What is Uttar Pradesh Population Control Bill and should it be implemented?

Uttar Pradesh population bill was announced on July 11th 2021 by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on the occasion of World Population Day and will be drafted within 9 days. After the bill is passed people with more than 2 children will not be eligible for government jobs or benefits.

Let’s see some of the important points mentioned in the draft[1]

• If the couple already have 2 children as of 1/1/2021 and then give birth to another child through the third pregnancy, then they are under contravention.
• If the couple had no children from their marriage but adopted more than two children then they are under contravention.
• If the couple had two children and adopted two or more children then also they are under contravention.
• If the couple gives birth to twins in the first pregnancy and again gives birth to a single child or twins in the second pregnancy then they are under contravention.
• If the couple have a baby on first pregnancy and again have a baby at the second pregnancy then they are not under contravention.
• If the couple has a baby on first pregnancy and gives birth to two or more babies on second pregnancy then they are not under contravention.
• If any couple has no baby from their marriage and they adopted two children then the couple is not under contravention.
• If the couple already has 2 children from their marriage but they adopt the 3rd child then the couple is not under contravention.

Now let’s talk about the benefits availed to those who follow 2 child policy[2]

• Rebate on electricity bills, property taxes, home loans
• Free healthcare and insurance coverage to the spouse
• For female government employees, there will be 1-year maternity leave with full salary.
• Loans for construction or purchasing a house on reduced nominal rates of interest.
• Subsidizing towards the purchase of house or plot through Housing board or development authority.

Here is my opinion on this:

1. Suppose a couple gave birth to more children hoping that they give birth to male child since traditionally and even now Indian society prefer male child over a female child, what if having more than 2 children might bar them from getting benefits? This might lead to the families killing or aborting girl child for availing benefits.
2. What about people who are not at all aware or heard of this policy and those people from below poverty line people? How will they uplift themselves without getting government benefits?
3. What if child trafficking increase because of point 1?

The population bill could have been good if there was a good sex ratio and TFR was greater than 4. But the TFR rate of UP is 2.7 as of 2015–16 which is more likely to have reduced by 0.1 or 0.2 points as of today. [3]

Also, Population can be controlled without any laws

But how?

• By rapid urbanization and industrialization:
• Still, majority of Indians depend upon agriculture for their livelihood and families who are into agriculture are more likely to have more than 2 children. So, if rapid industrialization takes place then people who are from agriculture can be given relevant skillset and transferred to secondary sectors. By doing industrialization, urbanization also takes place which would lead to an increase in standard of living thereby contributing to the reduction of TFR
• By giving sex education to the children.
• By improving women education and empowerment.
• By improving the standard of living.
• When the standard of living improves then the cost of living also increases thereby it would compel the couples to have fewer children.

Let’s look at South Korea which managed to decrease TFR without any one-child or two-child policy. South Korea was also an agrarian society and also poor in 1960 and it had a fertility rate of 6 in 1960 and it dropped to 0.98 in 2018. [4]

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The reason also is the same. By rapid urbanization and improvement in standard of life, South Korea managed to decrease the TFR to one of the lowest in the world.

Let’s hope the policy works out well and doesn’t turn into a disaster like one-child policy.

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Footnotes

[1] 2 Child Policy UP

[2] UP Govt 2 Child Policy Population Control Bill Draft PDF, Rules, Benefits, Suggestions

[3] Fertility rate down in most states, NFHS-5 finds

[4] south korea fertility rate