| The Vision |
| Jharkhand vis-à-vis the other
Although several Indian states have done remarkably well in population stabilization and pro States vision of reproductive and child health services, what makes the Indian performance look mediocre ininternational reckoning is the extremely slow progress made in a few large, northern states. The Government of India has recently begun to focus attention on eight states where the programme performance is particularly poor. The performance is particularly poor in five Empowered Action Group (FAG) states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh falling in a geographically contiguous territory, that includes now three newly formed states, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal. The population of EAG states grew by 25 percent during 1991-2001 compared with the all-India average of 21 percent. Total fertility rate is 4.2, which is a whole one birth higher than the all-India average. Infant mortality rate is 82 as against 68 at the All-India level. In EAG states, only 44% of women are having antenatal check up during pregnancy, one fourth of the deliveries are attended by health professionals, one fifth of the children are fully immunized, and only one third of married women of reproductive ages are using contraception. The reason for this striking regional contrast is complex and deep-rooted. On the one hand, high rates of poverty, illiteracy and low autonomy of women lead to poor knowledge and low demand of reproductive and child heath services. On the other hand poor infrastructure and bad governance compound the problem, Bridging the gap would require raising public awareness and changing behaviours. Sensitising administrators and encouraging the involvement of private sector in the delivery services The Jharkhand Government vision
The Jharkhand government will pay special attention to RCH issues of the disadvantaged population living in remote areas.
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