UGC-NET (NTA) POPULATION STUDIES, JUNE-2025

The period between menarche (onset of menstruation) and the attainment of full biological maturity and regular ovulation is termed adolescent sterility. During this stage, although menstruation begins, ovulation is irregular, and the chances of conception remain low. This transitional period generally lasts for a few years (often 2-3 years) after menarche and represents a natural form of temporary infertility before reproductive capacity becomes fully established.

Under India's Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971, as amended in 2021, abortion is legally permitted only under certain specific medical and social grounds, such as:
• To save the woman's life,
• To preserve her physical or mental health,
• In cases of rape or incest, or
• If there is a substantial risk that the child would be born with serious abnormalities.
However, abortion "on request" or on demand, without fulfilling these criteria, is not legally allowed in India. The law mandates approval by one or two registered medical practitioners, depending on the gestational age, to ensure legal and safe termination.

The window of demographic opportunity (also called demographic dividend period) opens when the working-age population (15-64 years) grows larger relative to dependents (children and elderly). In India, this window opens at different times in different states due to staggered fertility transition-that is, states experience declines in fertility at different periods.
For example:
• Southern states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu entered the demographic dividend phase
earlier (around 199Cs-2000s).
• Northern and central states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar will enter much later (2030s-2040s).
Hence, it is the variation in fertility decline timing across regions that causes differing demographic opportunity periods.

Population momentum is a demographic phenomenon where a population continues to grow even after fertility rates have fallen to the replacement level (NRR = 1). This occurs because a large proportion of the population is in the reproductive age group, due to past high fertility.
As these young cohorts enter childbearing years, total births remain high for several decades before stabilizing. Thus, even though individual fertility behavior has changed, the population's age structure keeps the total numbers increasing for some time. This concept is crucial for explaining why population stabilization lags behind fertility reduction.

The Davis and Blake Intermediate Variables Framework (1956) identifies the key proximate determinants that directly affect fertility by influencing the process between sexual union and childbirth. These are grouped into three major categories:
• Intercourse variables: Factors affecting the exposure to sexual relations (e.g., age at marriage, permanent celibacy, frequency of intercourse, dissolution of marriage, etc.)
• Conception variables: Factors affecting conception (e.g., use of contraception, lactational infecundability, voluntary abstinence, sterility, etc.)
• Gestation variables: Factors affecting successful pregnancy outcomes (e.g., foetal mortality or abortion).
Hence, "foetal mortality from involuntary causes" falls under gestation variables, not intercourse variables.

Family planning methods are broadly classified into:
• Spacing methods: Temporary measures that delay or space births, allowing women to conceive later. Examples include:
(a) Barrier methods: Condoms, diaphragms, cervical caps.
(b) Hormonal methods: Pills, injections, implants.
(c) Intrauterine Devices (IUDs): Copper-T, Mirena, etc. Permanent methods:
• Permanent sterilization procedures such as vasectomy (for males) and tubectomy (for females) that prevent future conception altogether. Thus, vasectomy is a permanent method, not a spacing method.

Natural contraceptive methods rely on human behavior and natural physiological cycles without medical or artificial intervention. Examples include:
• Celibacy (complete abstinence)
• Coitus interruptus (withdrawal method)
• Periodic abstinence (rhythm or calendar method)
By contrast, an IUD (Intrauterine Device) is a medical device inserted into the uterus to prevent conception and is therefore an artificial method of contraception, not a natural one.

The Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) Programme, launched in 1997 and strengthened under National Health Mission (NHM), aims to provide comprehensive maternal, newborn, and child health services. Its components include:
• Antenatal care - at least four or more check-ups ("Four Plus ANC")
• Institutional delivery and skilled birth attendance
• Postnatal and postpartum care
• Family planning and immunization services
However, the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) is a health insurance scheme launched by the Ministry of Labour and Employment in 2008 to provide financial protection to belowpoverty-line families for hospitalization expenses. It is not part of the RCH scheme.