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
