A baby is seen at the neonatal intensive care unit of a hospital in the Kishanganj district, Bihar, India, March 20, 2023. India’s fertility rate, fell to 2.0 in 2019-21, but State health officials estimate Kishangan”s fertility rate at 4.8 or 4.9, creating a population growth problem that the state is trying to curb with the distribution of condoms and birth control pills, as well as the paying 3,000 Indian rupees ($36.50) to women who get sterilised, 4,000 rupees to men, and 500 rupees per surgery to the health workers who perform them. “I talk to women while they are experiencing labour pain and nudge them to undergo sterilisation immediately after delivery,” said Parvati Rajak, a medical officer in one of Kishanganj’s seven government health centres. “But the final choice is always made by the family.” REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis
