Tuesday, 13 July 2021 | Pioneer
The UP Chief Minister’s new population policy aims to bring down the birth rate to 1.9 per cent
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s announcement regarding the population policy 2021-2030 is a timely step in the right direction. No doubt that it would lead to a bit of political turmoil, as all radical policy decisions tend to, but then there are times when it does become necessary to take the bull ruggedly by the horns. Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous State, already has a population of around 220 million. The new policy sets the target to bring the birth rate to 2.1 per thousand population by 2026 and to 1.9 by 2030. The State’s total fertility rate currently stands at 2.7 per cent. The policy proposes to make efforts to increase the accessibility of contraceptive measures and provide a proper system for safe abortion. It also strives to promote a two-child policy, the violation of which would mean that the parents would be debarred from contesting local body elections, applying for Government jobs or receiving any kind of subsidy. In a sense of incentivising those who follow the policy, the State Government will give promotions, increments, concessions in housing schemes and others perks to its employees who adhere to population control norms, and have two or fewer children.
Public servants who adopt the two-child norm will get two additional increments during the entire service, maternity or, as the case may be, paternity leave of 12 months, with full salary and allowances and three per cent increase in the employer’s contribution fund under the National Pension Scheme. Those who aren’t the Government’s employees and still adhere to the two-child policy will get benefits in rebates in taxes on water, housing, home loans, and so on. The Chief Minister also sought to pre-empt any allegations that the population was meant to target any particular community by saying that the State Government was implementing this policy keeping in mind “all sections of the society”. Yogi Adityanath added: “The countries and States that have made efforts in this direction have seen positive results.” He has a point. Established in 1979, China has had the infamous “one child per family” law to try and get its population growth in check. The country officially ended its one-child policy on January 1, 2016, with the signing into law of a bill allowing all married couples to have a second child as it attempted to cope with an ageing population and shrinking workforce.
