but there is no difficulty in introducing family planning as a normal activity of a maternal and child health programme designed for the protection of mothers and children. In fact the integration of family planning into maternal and child health services represents the best and more rational approach." Health Progress in India, 1969, as presented by the delegates to the WHO regional Committee, Indian Journal of Pediatrics, Vol 36, pp 490-494.