New Delhi, Nov 14 (PTI) Some politicians feel shy aboutpromoting the idea of family planning because of a belief thatpopulation control may lead to "vote control", Vice PresidentM Venkaiah Naidu said today.
Calling for a debate and a broad political consensus onthe issue of birth control, he also stressed the need forincentives to encourage the people to adopt family planningmeasures.
"...Somehow, our politicians are also feeling a littleshy about cooperation (in) family planning. Population controlmeans votes control ho jayega, aisa bhi kuch logon ka maannahai (Some people believe that population control may also leadto vote control)," the Vice President said at an event tolaunch the 'India state-level disease burden' report.
Health Minister J P Nadda was present at the event.
Naidu also stressed the need to educate people onpreventive measures to check diseases, and said lifestyles hadto change for better health.
This, he said, was particularly important for childrenwho remained glued to television, cinema and the social media.
Naidu emphasised that people should be educated on thebenefits of family planning.
He also said many health indicators in India were poorerthan those of other countries which were at a similar level ofdevelopment. This implied that while significant healthimprovements had taken place in India, it could do better.
In a word of advice to doctors, he said they shouldconsider the "humanitarian way" of treating patients and builda healthy nation. He called for a greater interaction betweendoctors and patients where physical check-ups had a biggerrole to play than hi-tech tests.
Before Naidu was to address the audience, one of theorganisers introduced him as a former BJP president and aformer union minister.
Naidu said he had now retired from politics and "hasnothing to do with BJP, but with JP". He was referring tominister J P Nadda, who Naidu said had done a great job inpublic life. PTI NABBDS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.