Yogi Adityanath reveals new population control policy
Lucknow : Control on population growth is a need of the hour as the government is trying to bring down the birth rate to 2.1 by 2026, UP CM Yogi Adityanath said while revealing the state's population policy on World Population Day.
"Population policy is not only concerned with population stabilisation but also to bring the path of happiness and prosperity in the life of every citizen to his doorstep," Yogi Adityanath said.
The draft bill has been put in public to gather a response from citizen. This comes at a time when population issue is emerging as a key flashpoint ahead of next year's assembly elections.
According to the proposed draft bill, any person with more than 2 children will be debarred from contesting local body polls, applying for government jobs or receiving any kind of subsidy. It also bars government employees from getting promotion in their jobs.
The bill also provides incentives. "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," the bill maintains.
Meanwhile, opposition parties in the state – Congress and Samajwadi Party – have called it a 'political agenda' and 'murder of democracy'.
Last month, Iqbal Mehmood -- the Samajwadi Party's MLA from Sambhal -- said that any law on population control would be a "conspiracy" against Muslims.
"The rise in the country's population is due to the Dalits and tribals and not because of Muslims," he was quoted as saying by news agency Press Trust of India. Muslims, he added, have already understood the need to go for two or three children.
In a Hindi tweet, UP Congress spokesperson Ashok Singh has said, "The RSS and BJP leaders talk about increasing the population. Population control is a subject of the Centre. Yogi Adityanath (CM) is bringing the bill keeping in mind the UP Assembly elections."
