NEW DELHI: Triggering fears of sharp population rise in India, the data provided by the Union Health Ministry in reply to an RTI query shows that the sale of major contraceptive, condom, slumped drastically during the 2020-21 when the Covid pandemic hit the country. The decrease in condom sale was because of various restrictions imposed in the wake of pandemic.
The ministry of Health and Family Welfare in reply to a query, sought by MP-based RTI activist Chandrasekhar Gaur, has disclosed the startling data. It was the lowest sale of condoms in the last five years in India.
“India registered the sale of only 244.31 million pieces of condoms during the fiscal year of 2020-21 during which the stringent restrictions were imposed across the country due to the first wave of Covid-19 pandemic,” Gaur said, quoting the data provided to him under the RTI.
Alarmed at such a drastic fall in the sale of condoms, Dr Rajiva Ranjan, a birth-control researcher, said that the decreased sale of condoms might have given at least 10 times rise in unwanted pregnancies during that period.