The need to check the population growth was realized by a section of the intellectual elite even before independence. Birth control was accepted by this group but implementation was restricted to the Westernised minority in the cities . When the country attained independence and planning was launched, population control became one of the important items on the agenda of development. The draft outline of the First Five Year Plan said, "the increasing pressure of population on natural resources retards economic progress and limits seriously the rate of extension of social services, so essential to civilized existence. A population policy is therefore essential to planning." This policy emphasized three components: fertility, mortality and migration. The policy incorporates programmes for reducing mortality. Even for migration, we have policies. But it is the fertility change which contributes to a spectacular population change.