What started out as a relaxing weekend read, turned out to be a rather intense mental workout for my grey cells. Having grown up with the Hum do hamare do credo, this book, with its theme of ?unfettered? reproductive rights, provides an interesting counter-view. Edited by Mohan Rao, a well-known demographer, and Sarah Sexton, Markets and Malthus is an engaging collection of papers on population, gender and health. The common thread that runs through these myriad papers is the philosophy that the ?neoliberal? economic framework has played a key role in the deteriorating health conditions around the world, especially of females who bore the brunt of coercive population policies.

In an eminently readable paper, Sarah Sexton and Sumati Nair argue that implementation of reproductive and sexual rights are often stymied by economic, social and political agendas. Their recounting of the backlash of the ?fundamentalists? on reproductive rights, typified by the 2001 ?global gag order? of George Bush against abortion, forms the backdrop for the argument that women?s empowerment is a goal by itself. It is education, employment and supportive societies that will ensure that women find their rightful place and are not reduced to mere reproductive machines, which must be periodically shut off to prevent societies from exploding. India comes for a pat on the back for defending the reproductive and sexual rights of women.

Betsy Hartman in ?Liberal Ends, Illiberal Means? challenges the hypothesis?population pressure triggers off environmental degradation. On the contrary she argues that there are numerous examples of depopulation leading to environmental decline in countries as diverse as Rwanda, Brazil and Mexico. So far so good, but the argument careens out of control in perceiving an almost sinister plot in the US funding of population control programmes in the Third World. Offering a divergent view, Marlene Fried observes that the US vote under Bush to ?restrict funding for international family planning represented a death sentence for thousands who found themselves without contraceptives and facing the uncertainties of unsafe abortion practices?. This leaves the reader perplexed and with a lot of sympathy for the US dilemma?damned if you do, damned if you don?t.

The only India-specific paper falls short of an objective analysis of the population policy, which, the author reluctantly admits, ?mirrors a commitment to a (female) empowerment focused approach?. To atone for this, the Indian state is sharply criticised for becoming ?stereotypic authoritarian, relentlessly persuasive, even coercive power, urging its subjects to fall in line with its policy?. Even the worst critics of India?s implementation of the family planning policy admit that, barring one small episode, it was anything but coercive. Undeniably, public health service provision is far from perfect, but converting sins of omission into sins of commission is unfair to say the least. The author also misses an opportunity to provide a way forward for the policy maker.

The paper on Africa, the only one with significant empirical data, leaves you with a sense of d?j? vu. It is almost like viewing a snapshot of India 40 years back. There are startling numbers on per capita GNP, maternal mortality and public expenditure on health that draw attention to how development and prosperity have bypassed this large sub-continent. Even the WHO, in its World Health statistics 2010, admits, ?The risk of death was highest in the WHO African region, where there were 900 maternal deaths per 1,00,000 live births; compared with only 27 per 1,00,000 in the WHO European region?. While the paper scores on facts, its somewhat simplistic causality of a ?rapacious? north exploiting the ?defenceless? south to explain poor health parameters in Africa, takes away the focus from the need for governance, political stability and tackling corruption from within. These are the necessary preconditions of long-term economic development?a lesson that India is still learning!

If I were to give one reason to pick up this book it would be Mohan Rao?s, ?An Entangled Skein.? Brilliantly written, it deftly weaves diverse strands of eugenics, anti-feminism and communalism to produce a rich tapestry that forms the context for understanding the contemporary population politics. He reminds us of how fragile secularism is and how far we are from the ideal of ?Vasudeva Kutumbakam?. The recent Ayodhya verdict, the muted response of the ?extremist? factions and the strong voice of the youth to ?to put the past behind us? is certain to have left Rao a relieved man.

The book works well at a descriptive level and as a reference book with its case studies ranging from Africa to Latin America to China. It also manages to establish that women have borne the brunt of coercive population policies. However, it completely loses the plot when it pins the blame on ?neoliberalism? for all the evil in the world, including deteriorating health parameters. I am unable to rid myself of a nagging feeling that some data on positive health achievements is missing by design. Finally, neoliberalism has been interpreted in various ways, and to quote Dr C Rangarajan, ?By asking the government to vacate the areas in which markets can function effectively and can be monitored, the government acquires increased financial and administrative resources to pay attention to social infrastructure sectors. As has been somewhat paradoxically remarked, ?more market does not mean less government but only different government? ?.

?The writer is director, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister