ABSTRACT
During the mid-1990s, there were very few things that India had not tried to alter the childbearing behaviour of its people. The ICPD Conference, held in Cairo in 1994, and the World Conference on Women, held in Beijing the following year, generated additional pressure from the global community for bringing about changes in the focus and approach of the Indian family planning programme. HealthWatch provided constructive criticism, raised resources to carry out primary research by involving its members, offered alternative strategies and facilitated the development of monitoring indicators. In 1997, the government introduced, with a World Bank loan, the Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) programme for five years, which was extended up to 2005. In fact, the central government converted the RCH programme into the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), which is entirely funded by the government. It aimed to undertake architectural correction of the health system to effectively handle the increased allocation of funds for public health.
