'Introducing population bill not a solution': Nitish Kumar calls for creating awareness

Days after implementing the caste-based census in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has now responded to the Population Control Policy by drawing parallels with China's one-child policy. Nitish Kumar stated that China scrapped its one-child policy and has now allowed couples to have up to three children. Therefore, introducing the Population Control Policy, according to Kumar, won't be a solution. Notably, the BJP, which is a political ally of JDU in Bihar has also raised the issue of population control policy in the state.

"Framing a law to control the population will not help. Nothing happens by just making rules and regulations. China also introduced a population control bill, but it failed. I went to China for a week and have witnessed these things. Eventually, they had to abolish the one-child policy. So, introducing a population control bill won't be a solution. There is no benefit from all these things, instead, we have to make everyone aware. The fertility rate of the poorest state Bihar has now come down to 3, which was earlier 4.3. And if we keep doing this work, then within 5-7 years we will definitely reach this rate to 2, said Nitish Kumar.

Caste-based census in Bihar

On June 2, after a consensus was reached in the all-party meeting on carrying out the enumeration of the population on caste lines, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced that the Cabinet would clear this proposal. It is pertinent to mention here that the Bihar Assembly had unanimously passed resolutions on February 18, 2019, and February 27, 2020, demanding a caste-based census. While Kumar himself led an all-party delegation to PM Modi on this issue, the Centre refused to enumerate the population caste-wise, except for those from the SCs and STs.

Revealing that this exercise will be named 'Jaati Adharit Ganana' (Caste-based headcount), the JDU leader stressed that the survey shall also take into account people belonging to all religions and their socio-economic conditions.

(Image: PTI)