5 lakh Indian men voluntarily took responsibility for family planning because one woman raised her voice. Meet Dhanvanthi Rama Rau, the woman who fought for Indian mothers to have a choice, not just a duty.
In 1949, as India rebuilt post-independence, slums overflowed, famine haunted Bengal, and women bore child after child—not by choice, but by lack of it. Dhanvanthi saw this crisis and asked: What if motherhood wasn’t a compulsion, but a conscious decision?
Defying norms, she teamed up with global feminist Margaret Sanger (founder of Planned Parenthood USA) and dared to speak of birth control in a country where Gandhi preached abstinence. "Women must decide their own bodies," she declared—a radical idea for the era.
Her weapon? The Family Planning Association of India (FPAI), which she founded in 1949. It wasn’t just about contraceptives—it was about health, dignity, and freedom. Within years, half a million men opted for voluntary sterilisation, a staggering shift!
Ever the rebel, at a London conference on "Indian social evils", she shocked the British women who had organised it. "Why are Indian women’s problems being discussed without Indian women?" she questioned, raising her voice for the autonomy of Indian women.
Her legacy? India became the first country to launch a national Family Planning Program (1952), embedding reproductive rights into policy. The world followed—IPPF, the global body she co-founded, now operates in 140+ countries.
Today, millions plan families safely because of her fight. Yet, how many know her name? Padma Bhushan Dhanvanthi Rama Rau—feminist, pioneer, and the mother of reproductive rights in India. Time we remember her.