In the early 1970s, all around the world worries about overpopulation we're mounting.

Politicians warned about the dangers.

Our cities are going to be choked with people, they're going to be choked with traffic, they're

going to be choked with crime, and they will be impossible places in which to live.

Popular books like the Population Bomb suggested an impending apocalyptic future.

Copy paperbacks were passed around capturing people's imagination and stoking fears.

Two million copies of the Population Bomb were sold, and the author landed on late-night

television, his dire predictions becoming entertainment for Americans sitting at home

on their couches.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, India, with its growing population, was in the

crosshairs of the world's anxieties.

In the early 50s, India had launched a family planning program, and that state-sponsored

campaign got political and financial backing from international organizations like the World

Bank, American foundations like Ford and Rockefeller.

Republicans were dispatched across India to get people to have fewer children, sometimes

voluntarily, sometimes for a monetary reward, sometimes using force.

Violence and coercion created distrust.

In this episode, we'll explore how that distrust affected the public health campaign to stop

smallpox, and ask, what is the path to restoring trust?

I'm Dr. Celine Gounder, and this is Epidemic.

Good afternoon, my name is Dr. Chandrakhanda Kank Pandav, this is a recording in my office

at New Delhi.

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