ABSTRACT

In the political and social context of late colonial Madras Presidency the state did not pursue a health policy that included contraceptive distribution or education. As a result, health was appropriated both discursively and practically by the voluntary organizations of the Indian middle classes. First among these organizations was the Madras Neo-Malthusian League (MNML). Although the 1920s and 1930s were a time of significant nationalist mobilization, south Indian birth control advocates did not promote contraception as part of a broader anti-colonial agenda. South Indian contraceptive advocacy was not one battle among many in a larger war for national self-determination.1 Indeed, during these decades, India’s most important nationalist leader, Gandhi, actively campaigned against contraception.2