Lucknow: After Assam, now the draft for the two-child policy will be prepared in UP also. Expressing concern over the growing population of the state, the chairman of the UP State Law Commission said that the drafting of the law has been started by the State Law Commission. Under this, citizens may have to be deprived of government schemes if they have more than two children. After this, the debate started whether it is really justified to bring the law of population growth. What does the central government have to say on this and what does India's fertility rate say, know next-
UP State Law Commission Chairman AN Mittal told that the draft will be prepared within two months. For this, the relevant stakeholders will be consulted and public opinion will also be included. Under this law, government schemes such as subsidies in services and goods, ration distribution, employment in state government services and other schemes such as economic housing, etc. will be included.
It will not be punitive in any way but couples who do not decide to limit their family to two children will be deprived of the facility of government schemes- AN Mittal, Chairman, UP Law Commission
AN Mittal said, 'It will not be punitive in any way but couples who do not decide to limit their family to two children will be deprived of the facility of government schemes. At present, the commission will study Assam, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh as well as China and Canada where this policy is already in force.
According to the National Family Health Survey 2015-16, the total fertility rate (TFR) in UP was 2.74 infants per woman, higher than the national rate of 2.2 infants per woman and second only to Bihar's TFR of 3.41.
The commission's chairman said that the proposed two-child policy would be different from the population policy of 1976, which was mandatory and teachers were not even paid their salaries. He said that after the draft is ready, it will be sent to the government, which will decide whether some other schemes have to be included in its purview or some people will be excluded from it. For example, Assam has kept the SC/ST community out of the two-child policy.
The family welfare scheme in India is voluntary, which enables the couple to decide the size of their family and adopt the best methods of family planning as per their choice without any compulsion- Government of India in Supreme Court
Earlier, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had talked about implementing the two-child policy in a phased manner to take advantage of government schemes. In Assam, earlier the 'two-child policy' was applicable to contest in government jobs and local elections, now its scope will be increased. Earlier, Lakshadweep administrator Praful Patel had proposed a maximum limit of two children to contest the panchayat elections.
Population control policy has always been under question all over the world. Regarding its need in India, experts believe that since the fertility rate in India has been decreasing continuously for the last few years, there is no need for such a rule. Experts say that on the contrary, it can have an adverse effect. This will lead to gender-selective, unsafe abortion and disparity in India's sex ratio.
Last year, the Indian government told the Supreme Court that it would not make the 'two-child policy' mandatory. According to the Health Ministry's affidavit on a petition, "Family welfare scheme in India is voluntary, which enables the couple to decide the size of their family and adopt the best methods of family planning as per their choice without any compulsion." ' It also states that, 'International experience shows that forced population control has the opposite effect of coercion and leads to demographic distortions.'
The fertility rate in India has been decreasing continuously for the last few years, so no such rule is needed. On the contrary, it can have an adverse effect. This will lead to gender-selective, unsafe abortion and disparity in India's sex ratio- Experts opinion
According to the government's health data released last year, there are 19 out of 22 states and union territories where women, on average, are giving birth to less than two children. Talking about India's declining fertility rate, it has fallen from 3.4 percent in 1992-93 to 2.2 percent at present.
1992-93– 3.4 percent
1998-99– 2.9 percent
2005-06—-2.7 percent
2015-16— 2.2 percent
Rajasthan- Citizen having more than two children is not eligible for government job
Madhya Pradesh- Two children policy is in force in the state since 2001. According to the Madhya Pradesh Civil Service Rules, if the third child is born after 26 January 2001, then the citizen is not eligible for a government job.
Telangana and Andhra Pradesh- According to the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act 1994, citizens who have more than two children are not eligible to contest elections. However, if the third child is born before 30th May 1994, he will not be considered ineligible. Similarly, according to the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act 1994, a citizen having more than two children does not have the right to contest elections.
Gujarat- In 2005, the Gujarat government amended the Local Authority Act. According to this, citizens having more than two children are not eligible to contest the local body elections.
Similar rules are applicable in Assam, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Karnataka as well.
The most important example is China when it comes to population control policy. Recently, China has allowed its citizens to have three children. In fact, China's population data shows that its population has grown at the slowest pace in the past several decades.
At the same time, the share of elderly people in the total population has increased from 2010 to 2020. In China, where the share of the elderly in the total population was 13.26% in 2010, it increased to 18.7% in 2020. Due to this, the working-age population in China has also decreased. Earlier in 2016, the Chinese government ended its decades-old one-child policy and allowed people to have two children.
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