Sripati Chandrasekhar (22 November 1918, Rajahmundry - 14 June 2001 San Diego, California) was a well-known Indian demographer, economist, sociologist, and scholar who has published extensively on

demographics Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as edu ...

, especially related to India. Chandrasekhar attended Vorhees High School in Vellore India which was a Protestant Christian school. Later he attended

Madras Presidency College Presidency College is an art, commerce, and science college in the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India. On 16 October 1840, this school was established as the Madras Preparatory School before being repurposed as a high school, and then a gra ...

, from where he graduated with a B.A. and M.A. in economics. In 1944 he earned a Ph.D. in Sociology from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

. Sripati married Ann Downes, an American

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

from New Jersey in a wedding officiated by protestant unitarian John Haynes Holmes in 1947. In April 1964, Chandrasekhar was elected to the upper house of the Indian parliament. He was appointed Minister of Health and

Family Planning Family planning is the consideration of the number of children a person wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, and the age at which they wish to have them. Things that may play a role on family planning decisions include marita ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Indira Gandhi in 1967. Chandresekhar was deeply concerned by the growing Indian population and advocated a variety of

population control Population control is the practice of artificially maintaining the size of any population. It simply refers to the act of limiting the size of an animal population so that it remains manageable, as opposed to the act of protecting a species from ...

measures such as sterilization,

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

, and

abstinence Abstinence is a self-enforced restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence, but it can also mean abstinence from alcohol, drugs, food, etc. ...

. He faced criticism from traditional sectors of society, for example when he advocated that Indians begin eating

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quant ...

, in contravention of Hindu tradition. He also traveled through communist China studying its population and social and economic trends.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chandrasekhar, Sripati 1918 births 2001 deaths Indian demographers Rajya Sabha members from Tamil Nadu 20th-century Indian mathematicians New York University alumni Indian expatriates in the United States