Two ­Child Policy

In News

The Uttar Pradesh Government is striving hard towards bringing a two-child Policy in the State.  

About

• Report and the draft bill of The Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilisation and Welfare) Bill, 2021 were submitted.
• The Uttar Pradesh State Law Commission recently submitted a report and draft bill of a new population control law proposing a two-child policy to the State government.

UP Commission dealing with suggestions

• The Commission uploaded the draft on its website and invited suggestions from people. 
• The report said 8,200 of the 8,500 suggestions were in support of the bill.
• The Commission adopted the suggestion that special facilities extended to BPL families who have only one child and undertake voluntary sterilisation would be extended to all couples irrespective of the BPL category.
• It, however, rejected suggestions that the right to vote of persons having more than two children be curtailed and that they also are barred from the benefit of reservation.
  • The right to vote is a constitutional and Fundamental Right. Therefore, the State government has no competence to make such a law.

Proposed Provisions in the Policy

• Debarment from benefits of welfare schemes: A person who has more than two children after the law comes into force would be debarred from several benefits such as welfare schemes. 
• Barred from contesting elections at local level: Ration card units would be limited to four and the person would be barred from contesting elections to the local authority or anybody of the local self-government.
• Ineligible to apply for state Government jobs: A person with more than two children would also become ineligible to apply for State government jobs.
• Barred from promotion: Those already in jobs will be barred from promotion in government services and will not receive any kind of subsidy. This provision is criticised sharply 
• Incentives: Several incentives have been provided to people, including public servants if they adopt the two-child norm by undergoing voluntary sterilisation. Such as tax rebates for people with two or fewer children in the state, home to more than 200 million people.
• One Child Reward: Those with one child will get four additional increments in their jobs and free healthcare and education for their child till the age of 20.
• Rebates for People not in Government Jobs: The draft says those who are not in government service but follow the two-child policy will get rebates on water and electricity bills, housing tax and home loans from banks.
• Reducing Gross Fertility Rate: It aims at bringing down the gross fertility rate among women to 2.1 by 2026 and to 1.9 by 2030.

(Image Courtesy: TOI )

 Challenges with the Two-Child Policy

• Counter-productive measure:
  • The international experience shows that any coercion to have a certain number of children is counter-productive and leads to demographic distortions”.
• Against international obligations:
  • India is committed to its obligations under international law, including the principles contained in the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action, 1994.
• Against right to reproductive freedom and privacy:  
  • In Suchita Srivastava & Anr vs Chandigarh Administration (2009), the Court found that a woman’s freedom to make reproductive decisions is an integral facet of the right to personal liberty guaranteed by Article 21.
• Gender Inequality might rise:
  • There is no evidence to suggest that such a law will help in bringing down the fertility rate. Instead, experts fear it would lead to increased gender inequality. Any coercive measure is likely to worsen the discrimination against girls.
• Missing Girls:
  • In India, the number of missing girls at birth has increased from 35 lakhs in 1987-96 to 55 lakhs in 2007-16. Bringing any such population control bill will worsen the situation.
• Inevitable rise in unsafe abortions:
  • In the patriarchal dominant society, when people can have only 2 children, pressure on women to give birth to male children will increase. Thereby leading to unsafe abortions and also skewed sex ratio.

Way Ahead

• Given UP’s large population and geography, family planning and fertility should be targeted. 
• Bringing educational reforms and giving choices for family planning would work more appropriately. 
• This would lead to an overall improvement in the fertility outcome of the state as well as at the national level.

Source: TH