Church against birth control policy in Mizoram

Aizawl, Dec 11 (UNI) Synod, the biggest assembly of the Mizoram Presbyterian Church, has resolved to preach against the government's policy of birth control across the state.

The Synod Executive Committee has been entrusted to take necessary action as to widely ''educate'' the church members to have as many children as possible which was in compliance with the ''teachings of the Bible''.

The subject had been brought up by three pres-byteries, Dampa, Lunglei and Ramlai East, who were not satisfied with the Synod's efforts against the birth control policy. The Synod had passed resolutions against the government's policy in 1976 and 1985.

The three presbyteries, supported by many others, urged that each church should teach its members to say ''no to birth control''.

''Even if the Central Government has a policy of birth control, the state government should be requested to slow down its effort while at the same time not contravening the birth control policy,'' the resolution said.

According to statistics of the Presbyterian Church in Mizoram, last year's birth rate among the church members was 18.77 per cent against the death rate of 4.97 per cent. ''In some pastorates, 26 families share one new born in a year,'' a statistician said.

Besides, with the population of Mizoram less than 900,000, the state's major NGOs were generally of the opinion that birth control was not ideal for Mizos.

The Synod also sought for extension of the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan's (SSA) mid-day meal and free text books programmes to the Presbyterian Church-run schools.

UNI SNR PC SK DS1250