Context:
As India marks the 50th anniversary of the Emergency (1975–77), the article revisits the state-sponsored forced sterilisation campaign, one of the darkest chapters in post-Independence India, highlighting its implications for democracy, governance, and ethics.
Key Highlights:
Government Initiative / Policy Details:
- The family planning programme, originally voluntary, turned coercive during the Emergency, especially in 1976–77.
- The programme was justified under population control and economic development narratives.
Implementation Mechanism:
- Sterilisation quotas were imposed on government officials.
- Failure to meet targets resulted in job loss, denial of promotions, and punitive transfers.
- Sterilisation certificates became mandatory for accessing ration cards, housing, electricity, and public services.
Scale and Impact:
- Millions of sterilisations conducted within a short span, largely through coercion and intimidation.
- Marginalised communities—Dalits, minorities, slum dwellers, and the rural poor—were disproportionately targeted.
- The Shah Commission documented 1,778 deaths linked to sterilisation procedures and large-scale procedural abuse.
Incidents and Resistance:
- Violent episodes such as Nasbandi Goli Kand reflected state repression and brutality.
- Fear and resistance spread widely, with villagers fleeing, hiding, or clashing with enforcement squads.
Political Consequences:
- The 1977 electoral defeat of the Congress was significantly influenced by public backlash against sterilisation excesses.
Relevant Prelims Points:
- Issue: Forced sterilisation during the Emergency period.
- Causes:
- Unchecked executive power during Emergency.
- Influence of Neo-Malthusian population control ideology.
- Absence of judicial oversight and civil liberties.
- Government Initiatives Involved:
- Family Planning Programme (converted from voluntary to coercive).
- Administrative enforcement through targets and surveillance.
- Benefits Claimed:
- Population stabilisation.
- Economic development (claimed).
- Challenges and Impact:
- Violation of bodily autonomy and human rights.
- Ethical collapse in governance.
- Deep mistrust between citizens and the state.
- Long-term stigma around family planning programmes.
Relevant Mains Points:
- Constitutional and Ethical Dimensions:
- Suspension of Fundamental Rights under Article 352 enabled abuse.
- Violated right to life and personal liberty (Article 21).
- Key Concepts:
- Sterilisation: Permanent medical intervention—vasectomy and tubectomy.
- Neo-Malthusianism: Advocates population control to prevent economic and environmental crises.
- Necropolitics: (Achille Mbembe) State’s power to decide who may live and who must die, reflected in forced medical interventions.
- Governance Lessons:
- Dangers of centralised authority without accountability.
- Importance of ethical governance and consent-based policymaking.
- Way Forward:
- Strengthen institutional checks and balances.
- Ensure rights-based, voluntary public health programmes.
- Embed ethics, transparency, and informed consent in governance.
- Preserve democratic safeguards to prevent recurrence of authoritarian excesses.