UP population control bill: VHP asks Yogi govt to remove one-child norm from draft

A policy aiming at an average of less than 2 children per woman leads to contraction of the population over time, which has several negative social and economic consequences, said Vishwa Hindu Parishad. (File image of UP CM Yogi Adityanath)

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has urged the Uttar Pradesh government to remove the one-child norm from the draft of its population control bill, saying it will lead to an imbalance in society.

The Yogi Adityanath-led government recently put up a draft of its population control bill on the website of the Uttar Pradesh law commission inviting suggestions from the public till July 19.

“The preamble of Bill states that this is a Bill (i) inter alia to stabilize the population and (ii) promotion of two-child norm. VHP agrees with both objectives. 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 objectives,” the VHP said in a statement issued to the UP State Law Commission.

The organisation further sought attention towards Total Fertility Rate (TFR) mentioned in the document, saying the Bill has an objective to bring it to 1.7. Demanding reconsideration upon1.7 TFR, it said.

A policy aiming at an average of less than 2 children per woman leads to contraction of the population over time, which has several negative social and economic consequences, it said.

VHP suggests UP Law commission to delet one child norm from the draft population policy.. pic.twitter.com/YRcd9XsenS

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— Vishva Hindu Parishad -VHP (@VHPDigital) July 12, 2021

In a contracting population, the ratio between the working-age and dependent population gets disrupted, said VHP and added that “in extreme cases, the one-child policy would lead to a situation where there is only one working-age adult to look after 2 parents and 4 grandparents”.

It further cited the example of China’s one-child policy and said it was never applied to more than half of the prospective parents and withdrawn later.

Also read | UP CM Yogi Adityanath releases new population policy, says 'every community taken care of'

It said that the one-child norm would create an imbalance between different communities because they are known to respond differently to the incentives and disincentives related to family planning.

“The TFR of Hindus has declined far below the replacement rate of 2.1, but that of Muslims is 3.16 in Assam and 2.33 in Kerala. In these states, one of the communities has thus entered the contraction phase while the other is still expanding. UP should avoid getting into that situation,” it explained.

The policy needs to be tailored to redress the imbalance otherwise one-child policy may end up doing the opposite, it added.