New Delhi, Jan 16: Voicing concern over "unsatisfactory" performance of Rajasthan, Bihar, UP and MP in in controlling population, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today asked their chief ministers to comprehensively review their policies.
Chairing a meeting of chief ministers of the four states convened here by him, the Prime Minister said "in the areas of population stabilisation, healthcare and girls' education, what has been worrying me is the big gap between the progress made in other states and the unsatisfactory performance of Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. "The high growth of population in these four states is continuing to far outstrip rate of economic growth and since these four states alone account for 37 per cent of India's population, their laggardly performance is pulling down the socio-economic development of the country as a whole," Vajpayee said. He urged the political leadership, bureaucracy, NGOs, religious and social organisations and all the people to take the issue of population to their heart and address it with dedication and commitment.
Bureau Report