Vishva Hindu Parishad suggests UP govt to remove one child rule from UP Population Policy

The Hindu nationalist organisation, Vishva Hindu Parishad, on Monday, July 12, has suggested the Uttar Pradesh Law Commission to remove one child norm from the UP Population Bill Draft, 2021. This comes following the UP government announced the UP Population Control Bill Draft including the implementation of Jansankhya Niyantran Kanoon.

In a letter to the UP government, the organisation stated that they agree to both the objectives of the Bill that is inter alia to stabilise the population and promotion of the two-child norm. 

Further stated, "However, Section 5, 6(2) and 7 of the Bill, which incentivise the public servants and others to have only one- child in the family go well beyond the said objects".

In accordance with this, they suggested, "Section 5, 6(2) and 7 of the Bill are also the objects of bringing the Total fertility Rate (TRF) to 1.7 needs consideration". 

State population stabilization

According to reports, in India, Uttar Pradesh has been the most populous state with 21 crores of people. The fertility rate of the state should be 2.1 per cent only but it's 2.7 per cent in UP. 

The Vishva Hindu Parishad in its letter explained, "Population in a society stabilizes when the average number of children born to a woman in her reproductive life is marginally above two. This happens when the rate is 2.1. At this level of TFR, on average, there are two children born to replace the two parents and the additional 0.1 child provides for the possibility of some children dying before the reproductive age and similar other wastage".

They state that to achieve population stability, a two-child policy is required as a policy focusing on an average of fewer than 2 children per woman leads to contraction of the population over time. 

Single child policy

The right-wing Hindu organisation based in India defended the one-child norm stated, "Single children are known to be socially less accommodative. This is partly because they do not learn to share with siblings, and partly because they are over-indulged and pampered by their parents. This has been referred to as the 'Little Emperor' syndrome".

And so they further added that if UP is interested to promote imbalance among different communities in the state as the one-child policy will respond differently to the incentives and disincentives related to family planning and contraceptives. 

UP's new Population Bill 2021

On July 11, the Yogi Adityanath-led government announced the UP Population Bill's draft that lists incentives for government employees, the general public and couples below the poverty line for adopting two-child or one-child policy via voluntary sterilisation - which includes additional increments, house subsidies, rebates on utilities, paid 12-month maternity and paternity leave, free health care to spouse and increased employer's contribution to the national pension scheme - to name a few. 

(Image credit: PTI)