The government has said that there is an urgent need to control population but efforts towards this end will be made through massive awareness and not through law or coercive action. Winding up debate on motion on population stabilization in Lok Sabha yesterday, the Health Minister Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, said that there is a need for change in the mindset of the society and suggested that members of parliament could take the lead in spreading awareness campaign in their constituencies . Earlier, Mr Azad said centre and the state government have to give top priority to control population. AIR correspondent says that cutting across party lines, members emphasized the urgent need to control population and suggested a number of steps to achieve this objective: ‘India has set the target of 2.1 total fertility rate by the end of this year but only 14 states have been able to achieve this so far. UP, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have failed to do so and on an average there are 5to 6 children in a family in these states. Two crore 70 lakh children are born every year in India and it is estimated that between 2001 to 2026, India’s population will go up by 37 crore and these states will account for 50 percent of the increase While India is home to 17 per cent of the world population, has only 2.4 per cent of the total surface area and so in such a scenario, members from all political parties spoke in voice on the need for effective steps to control population. There were suggestions of various incentive not having more than two children and disincentives for those with more than 2 children, strictly enforcing the existing law on marriage of girl after attaining 18 year, spreading awareness about family planning in an effective manner but as Mr. Azad more than anything else the re is a need to change the mind set.’