RANCHI, July 11 -- State health minister Irfan Ansari said on Saturday that times had changed and there was a need to view the population not merely as a number or a burden, but as the state's and the country's greatest asset and human capital.

Addressing a state-level event organised here to facilitate health workers on the occasion of World Population Day, the minister said if every citizen was provided better health, quality education, skill development, and employment opportunities, this very population would become the greatest strength of a developed Jharkhand and a developed India.

"The motto 'Jharkhand's identity should be defined by human capital, not just population numbers' is not merely a slogan but the government's strategy...