An establishment of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Govt., of India, ‘Population Research Centre (PRC)’ is a multi-disciplinary research Centre in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, researching in demographic issues, socio-economic aspects, population sciences and health.The Centre is presently engaged in research on the most pressing and contemporary issues about the health including communicable and non communicable diseases. The faculty members of the Centre are engaged in individual and joint research projects in the UT of J&K. During the conduct of research, the faculty uses all possible sources in the shape of literature, statistical data, fieldwork and interaction with eminent scholars, subject experts and the area analysts during their visits, seminars, conferences, and workshops. The Centre provides feedback to the policy planners of the UT of Jammu & Kashmir.

Thrust Area of the Centre:

The mandate of Centre is to conduct and promote research in population studies, National Health Mission (NHM), Reproductive and Child Health, Sex Ratio, Demographic and Health Surveys, Monitoring and Evaluation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes, Health Management and Information System (HMIS) and to assist the MoHFW, Govt., of India as well as the Govt., of UT with policy inputs and feedback on population and health issues.

The mission of the Population Research Centre is to conduct and promote research that will advance our understanding of how demographic processes impact the composition and structure of populations over time. This knowledge can be applied to improve the health and well-being of population, as well as that of social groups within population.

Research Infrastructure of PRC:

The Centre has well established library which has a rich collection of books on variety of topics related to demography, population studies, public health, research methodology, quantitative techniques, tribal demography, and women’s issues. Besides, the library houses several research reports in the field of population, health and family welfare from National and International agencies.

The required demographic and statistical software packages like SPSS, CS-pro and STATA are available with the Centre. The Data sets from DHS, Census, NSSO, NFHS, LASI and SRS are also procured by PRC and extensively used for research purposes.

The Centre has a highly configured and well established Census Workstation which will help the faculty, research scholars and students to get micro-level Census data of national level.

Besides, a ‘Digital Population Clock’ has been installed by the Centre at the main Gate (Maulana Rumi Gate) of the University, which displays live population figures of India and Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Policy Interface and Dissemination:

The Centre has research collaborated with national and international institutions such as International Institution for Population Sciences (IIPS) Mumbai, United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), United States Aid for International Development (USAID), National Council for Economic and Research (NCEAR), National AIDS Control Origination (NACO), NITI Ayoug, Sheri-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar for conduct of socio-economic, demographic and health surveys in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The PRC also maintains a close link with the health department at both the national and state level, and contributes to policy-making through participating in government sponsored research programs, as well as through its workshops and seminars.

Members of the PRC regularly attend and present their research at National and International Conferences including annual meetings of the Indian Association for the Study of Population (IASP) and other International Population Associations like Population Association of America (PAA) and the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) among others. Further, individual faculty members also use different methods to disseminate research findings to the policy makers and other researchers primarily through workshops and seminars publications in local dailies.

 

Vision

The vision of the Centre is to conduct high-quality multidisciplinary research on population composition, demographic change and health policies and programmes in India.

The Centre’s main aim is to be recognized as premier organization for monitoring and evaluation of National Health Mission (NHM) of India to provide insights for program implementation and course-corrections at District, State and National level.

The Centre boost its contributions in academic programs of Universities and Research Institutes by teaching and capacity building of students, young researchers and program officials at district, State and National level. Further, the PRC is actively seeking collaborations with national and international organizations to advance research on several cutting edge areas in population sciences including innovative methodologies for surveys and data collection. The overall vision of the Centre is to be recognized as a dynamic organization and a center of excellence on population health policies and programmes in India.