About the Awards

When the founder and Governing Board Chairman of the Population Foundation of India, Mr JRD Tata, passed away in 1993, he had already laid a strong base for a social movement to stabilise the growth of population in India as a prerequisite to improving the quality of people’s lives in the country.

At that point, the Foundation felt that it would be a fitting tribute to its founder chairman if national awards were instituted in his name to further the cause he believed in and championed so wholeheartedly. In February 1996, the PFI Governing Board formally decided to institute national awards for the best performing state and districts which demonstrated outstanding achievements in the population and reproductive health and family planning programme. The first awards were announced and given to the winning state and districts in 1997.

Since then, in five consecutive rounds, various states and districts have been awarded the JRD Tata Memorial Awards taking into account their current levels of performance on crucial indicators as well as the pace of progress achieved over time.

Previous Winners

Year Category Winner
1997 Best state Kerala
Best district in large population category Palakkad in Kerala
Best district in medium category Chidambaranar in Tamil Nadu
Best district in small category Kurukshetra in Haryana
2000 Best state Tamil Nadu
Best district in large population category Chennai in Tamil Nadu
Best district in medium category Alapphuza in Kerala
Best district in small category Jorhat in Assam
2002 Best performing state Himachal Pradesh
Best district in large population category West Godavari in Andhra Pradesh
Best district in medium category Churu in Rajasthan
Best district in small category Lahaul and Spiti in Himachal Pradesh
2008 Best performing state Chhatisgarh
Best perforing stae of popn less than 10 million Sikkim
2012 High focus state Mizoram
Non high focus state Goa
District winner in high focus states with high population Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh
District winner in high focus states with medium population Jajpur in Odisha
District winner in high focus states with low population Thoubal in Manipur
District winner in non-high focus states with high population Ahmadnagar in Maharashtra
District winner in non-high focus states with medium population Firozpur in Punjab
District winner in non-high focus states with low population North Goa in Goa

About the Oration

As part of its advocacy programme, the Population Foundation of India instituted an annual lecture series “Encounter with Population Crisis” in 1990.

Accordingly, every year, PFI invites important international and national persons of distinction to deliver a lecture focusing on critical issues related to population and development and carrying the debate forward.

In 1995 (PFI’s Silver Jubilee year), the series was rechristened as the “JRD Tata Memorial Oration”, in the memory of the late Mr. JRD Tata, the founder chairman of the Population Foundation of India.

The 15th JRD Tata Memorial Oration was delivered by Dr Saumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist, World Health Organization. You can view the oration here.

Previous Speakers