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Updated July 15th, 2021 at 17:11 IST

Owaisi calls Population Bill a 'violation of Constitution'; to approach Law Commission

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi asserted that it will approach the Law Commission on July 19 against UP's Population Bill.

Reported by: Sudeshna Singh
Asaduddin Owaisi
Credit-ANI/PTI | Image:self
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Breaking his silence over Uttar Pradesh's Population Bill 2021, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi asserted that it will approach the Law Commission on July 19 against it. He called it a violation of the Constitution of India and said that Article 21 of the Consitution gives the Right to Personal Anatomy, and added that such a law cannot be put into implementation. 

It is pertinent to note that in the case of Kharak Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh, the Supreme Court quoted and held that: "By the term, 'life' as here used  (in Article 21) something more is meant than mere animal existence. The inhibition against its deprivation extends to all those limbs and faculties by which life is enjoyed. The provision equally prohibits the mutilation of the body by amputation of an armored leg or the pulling out of an eye, or the destruction of any other organ of the body through which the soul communicates with the outer world." However, steps for population control were not included in the ambit of Article 21. 

Owaisi also pointed out that the Total Fertility Rate(TFR) of India, after the Implementation of the National Population Policy, had dipped from 3.2  in 2000 to 2.2 in 2021. "Keeping in mind the TFR, I see no incentive to implement the present policy." He added, "The PM Modi government had submitted an affidavit in 2020 in which it had held that the 2 child norm in India cannot be implemented because the TFR had fallen down. Then, why is this now being implemented in Uttar Pradesh."

He concluded by asking, "Is the Yogi government going against the Modi government? "

What is UP's Population Bill 2021?

The UP Population Bill's draft lists incentives for government employees, the general public, and couples below the poverty line for adopting two-child or one-child policy via voluntary sterilization - 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. The Bill also lists many disincentives for all such as debarring from benefits of govt-sponsored welfare schemes, ration card limits, contesting local body elections, etc. The Bill will not be applicable to those already having more than two children before the passage of the Bill.

Moreover, the Bill lists additional incentives for couples adopting a one-child policy like - two more increments during the entire services,  free health care facility and insurance coverage to the single child till it turns 20,  preference to a single child in admission in all educational institutions and govt jobs, free education up-to graduation level, scholarship for higher studies in case of a girl child. The Bill also tasks the govt with establishing maternity centers at all the primary health centers, availability of contraceptive pills, condoms, insurance for the failure of tubectomy or vasectomy, and encourage male participation in family planning. Exceptions to the law include - multiple births out of second pregnancy, adoption up to two children, disability of the first or second child, death of a child, and married couple expecting a third child during the implementation of the Bill.

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Published July 15th, 2021 at 17:11 IST

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