POVERTY AND FERTILITY IN INDIA: Demographic Field Theory Perspective

This book deals with two burgeoning issues of India-abject poverty and high fertility- that demand urgent solution. Otherwise, India would remain a poor country, though a software superpower. Most Indian demographers are not concerned with poverty-fertility nexus. Suitable theory also lacks. So, a novel theory, the Demographic Field Theory, is presented herein explaining such nexus, filling up a great lacuna.

Many canonical analyses are performed between demographic, socio-economic and policy systems, using recent National Family and Health Survey (NFHS), Census 2001, Sample Registration Survey (SRS) and Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) survey data, making it most current. Causal relations between syndrome of poverty and fertility, sadly, remains same, over time.

The main purpose of this work is to draw attention of scholars and policy makers to this syndrome. All canonical results (1992-2004) very strongly proved that unless abject poverty and female illiteracy are not urgently reduced, fertility will not decline. This is also necessary for demographic transition.

This study, being both theoretical and empirical, synthesizing and policy-oriented, thus has made a seminal and path-breaking contribution to demography, population studies, geography, economics and social sciences.

Shekhar Mukherji, an internationally-renowned Population Geographer-cum-Demographer-cum-Urban Planner, is former Professor and Head, Department of Migration and Urban Studies, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai. He also served as Professor and Head, Geography Department, Visva Bharati.

He got two Ph.Ds, from Calcutta University and University of Hawaii, USA; did Post-doctorate from Australian National University. He taught in several universities for 42 years (1959-2001). Invited twice to UN-ESCAP Expert meetings (1977/1995) and was visiting professor in Hawaii, Bellagio (Italy), Kawasaki and Tokyo. His publications comprise 32 books and 160 research papers. His areas of specialization include migration, urbanization, regional disparities, poverty alleviation, human/population geography, demography/fertility behaviour, population policies, and urban/rural/regional planning.

As socially-committed social scientist, he has profound concern for the poor, and his lifelong research on poverty alleviation promoted this as a mission.