- Description
In the early 1950s, the question of poverty was causally linked to India's growing population in the works of many US based demographers (Davis, 1951). The inflow of funds through the foundations for population control and for demography as a discipline substantially strengthened this understanding. During this period, number of demographic research centres were also established in India with the infusion of massive funds from the Rockefeller Foundation (RF), the Population Council (PC) and the Ford Foundation (FF) (Caldwell and Caldwell, 1986). The research emanating from this centres considered population growth as the single most important cause for the low economic development of India(Bhende, etal 1976). There was also a growing realisation among the policy makers, government officials and the middle class elites, that India rapid population growth was leading to increased poverty. Thus, the findings from the demographic studies produced a 'consensus' that India was facing an impending 'crisis' with the uncontrolled growth of population (Bose, 1970).
