New Delhi: Alarmed by declining fertility rates, the Sikkim government has announced a slew of benefits, including attendants at homes free of cost to take care of newborns and special increments for government employees, for incentivising childbirth among the indigenous communities in the least populated state of India.
At a Maghe Sankranti function in Jorethang town on 14 January, Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang expressed concern over Sikkim’s fertility rate, which had registered the lowest growth of one child per woman in recent years.
The overall fertility rate of the state has gone down to 1.1, according to the recent National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5. It was earlier 1.2 in 2015–2016 (NFHS-4). The estimated population of Sikkim is under 7 lakh currently of which approximately 80 per cent belong to indigenous communities.
“We are worried and seeking reasons behind the steep decline (in fertility rate). If we do not arrest the trend now, we will be facing bigger problems in the future. The decline in indigenous populations will threaten the prominence of the Sikkimese,” Tamang said. “Women government employees with more than two children will get an increment. Mothers, who have more than two children and are not government employees, will be provided financial help as well.”
The benefits include a special increment for women government employees giving birth to a second baby and two increments for a third child.
For non-government employees and other sections, the government plans to come out with economic packages such as a Rs1 lakh grant for a second child. The details of these are yet to be worked out by the health and women and child care departments.
Attendants will be given a monthly remuneration of Rs 10,000 to take care of newborns of women government employees, the chief minister said.
The decision comes at a time when several states like Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Gujarat have announced draft legislation that will deny benefits, including government jobs, to anyone with more than two children.
In November 2021, Sikkim announced that women in government service would get 365 days of maternity leave, while male employees could avail 30 days of paternity leave for encouraging them to raise babies.
Last year, on 7th April, Tamang launched the ‘VATSALYA,’ a woman-centric scheme in Soreng, where a financial assistance of Rs 3 lakh was to be provided for treating infertility would be given to couples undergoing IVF (in-vitro fertilisation). Both government and non-government employees were eligible for the scheme.
During the Maghe Sankranti function, the chief minister said that so far 38 women had conceived through IVF facilities and some of them had become mothers too. The government is also encouraging installations of IVF facilities in hospitals across Sikkim so that women can avail medical intervention if they are unable to conceive.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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