Patna: Bihar would have a new population policy which is being framed in collaboration with United Nations Population Fund.
"The new population policy will come into being by March 31, 2011," state health department sources said.
The new policy would be presented in the state legislature for passage for implementation, the sources said.
Through the policy, the government would try to reduce the total fertility rate, which is 3.9 in Bihar and is the highest in the country.
The new policy is being framed to meet the national health parameters and would propose stablisation of population through behavioural changes, without which realising its aim would not be possible, they said.
The most alarming aspect of the population problem is that 60 percent of women in the state become mothers before the age of 20, the sources added.
PTI
