As men fear vasectomy, onus of family planning falls on Indian women

India's latest health data show that nearly 38% of women have undergone sterilisation but only 0.3% of men have had vasectomies

On a Thursday, at around 1 p.m., many women had gathered at a community health centre (CHC) in Uttar Pradesh's Mahoba district. They were all waiting for their turn to undergo a procedure for permanent contraception, sterilisation or the sealing of the fallopian tubes. Thursdays, across public health facilities in Uttar Pradesh, are reserved for sterilisation surgeries and vasectomies for men, which blocks the sperm--both, methods of contraception.

There were men who had accompanied women, but there were no men waiting for their own surgeries when IndiaSpend visited Jaitpur CHC in Mahoba.

Why did Rajesh Kumar (38), a resident of