International Institute for Population Sciences celebrates 50th anniversary

Established in 1956 by the United Nations and the Government of India, the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) based in Mumbai, recently completed 50 years of dedicated service in teaching, training and conducting research in the field of population. As part of its Golden Jubilee celebrations, IIPS (formerly known as DTRC) organized an International Conference on “Emerging Population Issues in the Asia-Pacific Region: Challenges for the 21st Century” from 10-13 December 2006 in Mumbai. Prof. P.N. Mari Bhat, Director and Senior Professor, IIPS, kindly responded to Population Headliners:

What is the main outcome of the Conference which you recently organized to mark IIPS’ Golden Jubilee?

The objective of the Conference was to bring together scholars and population experts from different parts of the world, especially alumni, to discuss and debate on the population issues confronting the countries of the ESCAP region, identify issues for further research and action and provide much needed exposure to young scholars and students. We also aimed to widely disseminate the research findings of the latest, not only to academia but also to policy makers, health activists, programme managers and the general public.

The Conference was attended by about 500 delegates -- about one fourth were from outside India. A total of 170 papers were presented in 33 parallel sessions while 112 presentations were made in three poster sessions. In addition, there were five plenary sessions on important themes in which 20 eminent scholars presented their views. During the Conference, eight eminent demographers associated with the Institute in the past -- J. C. Caldwell, Fred Arnold, Tim Dyson, K. C. Zachariah, K. Srinivasan, Ashish Bose, K. V. Ramachandran and T. K. Roy -- were honoured for their outstanding contributions to the discipline of population studies and/or for the growth of the Institute. Two publications, one portraying 50 years of achievements of IIPS and another compiling the Conference’s abstracts, were released on the occasion. The full papers were provided to the delegates in a CD-ROM, while two edited volumes with a selection of papers are in the pipeline.

What are some of the highlights of IIPS’ 50-year history?

The most significant contribution of the Institute is, of course, the large number of well-qualified demographers it has produced over the years, who now occupy key positions in their respective countries and international organizations. The course curriculum developed here became a model for regional institutes established elsewhere in the world. As Prof. John Cleland noted in his inaugural speech, even though some of the regional centers that were established later are now defunct, IIPS has managed to survive and grow because it continuously modified its training programme and research to suit the changing needs of the region. IIPS is now the only university in the world devoted exclusively to teaching and conducting research in population and reproductive health. Since the early 1990s, it has assumed leadership in conducting huge population surveys providing wealth of information on health and development indicators in India at national and subnational levels, required for both planning and research.

How many demographers have been trained at IIPS over the years and what has been IIPS’ contribution to the advancement of population issues in Asia and the Pacific?

Since its inception, IIPS has trained about 2,200 demographers (roughly two thirds from India and one third from other countries in Asia and the Pacific). The Institute has also been providing short-term trainings on demography and reproductive health as well as specialized short-term courses and correspondence courses which attracted a wide audience, including from outside the region.

The supply of trained manpower in demography and population policy formulation and evaluation has surely been IIPS’s main contribution. Those who have come to IIPS have returned to their respective countries usually to occupy key positions in universities or national programmes in family planning and public health.

What do you think are the most striking differences between India of the late 1950s, when IIPS was founded, and the 21st century India? Did the country’s booming population growth play an important role in India’s accession to the rank of economic superpower?

In the 1950s, India’s age structure was young with 45 per cent of population below age 15. At the beginning of the 21st century, with the reduction in fertility levels occurring in many states, the proportion of child population has declined and India is finally poised to take advantage of the demographic dividend. During the period of market liberalization and globalization, the states that have attracted a large percentage of FDIs are the southern and western states. They enjoyed rapid declines in their fertility levels and were able to spend a considerable portion of their budgets on educating their population and meeting the demands of the globalizing economy. Had population growth declined earlier, the window of opportunities would have opened up earlier for India, as the Chinese experience has shown. Reduction in population growth rates at the macro level and the achievement of small family size at the micro level help release individual and community energies for economic development -- this would otherwise get bogged down in maintaining the status quo at the family level.

In your views, which are the population issues of concern in India at the moment?
The most demanding population concerns facing the country are: (a) the enormous demographic differentials in terms of fertility, mortality and population growth rates and possible threats they pose to peace and stability; (b) generating employment for the burgeoning but largely illiterate labour force and women who wish to enter the labour force as a result of fertility decline; (c) slow rates of urbanization and productivity rise in agriculture; and (d) declining proportion of females in the population, particularly in some states, as a result of the rising incidence of female foeticide.