India has 1.2 billion people and is fast catching up with China as the world's most populous nation.
In an attempt to slow down the baby boom the state of Rajasthan, home to 68 million people, is offering prizes in exchange for sterilisation. Now women can win anything from food processors to cars if they undergo the knife.
This latest effort has raised controversy as the procedure is is still viewed with suspicion after the government introduced a forced sterilization program the 1970s.
Al Jazeera's Prerna Suri reports from the western state of Rajasthan.