Odisha Govt Will Give This Gift To All Newly Weds In The State

Bhubaneswar: Newly married couples in Odisha will get a ‘wedding kit’ as gift under a new initiative as part of population control measures of the state government.

The kit will contain a booklet on methods and benefits of family planning, marriage registration form, condoms, oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) and emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs).

Home pregnancy testing kit will also be part of the gift kit along with a bride grooming kit comprising items like comb, bindi, nail cutter, mirror, handkerchief and towel, among others.

The ‘wedding kit’ is part of Nai Pahal Scheme under the National Health Mission (NHM).

NHM’s state Mission Director Shalini Pandit said that Odisha was the first state to launch the initiative despite having a low total fertility rate (TFR), TNIE reported.

TFR is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime. TFR of Odisha is 1.8 against the national average of two.

The Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) have been entrusted with the task of distributing the kits to newly wed couples, the report said.