Union Minister Giriraj Singh to Campaign for '2 Children' Policy to Check Population Explosion

New Delhi: Union Minister Giriraj Singh plans to kick-start a campaign, seeking a law on population control. His colleague and Health Minister JP Nadda is not sure if a statute of this kind is feasible in a “democratic set-up like ours”.

Singh, who is an MP from Navada in Bihar, has announced that he wants the country to legislate and implement a binding ‘two children’ policy to check population growth. He told reporters in Patna that a stringent policy on the issue is necessary in view of the population strain on natural resources.

Assam, another BJP-ruled state, in its draft population policy has sought to dis-incentivise parents with more than two children. The draft policy seeks to preclude people from government benefits and schemes if the stipulated norms are flouted.

Speaking to reporters in Delhi, Nadda, however, said he is “yet to go through the Assam draft policy”.

On being asked if the central government is considering a legislation to check population explosion, the minister indicated that “in a democratic set up like ours, government is adopting various other measures bring down total fertility rate”.

As many as 24 states and Union Territories have a Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of less than 2.1. The government is concerned with population explosion in parts of UP, Meghalaya and Bihar that have a TFR of more than 3.

Some other states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have also been registering a relatively higher fertility rate.

The government is now planning to focus on 147 districts with a high fertility rate in these states to check population explosion. At the policy level, the government is now shifting attention to these 147 problem districts as part of its larger policy to bring down the fertility rate in nine problem states.