July 11 is marked by the United Nations as World Population Day. The official theme for this year is “Realising the hopes and aspirations of young people - today and for the future.” India has reasons to celebrate this theme. We have a youthful demographic dividend, with 65% of our population under 35 years of age.Population (AP/File Photo)Alongside this, a cautionary tale is emerging from our country, based on two rounds of the National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) V and VI, which indicate that we are entering a low-fertility era, with a total fertility rate of 2.1. We are now below the replacement level for two consecutive surveys. This can be attributed to the success of family planning programmes and a focus on education and health, particularly for women and children.So then, what is the need for caution? Total fertility rate reduction in countries like China due to their one-child norm has resulted in an ageing population. India is currently reaping the benefits of population momentum as more women have entered childbearing age. Soon, a decline in the same will be observed, and issues related to post-reproduction and an ageing population will emerge. We can learn many lessons from the mistakes of countries like China and prepare ourselves to strengthen our demographic dividend.In terms of enabling solutions, the first step would be to make the issue of population studies central to our educational landscape. Modules and curricular content of courses on population in schools, colleges, and universities need to be made interdisciplinary and holistic, covering, inter alia, the myths, misconceptions and realities in the appropriate context. Courses on population and demography are to be revisited. Population studies are to be renamed as demology--the knowledge on population and development rather than demography per se. The streams of economics, sociology, social psychology, social anthropology, public health, medical sciences, and environmental disciplines need to be revisited to align with the realistic concepts in demology. Interdisciplinary research for evidence-building needs to be alive to the realities and myths. Intensive training and reorientation for academia, bureaucracy, legislators, and programme leaders in the health sector on the paradigm shift must be imparted. The National Education Policy 2020 has provided an enabling environment for this transformation.Second, there should be a focus on gender sensitivity with an emphasis on the rights of women and the girl-child. Rights-based and gender-sensitive policy advocacy is to be carried out in a sustained manner at all levels to keep the grain separate from the chaff. Policy analysis and monitoring studies are to be conducted concurrently to identify internal contradictions and myths and to provide regular feedback. The needs of women and family (especially the poor and marginalised) for qualitative reproductive health and contraceptives are to be assessed at regular intervals locally with two-way dialogues, consultations and counselling (with follow-up) rather than a one-way top-down, take it or leave it approach by service providers. Counselling on gender and reproductive rights with male involvement to internalise and bust the myths of masculinity and patriarchy has to be a priority in population and development efforts. Priority is to be given to comprehensive population education as a core curriculum for adolescent girls and boys, along with leaders, parents and teachers, which has to include adolescent reproductive and sexual health, including sexuality, life skills, and marriage counselling. Youth empowerment is a prerequisite for this effort. A life-cycle approach to reproductive health, women’s health and the well-being of both men and women is called for. Issues of nutrition, post-reproductive health, and the needs of the elderly must be addressed if balanced population stabilisation becomes a reality in the next three or four decades. The emerging issues in demographic transition, such as the demographic dividend through skilling and agency, have to be treated with empathy. The issue of skewed sex ratio at birth is a serious gender, human rights and development concern in the demographic transition towards population stabilisation. The policies and strategies on population and development need to be congruous with each other and be alert towards this. The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao programme is a comprehensive initiative that addresses this issue. It has been seen that quick-fix solutions for population stabilisation (such as one or two-child norm/incentives and disincentives) are counter-productive, and these exacerbate the adverse sex ratio at birth further, as seen in China. The laws impacting this issue need to be enforced with rigour and zeal.Last but not least, there should be an emphasis on participatory governance, with the involvement of local functionaries and synergies among all stakeholders. Verticalised disease control and theme-specific health and contraceptive plans from above should gradually give way to decentralised need-based integrated plans and programmes from the community, backed by quality of care. As participants, people feel more involved and become aware of their entitlements, rights, and obligations. Population programmes are better implemented with transparency and accountability at all levels within this management-style paradigm, and the diversity of needs is addressed with a high degree of realism. The myths then break down in the minds of the people, programme managers, and policy and strategy leaders. The population problem becomes the people’s problem, and the population programme becomes people’s programme.(The views expressed are personal)This article is authored by AR Nanda, former secretary, health and family welfare and Bijayalaxmi Nanda, principal, Miranda House, University of Delhi.