New Delhi, Aug 07: Panchayati Raj institutions, private sector and the society are actively involved in population control measures being personally monitored by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Rajya Sabha was informed today. Though this was a state subject, the government has taken several steps for controlling population, programme implementation minister S B Mookherjee said in reply to supplementaries during question hour.

"The states, the Panchayati Raj institutions, the private sector and the civil society have been actively involved in this task", Mookherjee said.

He said the Centre allocated Rs 250 crore during the 10th plan for implementation of population control programmes of an Empowered Action Group (EAG). The National Population Policy (NPP), 2000, has projected the population for 2010 at 1,107 million if Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is brought down to 2.1 by that year on the basis of 1991 census data, the minister said.

However, the 2001 census has shown that the actual population is greater than the NPP projections for 2001, he said.

While TPR had come down from 42.6 per cent in 1911 to 8.7 per cent in 2001, population growth rate had declined from 42.6 per cent in 1911 to 26.11 per cent in 2001, he said.

Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat said the house could have a full-fledged discussion on the subject after consulting the business advisory committee, as it was an important matter. Bureau Report