Madhya Pradesh set to scrap two-child rule for employees after 24 years

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The Madhya Pradesh government is preparing to remove the two-child restriction for its employees, a rule that has been in place since 2001.

Once the cabinet clears the proposal sent by the General Administration Department (GAD) to the chief minister’s secretariat, government staff will no longer have to worry about losing their jobs for having more than two children, TOI reported.

The debate around family size resurfaced last year when RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, speaking in Nagpur on December 1, said families should ideally have at least three children to maintain demographic balance.

Recently, Bhagwat, while speaking on the final day of the ‘100 Years Journey of RSS in October 2025, said, “All scriptures say that societies with very few children gradually disappear. So, this balance must be maintained. Having three children is the right thing,” he said.

After keeping the matter on hold for ten months, the state government indicated in October that it would submit the proposal to the state cabinet. In MP, the proposal to lift the ban was finalised after three months of discussions at different levels and inputs from senior officials, TOI reported citing secretariat officials.

Madhya Pradesh is not the first state to reconsider such a policy. Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh removed similar two-child restrictions for their employees in 2016 and 2017, respectively.

If approved by the cabinet, the change will take effect immediately and will mark a major shift in the state’s service rules. The 23-year-old restriction had earlier barred employees with more than two children from government jobs and promotions.