India: population: birth curbs fail.

Government efforts at curbing population growth has been a failure, reports quoting Health Minister Baburao Shankaranand said. He blamed the government of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai (1977-79) for the inability to reduce the birth rate. The minister, a father of 8, was further reported to have pointed to the 1971 census results as reflecting the failure. The enumeration placed the total Indian population at 684 million which was 12 million more than projected. He said the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has adopted measures to reduce the birth rate from the current 36/1,000 population to 21 by the end of the present century. "We will stick to persuasion, motivation and education" but will not use force, he added.