ABSTRACT
India being a big country with well-known regional disparities and health and population being state subjects, the dynamics of population growth may be different across states. This chapter analyses the dynamics of population growth in Punjab. The spectacular development of the Punjab economy during the post-independence period in general and the post-Green Revolution period in particular is well-known. The chapter examines the proximate determinants of the growth of population and human development in Punjab and analyses the rural–urban differences in human development and the provisioning of health infrastructure in Punjab. Punjab is much behind Kerala as regards the provision of MCH care to pregnant women. According to recent estimates by the World Health Organisation (WHO), anemia contributes to up to 20 per cent of maternal deaths in the developing world; it also causes serious mental, motor and behaviour problems amongst anemic children.
