Population pangs

Sri Lanka's minister of public administration, recently announced a new health insurance scheme which promises Rs 3,000 and six month's maternity leave to state-employed women. The proposal immediately faced flak from family planners, whose programmes have brought down the country's birth rate to 1.4 per cent. "We cannot take chances as Sri Lanka is the 11th most densely populated country in the world," said Tharuka Dissanaike, an analyst.