[영문]SOME 30 YEARS after the event, the Emergency Period remains the one episodein the history of family planning in India that would appear to requireno introduction. It has become emblematic of everything that can go wrongin a program premised on “population control” rather than on reproductiverights and health. This included time-bound performance targets; a preferencefor methods that minimized the need for sustained motivation; disregardfor basic medical standards; incentive payments that, for the verypoorest, constituted a form of coercion; disincentives that punished nonparticipation;and official consideration of compulsory sterilization, which,even if never enacted into law, signaled that achieving national populationtargets might override individual dignity and welfare.*