News Analysis India

Tag: population control

  • ‘Modi Ji Ka Ek Bhi Baccha Hai?’: BJP MP’s Quick-Fix To Tackle Unemployment, Says Stop Producing So Many Children |

    Lok Sabha Elections 2024: The political storm of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 is intensifying. Opposition parties are continuously attacking the central and Modi government over inflation and unemployment. Meanwhile, a statement from Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua, the BJP MP and candidate from the Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat, has come to the fore. He said that those who are increasing unemployment are the ones who are having children. Bhojpuri actor and BJP MP Dinesh Lal Yadav’s statement on unemployment has come to light. He said, “Tell me, does Modi Ji or Yogi Ji have a single child? They have stopped unemployment, they will not increase unemployment, so who is increasing unemployment? Those who are having children one after another. The government is saying stop, but they are not listening.”

    Nirahua said on unemployment, “Those who say that unemployment is increasing in the country, tell them that there is so much employment and after that, you are increasing the population… that unemployment is increasing. Modi Ji is trying to stop it, the government is trying and when they want to bring a rule that you have fewer children… have only two children… you are saying you are unemployed and you are producing eight more unemployed… you yourself are not able to feed yourself… you are saying that we are unemployed, so if you are unemployed, are you thinking once why are you producing eight more unemployed.

     

    मोदी जी-योगी जी बेरोजगारी रोक दिए हैं, क्योंकि उनका एक भी बच्चा नहीं है.

    जो बच्चे पर बच्चा पैदा कर रहे हैं, वो बेरोजगारी बढ़ा रहे हैं.

    – BJP सांसद निरहुआ

    ——

    जानकारी :- निरहुआ के 3 बच्चे हैं pic.twitter.com/dGgZP3SHqD


    — Ranvijay Singh (@ranvijaylive) April 15, 2024

    Congress leader S Srinivas has taken a jibe at this statement of BJP MP Dinesh Lal Yadav, he shared this video and said, ‘Modi Ji-Yogi Ji did not have a single child so that unemployment does not increase in the country’, he said, did Modi-Yogi really not have children for this reason?

    Unemployment is a big issue in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Congress and Samajwadi Party along with many opposition parties are attacking the Modi government over this. The opposition is continuously cornering the government on this and has made it a big issue in the election. Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua is the BJP candidate from the Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat. He is pitted against SP’s Dharmendra Yadav. Voting is to take place in Azamgarh in the sixth phase on May 25.

  • Population control among issues to be discussed at RSS meeting in Prayagraj: Sources 

    The meeting will be attended by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and its general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale.

  • ‘Imbalance in population growth may lead to anarchy’: CM Yogi calls for demographic balance across communities

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Expressing concern over the uncontrolled population rise and its imbalance across various sections of society, UP CM Yogi Adityanath called for population stability and demographic balance across the communities.

    Launching a population stabilization fortnight on the occasion of World Population Day here on Monday, the CM claimed that the vast demographic imbalance would lead to anarchy and chaos in the country.

    “Vast differences in growth rate of population of different religious groups may cause anarchy and chaos in the country. The percentage of population rise of any one class should not exceed the growth rate of natives who are being made conscious of population control and stabilization,” he said while making a veiled reference to the majority.

    Claiming that countries with huge populations came across demographic imbalances, the CM said all religions, faiths, classes and sections of society should equally be integrated with the phenomenon of population stabilization and all should make equal efforts to ward off the challenges of imbalance.

    CM Yogi laid stress on the healthy population saying that the efforts being made towards population control and stabilization for the last five decades had yielded good results and, moreover, huge population was also a resource, but only when the people were healthy and fit.

    The CM referred to the growing population of the country and also UP which was population-wise the biggest state in the country. 

    “India’s population is 135-140 crore and UP, the most populous state will cross the 25 crore mark in no time. The speed of growth is a challenge so it is imperative to make concrete efforts to control or stabilize,” he added.

  • Force not needed to control population, says Dr. Mandaviya as BJP Rajya Sabha MP seeks two-child norm

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya Friday said the government could not force or make it compulsory for people to follow the two-child norm to control the population in the country.

    He was replying in the Rajya Sabha on a discussion on a Private Member’s Bill to regulate the population.

    The minister said the best way is to create awareness among the general population about family planning.

    The Population Regulation Bill was moved by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Rakesh Sinha in 2019, which pitches for a mandatory two-child norm to stabilise the country’s population. 

    “We cannot force or make it compulsory for people to follow the two-child norm,” he said, adding that it is better to educate people to take measures on having a small family and asked Sinha to take back the bill.

    He said the country came out with a National Population Policy in 1952, and there have been in the past slogans like “hum do hamare do.” 

    He said several family planning campaigns had been launched in this regard.

    Apart from the government, the ASHA workers and many NGOs are also creating awareness among people about taking family planning measures.

    He said the mass media campaigns have been successful in this regard and that’s why the government’s initiatives were able to stablise population.

    The minister also quoted the findings of the National Family Health Survey-5, which revealed that India’s total fertility rate declined from 2.2 to 2.0. At the same time, the Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) has increased from 54 percent to 67 percent.

    The Bill seeks to stabilise the country’s burgeoning population for effective distribution and management of resources.

    It also advocated disqualification of people violating the two-child norm from being chosen as an MP, MLA, or a member of anybody of the local self-government under the proposed Act.

  • Population control: Fresh plea in SC seeks to make states, UTs as parties

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: A fresh plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking to make states and Union Territories as parties in a PIL that has sought certain steps, including the two-child norm, to control the country’s growing population.

    The plea filed by lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay said population explosion is the root cause of many problems, including the excessive burden on natural resources of the country.

    Upadhyay had filed the PIL challenging a Delhi High Court order that dismissed a plea seeking certain steps, including the two-child norm, to control the country’s growing population.

    The Centre has earlier told the SC that India was unequivocally against forcing family planning on its people and any coercion to have a certain number of children was counterproductive and leads to demographic distortions.

    In an affidavit filed in the top court, the Centre had told the apex court that the family welfare programme in the country was voluntary in nature, which enabled couples to decide the size of their family and adopt family planning methods best suited to them, according to their choice and without any compulsion.

    The PIL said the high court failed to appreciate that the right to clean air, drinking water, health, peaceful sleep, shelter, livelihood, and education guaranteed under Articles 21 and 21A of the Constitution could not be secured to all citizens without controlling the population explosion.

    The plea in the high court had claimed that the population of India had marched ahead of China, as about 20 per cent of Indians did not have Aadhaar and therefore, were not accounted for, and there were also crores of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis living illegally in the country.

    It claimed that population explosion was also the root cause of corruption, apart from being a contributory factor behind heinous crimes such as rape and domestic violence.

    It also held population explosion responsible for pollution and the dearth of resources and jobs.

  • Educating women is my preferred way to control population: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

    By PTI

    PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday dug in his heels on the issue of population control, making it clear that he preferred to control demographic explosion by educating and empowering women.

    The assertion of Kumar, who is the de facto leader of the JD(U), an NDA ally, assumes significance in the wake of a clamour for a law by the BJP which is pushing for a population control policy in some of the states ruled by it like Uttar Pradesh and Assam.

    “Our experience in Bihar speaks for itself. There has been a notable rise in the proportion of women who complete high school or pursue higher studies. There has been a corresponding decline in fertility rate,” he told reporters here.

    He was replying to queries from journalists after addressing a function where he inaugurated 989 health projects with a total value of Rs 2705.35 crore.

    “A woman who is educated feels empowered to take decisions. We had observed long ago that in families where the wife has studied beyond high school, the fertility rate was healthier. We have therefore given a fillip to educating the girl child. This is going to be our way forward. I do not wish to be drawn into what other states are doing,” replied Kumar.

    The chief minister’s stand comes less than a month after a demand by some BJP legislators in the assembly that recommendations of the Karunakaran Committee, which favoured debarring those with more than two children from contesting municipal and panchayat polls, be implemented in Bihar.

    Earlier, a categorical demand from state BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal that Bihar too should have a population control law, shortly after the chief minister had come out with his different take on the issue, had exposed the ideological differences between the BJP and the JD(U).

    Although Kumar, whose party was earlier known as the Samata Party, has been a BJP ally for close to three decades, he has maintained an ideologically distinct position on the saffron party’s pet issues like Ayodhya, Article 370 and Uniform Civil Code.

    Recently, his stance on population law, caste census and Pegasus controversy was viewed with some consternation in the BJP camp.

    The JD(U) maintains that this has nothing to do with the close ties it shares with the BJP.

    Kumar’s detractors, however, claim otherwise.

    LJP leader Chirag Paswan, who has of late centred his politics around attacks on the Bihar CM, recently claimed that Kumar was singing a tune different from the BJP since he had plans to push the state towards a mid-term poll.

    The LJP leader, who has been receiving some sympathy from the opposition camp despite his being non-committal on severing ties with the BJP, has sought to rake up the old rivalry between Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the JD(U) leader’s former Gujarat counterpart.

    He has claimed that by rubbishing demands for a population law, forcefully calling for caste census and advocating an inquiry into allegations of phone-tapping, Kumar has been demonstrating his “Prime Ministerial ambitions.”

    However, after Tuesday’s function, the Bihar chief minister ducked queries about the meeting in Delhi where opposition leaders are understood to have chalked out a strategy to take on the BJP in 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

    “I have nothing to do with it,” was the curt reply of the JD(U) leader, who was once seen as a “secular alternative” to Modi.

  • Tripura BJP MLA demands enact of laws for population control and cow protection

    By PTI
    AGARTALA: A ruling BJP legislator in Tripura on Friday demanded enactment of strict laws for population control and protection of cows.

    BJP MLA from Fatikroy constituency Sudhangshu Das said he would raise the issue of population control and protection of cows in the coming state assembly session in national interest.

    “Assam and Uttar Pradesh governments have taken initiative for enacting laws of cow protections and population control.

    I think the two demands should be implemented not only in Tripura or two or three states, but in the whole country for national interest.

    I will raise the issue in the next session of the assembly”, he told PTI.

    Das said the country is facing huge population boom, which is going “beyond the limit” and unless the governments have legal framework to tackle the ‘population explosion’ it would face serious problems which would have social and economic implications.

    He said, “Population explosion is a threat to the country. There has to be a law to tackle the problem. Today, India is heading towards a serious population boom but the resources are limited. We are limited to our geographical territory. So, all the state governments must enact laws to incentivise people who are resorting to family planning and accessing government facilities for guidance on the issues”.

    On cattle protection, he said, “not only cattle smuggling, each and every kind of smuggling is against the law. We must ensure zero tolerance for any kind of illegal activity. A section of misguided people in bordering areas are also used in several kinds of other illegal trade”.

    Das said that the Cow Protection Bill is also important to ensure that the sentiments of the majority people are not hurt.

    “In Hindu society, cows are revered as holy animals. If in a majority dominated area, people of some other faith slaughter a cow, it is against the social values of the majority people. This must be stopped and thus I am planning to bring a private member resolution in the next session of the state assembly on cow protection”, he said.

  • Population control issue should be delinked from politics: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday called for delinking the population control issue from politics and adopting a realistic solution with emphasis on education, health, ending child marriage and financial inclusion to solve the problem among the minority community, particularly those residing in the Muslim-dominated districts of the state.

    It has been accepted by all members of the assembly that population increase among the minorities of Lower and Central Assam is a matter of concern, Sarma claimed during a discussion in the House initiated by opposition Congress MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed on various issues related to the minority community of the ‘Char-Chaporis’ (sand bars areas).

    Opposition members who participated in the discussion said that using the issue politically would not solve the problem but asserted that there should not be a population control policy for Muslims alone.

    According to the 2011 Census, Muslims comprise 34.22 per cent of Assam’s total population of 3.12 crore and they are in majority in several districts.

    To bring down the population growth rate among the Muslims particularly those settled in the ‘Char-Chaporis’, Ahmed proposed establishing educational institutes, stopping child marriages, improving health and communication services, providing jobs in government and private sectors based on population representation and facilitating easy availability of birth control measures among women.

    The chief minister said that his government has no objection to the proposals, except those related to providing jobs as this has to be based on merit and not population representation.

    The House will adopt this resolution without any further debate on Tuesday, he said.

    “I am glad that this proposal has come from a Congress MLA.If it had come from me, people would have said I am doing politics.I thank the opposition member for initiating the discussion as our population policy is not anti-Muslim but anti-poverty,” Sarma said.

    The government has already planned to appoint 10,000 ASHA workers to distribute contraceptives among Muslim women and set up a population army of 1,000 youths to create awareness among the members of the community, Sarma said.

    The government is also deliberating on increasing the marriageable age of girls to check child marriages while it has initiated measures for expansion of educational institutions for girls and measures would be taken for improving health facilities, communication network and increased financial inclusion of women, he said.

    According to the census data of 2011, the population growth among the Muslims in the state has declined to 29 per cent from 34 per cent earlier while that among the Hindus has come down to 10 per cent from 19 per cent.

    Sarma said that with the decline in population growth of the Hindus in the state, there has been an improvement in their lifestyle and education level but, with a 29 per cent growth rate, the Muslims are currently in a state of crisis.

    “In recent times, we have seen that due to lack of living space, many people move to vacant lands, mostly in forest areas, out of compulsion and consequently come into conflict with the law.

    Migration to Kerala has also increased within the community and women are lured and forced into the flesh trade.

    “There is social tension within the community in Lower and Central Assam but we cannot blame the poor. If the growth rate decreases by another five to six per cent, there will be no problem,” he said.

    On Ahmed’s allegation that Bengal-speaking minority community members were not invited to the recent discussions that the CM held with members of indigenous Muslims, Sarma said that religion is the only factor common between them but they are different so far as their linguistic and cultural traditions are concerned.

    “We have decided to meet both the groups separately and we will hold discussions soon with the intellectuals and socially conscious people, not political persons, of the Muslim-dominated districts,” he said.

    He proposed that a seven-day study tour of the MLAs of Upper Assam to Lower and Central Assam and those from the latter areas to the former should be organised so that they understand the problems of each other.

    Earlier, Ahmed said that the population growth among the Muslims in the state is higher but there has been a fall in the fertility rate in the last 14 years from 3.6 per cent to 1.3 per cent while for the non-Muslims, it has dropped by only .4 per cent.

    Participating in the discussion, the Congress’ Jakir Hussain Sikdar said that the problem should be tackled with utmost sincerity.

    “There should be a strict law for population control but it should not be for Muslims only,” Sikdar said.

    AIUDF MLA Aminul Islam said the issue should not be used as a political weapon to target a particular community as it will demoralise people and the problem of underdevelopment will continue.

  • ‘Everyone knows who their intended audience is’: Shashi Tharoor hits out at BJP over population issue

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Amid a push for a population control policy by some Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Saturday alleged the BJP’s motive of raising the issue is political and aimed at targeting a “particular community”.

    The former Union minister said the population debate is “utterly misplaced” and half a century out-of-date as a large majority of Indian states have achieved replacement levels of fertility.

    In an interview with PTI, Tharoor said the bigger challenge for India in the next 20 years will be to prepare for an ageing population, not a growing population.

    He alleged the ruling party is raising this issue out of “thinly-concealed motivation” to target a “particular community”.

    “It is no accident that the three states where the government is talking about reducing population are UP (Uttar Pradesh), Assam and Lakshadweep, where everyone knows who their intended audience is,” the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram said.

    “The Hindutva elements in our polity have not really studied the demographic issues.

    Their motive is purely political and communal,” he said when asked about the push for population control in UP and Assam.

    Tharoor’s remarks come days after Uttar Pradesh’s draft population control bill was made public and the Assam government proposed formulation of a policy in this regard.

    Both states are ruled by the BJP.

    The UP draft bill has provisions to debar people who have more than two children from the benefits of government schemes and proposes perks to those who follow the two-child policy.

    Also, some BJP MPs are set to introduce private members’ bills on population control and uniform civil code in the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament, according to information from the secretariats of both Houses.

    The Monsoon session begins on July 19 and would conclude on August 13.

    Asked about the upcoming Parliament session and the key issues the Congress and the Opposition would raise, Tharoor said the government has been “so colossally inept’ that there are multiple issues “we need to raise in the public interest”.

    “The ineptitude of the government in its disastrous mismanagement of COVID, especially the blunder-laden vaccine policy; the continued failure to resolve the farmers’ agitation; the cratering economy, with GDP growth at its lowest in three decades,” he said listing the issues the Opposition needs to focus in Parliament.

    He also referred to the “price rise caused by extortionate fuel taxes; the worst unemployment ever recorded”, the French investigation into corruption in the Rafale deal” the situation on the Sino-Indian border and the crisis in Afghanistan.

    “And who knows what else may arise by Monday morning, given the government’s many unsavoury sins of omission and commission?” Tharoor said.

    On disruptions rather than debate becoming the norm in Parliament, the 65-year-old Congress leader said it was well known that he has been opposed to disruptions in principle and prefers to debate the issues.

    “But if you look at those disruptions in recent years that have been called by the Opposition, they have always been caused by the ruling party’s refusal to discuss a specific issue of burning national importance, which leaves the Opposition no choice but to draw attention to the issues the government wishes to avoid through disruption,” he said.

    If debates were allowed, disruptions would be unnecessary, he asserted.

    Tharoor urged the government to have the courage to debate any issue the Opposition wishes to raise.

    “That’s what Parliament is for. The government prefers to treat it as a notice-board where they can just announce their laws and policies,” he said.

    “If the ruling party treats Parliament with respect, which means agreeing to discuss the issues the Opposition raises and not just using their brute majority to push through the government’s agenda, I am sure the Opposition will reciprocate in kind,” he argued.

    Asked whether the Afghanistan situation would also be a key issue to be raised in Parliament, Tharoor said, “Yes, that’s why I mentioned it along with China as the two external affairs issues that require discussion.”

  • After Nitish, now Chirag Paswan disapproves of legal measures for population control

    By PTI
    PATNA: Lok Janshakti Party leader Chirag Paswan on Thursday voiced his disapproval of taking legislative measures to check population growth, diverging from the stance adopted by the BJP, his favourite alliance partner.

    The beleaguered LJP leader, who has been left cornered within his own party in the wake of a political coup staged by his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras and cousin Prince Raj, was talking to reporters at the airport here upon returning from a two-day tour of Delhi.

    “It is beyond doubt that we are a country with limited resources and unbridled population growth could be disastrous. But we must try to raise public awareness instead of thinking in terms of enacting laws.”

    “Let us not forget the forced sterilizations during the Emergency which gave population control a bad name”, said Chirag.

    Notably, bills moved recently by BJP governments in Assam and Uttar Pradesh have led to a nationwide debate on the efficacy of laws in checking population growth.

    There are also apprehensions that the saffron party could use the issue to pin the blame of population growth on Muslims, pointing towards polygamy being permissible under the Islamic law and the communitys perceived revulsion for birth control measures.

    Those sceptical of the legal route include Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whose JD(U) is at present the largest BJP ally.

    Chirag, whose acrimony with Kumar seems to have been the tipping point in the LJP, also took a veiled dig at the JD(U) leader, saying “if laws were so effective in bringing about change, why is it that liquor is still available here despite prohibition being in force for so long”.

    Sale and consumption of alcohol in the state was completely banned by the Nitish Kumar government in 2016.

    Chirag, who is understood to have felt slighted by the Narendra Modi government recognizing the breakaway faction headed by Paras who has even been inducted into the Union cabinet was also asked about the possibility of an alliance with the RJD.

    The son of late Ram Vilas Paswan had met, in Delhi, RJD national general secretary Shyam Rajak and is understood to have spoken over telephone to the party supremo Lalu Prasad and his heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav.

    “I have said it earlier and would like to reiterate that it is only during elections that we can think in terms of alliances. Right now I am here to take forward my state-wide Ashirwad Yatra which has been a huge success, a fact noted by even my acquaintances in Delhi”, he replied.

    The second term Jamui MPs attention was drawn towards barbs hurled by some JD(U) leaders who had questioned Chirags “reluctance” to visit his own parliamentary constituency.

    “Tell the JD(U) men not to worry. I will soon be there”, said the 38 years old former Bollywood actor, with his trademark swagger.