Why is India planning on bringing a law for population control?

Over the last few years, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have been pushing for laws on population control in India.

Union minister Prahlad Singh Patel on Tuesday, May 31, said that a law for population control will be brought soon, reported PTI.

When asked by reporters about a law on population control, Patel said, “It will be brought soon, don’t worry. When such strong and big decisions have been taken, then the rest too will be taken,”  the minister for food processing industries said in Chattisgarh's capital Raipur.

Take a look at who all have been pushing for population control laws and do we really need it.

POPULATION CONTROL BILLS

• The Population Control Bill, 2019 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in July 2019 by BJP MP Rakesh Sinha. The purpose of the bill was to control the population growth of India. In April 2022, Sinha withdrew his private member bill after intervention by Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
• On February 7, 2020, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha by Anil Desai, a Shiv Sena MP. The 2020 bill proposed to introduce a two-child policy per couple and aimed to incentivise its adoption.
• Since Independence, laws on a two-child policy have been tabled in Parliament more than 35 times, but have never been passed, The New Indian Express reported.

DOES INDIA NEED A POPULATION CONTROL LAW?

• According to the World Population Prospects 2019 report by the United Nations, the population of India is set to overtake that of China within a decade.

• But, according to a latest report, the fertility rate in India is on a decline. The total fertility rate (TFR), the average number of children a woman would have by the end of her childbearing years, declined in India in the last few decades.
• According to the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), the TFR reduced from 2.2 children in 2015-16 to 2.0 children in 2019-21. It was 3.4 children back in 1992-93 when the first round of the survey was conducted, reported India Today.
• As per the report, the rate in 2019-21 was below the replacement level of fertility of 2.1 children per woman.

WHO IS PUSHING FOR POPULATION CONTROL?

• In 2021, the Assam government barred citizens from government jobs if they have more than two children.

• Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said that the state government will bring a law for population control. The state government had unveiled a policy last year aimed at stabilising the population in UP and reducing maternal and infant deaths, reported PTI.