Population Foundation Of India

JRD Tata instituted the Encounter with Population Crisis – an annual lecture series in 1990. Important international and national celebrities were invited to deliver a lecture on critical issues related to population.

The inaugural lecture was delivered by Nobel Laureate Dr Norman E Borlaug. Dr MS Swaminathan, Dr Asok Mitra, Dr Abid Hussain and Mr Vasant Sathe have been the other distinguished speakers.

In the silver jubilee year of the foundation in 1995, the lecture series was rechristened as JRD Tata Memorial Oration, in memory of the visionary founder of the foundation. Some of the key speakers have been Dr Manmohan Singh, Mr Chandra Shekhar, Mr Ramakrishna Hedge,  Dr Najma Heptulla, Mr I K Gujral, Mr Somnath Chatterjee, Mr Digvijay Singh, Dr Nafis Sadik and Mr K C Pant.

The JRD Tata Memorial Oration is an important event in the PFI calendar. It is an occasion for PFI to pay  tributes to one of its founders and to bring to the fore for discussion and advocacy key issues on population relevant to the times. The oration is followed by distinguished guests and experts raising pertinent issues, which the speaker responds to, creating a lively discussion and a diffusion of ideas.

The topics and the distinguished speakers over the years 

Encounter with Population Crisis

• Population: A Challenge to Contemporary Development Strategies By Dr Norman E Borlaug. (March 11, 1990)
• Population and Environment: How to Meet the Twin-Challenge in India? By Dr M S Swaminathan. (July11, 1991)
• Population, Poverty and Environment (Excerpts from some recent Speeches & Observation) By JRD Tata (Year 1992)
• Population Stabilisations Strategies in India: An Assessment By Dr Asok Mitra (July 24, 1992)
• India at The Threshold of the 21st Century: A Look Forward By Dr Abid Hussain (July 9, 1993)
• The Race Between Population and Development By Mr Vasant Sathe (July, 1994)

The JRD Tata Memorial Oration

• Democratic Decentralisation and Population Stabilisation Strategies By Mr Ramakrishna Hegde (September 19, 1995)
• Population and Development Crisis in India By Mr Chandra Shekhar (October 26, 1996)
• Role of Empowerment of Women in Population Stabilisation. By Dr Najma Heptulla (November 29, 1997)
• Thrust Areas for Population Stabilisation By Mr I K Gujral (January 15, 1999)
• A ‘New Woman’ for India- A New India for Women By Dr Nafis Sadik (December 13, 1999)
• National Population Policy 2000 - Role of the National Commission on Population By Mr K C Pant (November 3, 2000)
• Role and Responsibilities of Panchayats in Population Health and Development By Mr Digvijay Singh (December 4, 2001)
• Population, Poverty and Sustainable Development By Dr Manmohan Singh (February 3, 2003)
• Towards Population Stabilization: Role of Good Governance By Mr Somnath Chatterjee (March 30, 2005)
• Corporate Social Responsibility and Issues of Population Stabilisation in India By Jamshed J Irani (July 22, 2008)
• Demographic Dividend or Debt? By Dr Nitin Desai (March 26, 2010).