Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath | Photo Credit: IANS

Key Highlights When Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency in 1975, her son Sanjay Gandhi launched a "gruesome campaign" to sterilise poor men By 1976, the Indian government had sterilized 6.2 million men and over two thousand men died from botched operations Sanjay Gandhi’s close aide Rukhsana Sultana gained a lot of notoriety in leading the mass-sterilization campaign

Bhopal: Sterilisation is back on the Congress’s agenda after Madhya Pradesh government warned male multi-purpose health workers (MPHWs), to sterilize one man or lose their salaries.

Citing the National Family Health Survey-4 report, MP’s National Health Mission (NHM) directed top district officials and Chief Medical and Health Officers (CHMOs) to identify male workers who had not sterilise even one man in the 2019-20 period that ends next month and apply the “no work no pay” principle. The official who fails to do so would be compulsorily retired.

As per the government’s data, only 0.5 per cent of men had opted for getting sterilise.

According to a report by the Indian Express, a senior government official said that there was “almost no participation” of men in the family planning programme and claimed that the government was not using coercive methods.

Defending the government’s decision to cut salary, the official said many people lack awareness when it comes to family planning so it is the job of the health officials to convince them.

The official further said that it shows the work output of the person and that there is no use of spending taxpayers’ money on salary.

Indira, Emergency and mass sterilisation

When Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency in 1975, her son Sanjay Gandhi launched a gruesome campaign to sterilise poor men. Many national and international media reported that cops used to cordon off villages and men were literally dragged to primary health clinics for surgery.

By 1976, the Indian government had sterilised 6.2 million men and over two thousand men died from botched operations. According to science journalist Mara Hvistendahl this number was "15 times the number of people sterilised by the Nazis".

Authors and journalists who chronicled the Emergency had blamed Indira for forced sterilisation campaign and the officials who implemented the programme.

Sanjay Gandhi’s close aide Rukhsana Sultana gained a lot of notoriety in leading the mass-sterilisation campaign. The government had fixed quotas and health officials and workers tried hard to achieve it.

Many reports emerged which showed that men were coerced to undergo a vasectomy. Most of the sterilisations were forced and generated bad press for the Indira regime forcing the upcoming government to stress that family planning was voluntary and that the state had no role to play in this regard.