84 SOCIAL SCIENTIST
The first few five year plans focused in male sterlisation along with contraceptives for women. However, from the late 1970's there was a shift in focus to female contraceptives. The political defeat suffered by the Congress I in 1977 was attributed in the most part to the excesses in the forces sterilisations on men between 1975-7, that is, the years of the National Emergency. I have focused on the political implications of the sterilisation programme elsewhere3, here it might suffice to look at one specific aspect.
At one level, it is interesting to note that the political manifestations of coercive sterilisations led to such a major change in state policy. In spite of two decades of invasive and authoritarian methods used against women and a small, though extremely articulate feminist health movement, it has not been possible to tilt the balance in favour of women. On the other hand, during the emergency, the brunt of the coercive sterilisations was borne by poor, illiterate, low caste or Muslim women.4 What this seems to convey is that even the most powerless among men possibly enjoy a greater degree of control over state policy than women do. The population policies in the country have shown a marked insensitivity to the lives and experiences of women, concentrating mainly on filling quotas.
As a study of the policy of the Maharashtra state reveals, in the mid 1990's, a policy for women's health focuses on empowerment of women to enable population control. To quote:
"The Government will initiate and support all efforts to promote an awareness among the public that the family welfare and population policies of the state will succeed only if women are empowered to decide on the issues related to the health of their families. She should specifically be empowered to decide on issues regarding the size of the family and the health interventions affecting the children."5
Empowerment for women is not seen as an end in itself. It is projected as a means to the ultimate end of population policy. Another anomaly of the population programme is that it concentrates almost exclusively on controlling the fertility of married women. To the extent that, in India, family planning and population policy are synonymous terms. The sexuality and fertility of single women remains ambiguous. By not addressing the specific needs of single women, official rhetoric marginalises their sexuality. The Maharashtra State Policy, for instance, gives incentives to married women who put off having children.6 Thus, it leaves out women outside the scope of the recognised and conventional family system.