Discussions/Debates on population policy and population growth had started in  India even before Independence when a Sub Committee on population was set up by the National Planning Committe appointed in 1938 by the Interim Government. The National Planning Committee, in its resolution in 1940 said, inter alia, that in the interest of social economy, family happiness and national planning, family planning and a limitation of children are essential and the State should adopt a policy to encourage these.
    The First Five Year Plan called for an explicit population policy and considered family planning as a step towards improvement in health of mothers and children.

The basic strategy in the First Plan was to treat family planning as a part of the health programme and provide 100% funds for it as a centrally sponsored programme. The position continues to be almost the same even today. Increasing funds for family planning were allocated from one plan to the other. In 1966, a separate Department of Family Planning was carved out in the Ministry of Health in order to strengthen the population control programme

TA modified National Population Policy was announced in 1977 which viewed the policy "as an integral part of education, health, maternal and child health etc. and stressed the voluntary nature of the family planning programme". During this time, the name of the programme also changed from Family Planning to Family Welfare which is retained till date. The Government appointed a Working Group on Population Policy. Its report advocated a Net Reproduction Rate of one (NRR=1) by the year 2000, which meant a Birth rate of 21 and a Death Rate of 9 per thousand. This implied a population growth rate of 1.2 per cent per year. This was considered as the threshold level for population stabilization. The recommendation of the Working Group still remains the guiding number for our population programme.