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Since returning to power, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has expressed interest astir the ageing colonisation successful the authorities and said his authorities was contemplating moves to incentivise families to person much children. On Monday, the Naidu authorities took a measurement successful that absorption by doing distant with a three-decade-old law, the AP Panchayat Raj and AP Municipal Acts, that barred radical with much than 2 children from contesting section assemblage polls. Back successful 1994, it was the Naidu authorities successful undivided Andhra that amended the Panchayat Raj and Municipal Administration Department Acts to enforce the “two-children policy”.
Andhra Pradesh is not the archetypal authorities to rotation backmost the two-child policy. In 2005, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh rescinded the policy.
Why was the argumentation introduced?
It came into being aft it was recovered that colonisation power measures betwixt the censuses of 1981 and 1991 were not yielding the expected results.
“India, astatine the time, was trying to power its colonisation maturation and the intra-census information revealed that we were not connected the close track,” said Srinivas Goli, demographer and subordinate prof astatine the International Institute of Population Sciences, Mumbai.
The “unexpected” results led the National Development Council (NDC) to acceptable up a committee chaired by past Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran. The sheet recommended that radical with much than 2 children should not beryllium allowed to clasp authorities posts, from the panchayat level to Parliament. The recommendations, submitted to the NDC were subsequently adopted by assorted states.
Which states adopted the recommendation?
Rajasthan became the archetypal authorities to follow the “two-child policy” astatine the panchayat level successful 1992, followed by Andhra Pradesh (then undivided) and Haryana successful 1994.
Odisha introduced the argumentation for section bodies successful 1993 and extended it to the artifact panchayat level successful 1994. While Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh introduced the argumentation successful 2000, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar, and Assam enforced it successful 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2017, respectively. The argumentation came into unit successful Uttarakhand successful 2019 portion the Union Territories (UTs) of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu adopted the argumentation successful 2020.
Why was the argumentation rescinded successful immoderate states?
Of the 13 states and UTs that adopted the policy, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh rolled it backmost successful 2005.
“A cardinal crushed for going backmost connected the argumentation was the worsening enactment ratio astatine commencement (SRB), which declined to 880:1000 betwixt 2003 and 2005,” Goli said. Demographers claimed the steep diminution successful the SRB was owed to the strict two-child argumentation and wide entree to pre-natal diagnostic exertion for enactment detection.
Another crushed for rolling backmost the “two-child policy” was the National Population Policy that came into unit successful 2000 and deviated from the erstwhile target-driven attack of colonisation control. “National Population Policy successful 2000 advocated people escaped attack and extortion of reproductive rights,” Goli said.
Several individuals legally challenged the “two-child policy”. “There were respective idiosyncratic litigations filed against the Constitutional validity of being forced retired of information successful panchayat and section assemblage elections,” Goli said.
Why did Andhra Pradesh rotation backmost the ‘two-child policy’?
Claiming that the ageing colonisation could adversely impact the state, Naidu precocious suggested that couples indispensable beryllium encouraged to person much children.Elaborating, Andhra Information and Public Relations Minister, K Parthasarathy said connected Wednesday that the state’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) was abysmally low. “While the nationalist TFR is 2.11, it is lone 1.5 successful the state. This could impact the productivity of the authorities successful the agelong run,” helium said.
Is determination a delimitation nexus and has Naidu recovered support?
With the Centre apt to instrumentality up the delimitation workout successful 2026, which is population-based, Naidu was not the lone person to explicit concerns astir an ageing colonisation and declining fertility rates.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi moving president K T Rama Rao told The Indian Express successful an interrogation that helium had urged the Centre “not to punish” confederate states for successfully implementing household planning. “I anticipation the Centre does not edifice to misadventures with the fig of seats, which indispensable beryllium accrued based connected economical show … Injustice successful the signifier of delimitation volition not beryllium tolerated and the radical of the confederate states volition travel retired unneurotic against it,” helium said.
Close connected the heels of Naidu’s remarks successful October connected the request of having much children, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, referring to an aged Tamil blessing, said: “That blessing doesn’t mean beget 16 children … But present a concern has arisen wherever radical deliberation they should virtually rise 16 children and not a tiny and prosperous family.”
Demographers assertion offering incentives to couples to person much children volition not reverse ageing. “In astir parts of the satellite specified incentives did not output results,” said a demographer.
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