Over 1.07 cr people sterilised during Emergency, highly exceeding govt's target

Over 1.07 crore people were sterilised during the Emergency period from 1975-77, exceeding the targets of 67.40 lakh set by the then Indira Gandhi Government as part of vigorous population control measures, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai informed Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

In response to a written question, the minister presented the data from the Justice JC Shah Commission report, which was set up on May 28, 1977, to inquire into, inter alia, excesses, malpractices and misdeeds during the Emergency, including the use of force in the implementation of the family planning programme.

"Further, a total of 548 complaints of sterilisation of unmarried persons and 1774 cases of death linked to sterilisation during the Emergency period were also reported to the Shah Commission. The Shah Commission Report was tabled in Parliament on August 31, 1978," Rai said.


The presented data showed that in 1975-76, the government set the goal of conducting 24,85,000 sterilisation procedures and surpassed the target by accomplishing 26,24,755 surgeries across India.

These substantial figures were dwarfed in the subsequent year, 1976-77, when targets soared to 42,55,500, and the sterilisation procedures performed skyrocketed to 81,32,209, it showed.

The data showed that the sterilisation procedures exceeded the targets by over 59% during 1975-77.

"Between 25 June 1975 and 21 March 1977, India was placed under a state of Emergency under Article 352 of the Constitution...On 25 June 1975, the then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed had issued the Emergency proclamation under Article 352, citing threats from internal disturbance," a fact sheet issued by the PIB had said.

The Shah Commission had collected evidence through public hearings, testimonies and official records, and submitted three reports between 1978 and 1979, it had said.

(With inputs from PTI)