New Delhi: With the Assam and Uttar Pradesh governments working on a policy for population control, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has once again started advocating for a uniform population control policy in the country.
Speaking to ThePrint, Surendra Jain, joint general secretary of VHP, said the Centre should bring in a national law to be followed by every religion and state in India.
“The demographic imbalance in the country is a result of population explosion. Our sant samaj had passed a resolution about this three years ago. But so far the states have not taken major action. We now hope that as Assam and Uttar Pradesh have initiated work on it, the Centre will also look into the matter,” Jain said.
The VHP had also passed a resolution three years ago in the meeting of Kendriya Margdarshak Mandal regarding this, he added.
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Concerns about ‘demographic imbalance’
“We are going to persuade the states to look into the issue. A common population policy is there in all good nations, so why can’t India have it too?” he added.
“Population explosion is a major cause of concern for India which has the world’s second largest population in the world. The demographic imbalance is increasing and in places which are Muslim dominated, anti-national activities and crime rate are increasing. There is a need for a uniform policy which is followed by all religions. We will take it up with the government,” said national spokesperson of the VHP, Vinod Bansal.
The UP and Assam models
The UP State Law Commission has started work on a draft bill to bring a legislation, which could propose to limit the benefits of state schemes only to those with two children or less.
While the UP government has not made any announcement in this regard yet, Justice (retired) Aditya Nath Mittal, the law commission chief, confirmed to ThePrint that they have begun the groundwork and discussions to prepare the draft bill.
Assam is also planning a similar policy, with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma recently announcing that his government would gradually implement the two-child norm for availing benefits under specific schemes funded by the state.
Jain said that the population control policy should be uniform — whether it should be one, two or three children per family — and should be implemented after extensive deliberation.
(Edited by Paramita Ghosh)
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