A debate is raging over the finding of two demographers that the infant mortality rate (IMR) in Kerala may not be as low as projected. Dr. S. Irudaya Rajan of the Centre for Development Studies here and Dr. P. Mohanachandran Nair of Department of demography, University of Kerala, have claimed that the IMR in Kerala is not 14 per thousand live births as estimated by the Sample Registration System (SRS) provided by the Registrator General of India. Their own estimates, derived from census data using statistical demographic methods, is 37 per thousand live births.