Lack of awareness about other family planning methods has helped make female sterilization one of the most common forms of contraception in India. According to India’s latest National Family Health Survey, which was conducted from 2019 to 2021, it was used by almost 38% of women to prevent unwanted pregnancies, compared with 0.3% for male sterilization, which is less invasive.
A woman surnamed Valmiki, who declined to give her full name for fear of retribution from her family, is a mother of five from the Dalit community, India’s lowest caste, and works in sanitation in the Uttar Pradesh city of Meerut. She was never educated. Some states, like Uttar Pradesh and Assam, are considering legislation aimed at slowing population growth that would restrict civil liberties and access to social welfare resources for people who have more than two children. In other states, people with more than two children are ineligible to run for local office or apply for state government jobs.
Singh and others say India’s economy could be transformed by its working-age women, only 10% of whom were either employed or looking for jobs in 2022, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy.