INDIA GREENS PARTY
Press Statement
Unchir-Dunktok, Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, 11 July 2021: The India Greens Party (iGP) today said the fertility rates can only be balanced if the reproductive health rights of all people were reprioritised.
In a press statement issued at the national head office (NHO) of the party, on the occasion of the World Population Day today, the iGP President Suresh Nautiyal said reprioritisation of the reproductive health rights is need of the hour.
“Women must be empowered educationally, economically and politically to exercise choice over their bodies and fertility. It is sad that despite constitutional guarantees of gender equality in many countries, women enjoy just 75% of the legal rights of men, globally,” pointed out Mr Nautiyal.
He said it is regrettable that only 55% of women have the power to make their own decisions about their bodies despite so much progress around the world.
“It is a wake-up call to governments, elected representatives, policymakers and development institutions,” the IGP President asserted, adding that these leaders need to understand why the world population grew so much only in the last 200 years; though, it took hundreds of thousands of years for the world population to grow to one billion.
“Today, the world population stands at about 7.7 billion, and is expected to grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050, and 10.9 billion in 2100,” pointed out Mr Nautiyal, wondering how this much big population will distribute the resources available among themselves?
To address the needs of individuals sustainably, policymakers must understand how many people are living on the planet, where they are, how old they are, and how many people will come after them.
The World Population Day is observed on 11 July every year. The event was established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1989. The Day aims at increasing people’s awareness on various population issues such as the importance of family planning, gender equality, poverty, maternal health, and human rights.
Mr Nautiyal said the Covid-19 pandemic has compromised healthcare systems particularly in the area of sexual and reproductive health. It also exposed and exacerbated gender-based inequities; for example, gender-based violence increased under lockdown.
The iGP leader said we have the inherent right to choose what we do with our body, to ensure its protection and care, to pursue its expression because the quality of our lives depends on it.
“Therefore, there is no way but to reprioritise the reproductive health rights of all people. The recent past has seen decrease in fertility rates, but life expectancy has risen to a good level. These megatrends have affected economic development, employment, income distribution, poverty and social protections. They also affect efforts to ensure universal access to health care, education, housing, sanitation, water, food and energy.
–Issued by Deepak Dabral, iGP Office Secretary.
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(India Greens Party is registered with the Election Commission of India under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Registration Number: 56/476/2018-19/PPS-I, effective from 18/07/2019.)
Registered Office: 104, Vardhman Complex, 1st Floor, LSC, Savita Vihar, Delhi-110092.
National Head Office: GreenDhamAnandiChait, IndraBalbhadraParisar, Unchir-Dunktok, PO-Ghurdauri, Patty-Idwalsyun, Distt-Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, INDIA. PIN-246194.
Email: indiagreensparty@gmail.com Website: https://indiagreensparty.org
