In India, the phrase "birth control" is about as popular as "Hey, let's eat that cow." This year, the country's population reached one billion, and India could soon overtake China as the nation most overrun with humans.
India's government has set up a National Commission on Population, and one of their more innovative moves is to make the mailmen deliver complimentary condoms.
About 170 million people live in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh -- India's largest -- but only 5 million use birth control. But most trust their mailmen. "People in rural areas are hesitant to talk about these things," planning official Anuradha Johari told the BBC. "So it's important that there's somebody whom they trust talk to them about these matters."
The postmen won't provide any clinical services, but they will be trained to be able to talk about birth control -- and will no doubt become familiar with the concepts of "reservoir tip" and "thousands of tiny textured dots."
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