Udaipur- A shocking incident has emerged from Rajasthan’s Udaipur district, where 55-year-old Rekha Kalbeliya recently gave birth to her 17th child. Rekha had previously delivered 16 children, but four sons and one daughter passed away shortly after birth. Among her surviving children, five are married and have children of their own. This incident not only highlights the family’s economic and social struggles but also raises serious questions about the effectiveness of Rajasthan’s family planning and sterilization programs.

ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers, and Janmangal couples play a crucial role in promoting family planning. ASHA workers visit households to counsel newlyweds on contraceptives, track pregnant women, and encourage post-delivery methods like PPIUCD. They distribute contraceptive pills, condoms, IUDs, and injectables. Awareness campaigns are conducted on Mother-Child Health and Nutrition Days.

However, incidents like the one in Udaipur clearly show that these schemes are failing to reach rural and impoverished families. Experts believe that lack of education, economic pressures, and insufficient awareness prevent people from adopting the two-child policy. The government needs to enforce stricter measures at the grassroots level and increase accountability among workers, or these schemes will remain mere paper promises.

According to an India Today report, Rekha’s daughter, Shila Kalbeliya, spoke about the family’s hardships, saying, “We have all faced immense difficulties. Everyone is shocked to hear that our mother has so many children.” The family sustains itself by collecting scrap and struggles without land or a home of their own. Rekha’s husband, Kavra Kalbeliya, shared, “To feed our children, I had to borrow money from moneylenders at 20 percent interest. I’ve repaid lakhs of rupees, but the interest remains unpaid. A house was sanctioned under the PM Awas scheme, but we remain homeless because the land is not in our name. We lack resources for food, weddings, or education, and these problems haunt us daily.”

Dr. Roshan Darangi, a gynecologist at Jhadol Community Health Centre, revealed that the family misrepresented Rekha’s medical history. “When Rekha was admitted, the family claimed it was her fourth child. Later, it was discovered that this was her 17th child,” he said. This misinformation initially caused challenges for the medical team, though both mother and child are now healthy.

This incident starkly exposes the failure of Rajasthan’s family planning initiatives. The state’s Medical, Health, and Family Welfare Department, under the National Health Mission (NHM), runs these programs. The Janmangal program, launched in 1992, aims to promote spacing methods and provide access to family planning resources. The primary goal is to encourage couples to opt for sterilization or permanent contraception after two children. Awareness campaigns promote birth spacing, sterilization incentives, and insurance schemes, but such incidents suggest these efforts are largely confined to paper and lack impact at the grassroots level.

Key schemes include:

• Birth Spacing Program: Emphasizes adequate gaps between births to improve maternal and child health and strengthen family finances, through awareness campaigns, health camps, and counseling.

• Permanent Contraception (Sterilization): Rs. 1100 is provided for male sterilization (vasectomy) in government and private hospitals, and Rs. 600 for female sterilization (tubal ligation). Private facilities and NGOs receive Rs. 1300 for male and Rs. 1350 for female sterilization per case. Motivators get Rs. 200 for male and Rs. 150 for female sterilization.

• Family Welfare Insurance Scheme: Compensation is offered for sterilization-related complications or death—Rs. 2 lakh for death in hospital or within 7 days of discharge, Rs. 50,000 for death between 8-30 days, Rs. 30,000 for failed operations, and up to Rs. 25,000 for complication treatments.

• Mukhyamantri Balika Sambal Yojana: Couples opting for sterilization after one or two daughters receive a Rs. 10,000 bond per daughter, maturing to Rs. 76,990 in 18 years.

• Jyoti Yojana: Women aged 22-32 opting for sterilization after one or two daughters receive priority in education, health services, social activities, and roles as ASHA or Anganwadi workers.