Report by Akshya Rout; Jajpur: Jajpur district got  the 5th JRD Tata Memorial Award, 2011, for population, reproductive health and family planning programme. The district collector of Jajpur, Anil Kumar Samal received the award on behalf of the district from Nobel laureate Amartya Sen at the JRD Tata Memorial Award and Oration Function at New Delhi on Tuesday.

Six districts across the country were selected on the basis of 13 indicators, for which data were compiled and re-analysed from two successive rounds of district-level household survey (2002-04 and 2007-08) and census 2001 and 2011  “ Our district  received  the 5th JRD Tata Memorial Award for outstanding performance in improving the health of their people in recent years”, said Anil Samal the collector of Jajpur.

The districts being awarded are Varanasi from Uttar Pradesh, Jajpur from Odisha and Thoubal from Manipur, which are among high-focus states in the large, medium and small population categories respectively. The other districts being awarded are Ahmadnagar in Maharashtra, Firozpur in Punjab and North Goa in Goa from the non high-focus states in the large, medium and small population categories.

The award, instituted by the Population Foundation of India (PFI) in memory of its Founder Chairman JRD Tata, recognises the pace of progress by states and districts on population and reproductive health programmes. The award, which constitutes a trophy and prize money of  two  Lakh.

PFI had set up a high-level technical committee constituting medical and social scientists chaired by Prof P M Kulkarni of the Jawaharlal Nehru University to select the winners. The committee identified a set of 13 indicators on reproductive health, gender equity, family planning and housing amenities to measure the progress of the districts in the country.

The award recognizes the ‘change’ factor, signifying the pace of progress achieved over a period of time. These districts and states stand out despite the relatively slow improvement of reproductive and child health for the country as a whole, demonstrating that given the leadership and will, such successes can be repeated in other regions.

The indicators on which the performance of the districts has been judged are – access to improved sources of drinking water; households with toilet facility; women in the 20-24 year age group who were married before 18 years; women with birth order three and above; current users of spacing methods of family planning; unmet need for contraception; full antenatal care; safe delivery; postnatal care within  48 hours after delivery; full immunization of children (12 - 23 months); female literacy rate; ratio of females to males with primary education and child sex ratio.