Sushila, 32, had her first child 9 years ago, and has not thought about having a second child since.
Her son, now in class 4 studies in a private English medium school. “My son’s monthly expenditure is around Rs 4,000 which includes his education and private tuition fee. Going by the inflation and price rise of every commodity I don’t think we could have afforded expenditure on another child,” Sushila stated.
“My mother-in-law wanted me to have another baby, and even my husband at times expressed the desire. But I was totally against it.
"I am not so highly educated but know why family planning is important. Also I keep hearing that there are certain schemes which poor can avail who have only on child,” she said.
Sushila’s husband is unemployed while she works as a cook and helps her in-laws run a vegetable and fruits stall in Green Park. She lives in a joint family with her in-laws in a rented accommodation in Harijan basti behind Yusuf Sarai.
“I earn around Rs 5,000 a month. Saviour is that we live in a joint family else I don’t know how we could have managed to survive only on my income. We cannot think of having another child,” she concluded.