Plea for population control: The Supreme Court has requested a response from the government. (Case)
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court on Friday issued an opinion to the central government on a petition asking the Center to develop rules, regulations and guidelines to effectively alleviate the problem of overcrowding. A bench of judges KM Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy demanded a response from the government and marked the case with similar pleas pending.
The petition filed by Dandi Swami Jeetendranand Saraswatee, Secretary General of Akhil Bharatiya Sant Samiti, said that every year the population is increasing but the natural resources are limited and cannot sustain the ever increasing population.
The state cannot look the other way when there is a drastic increase in unemployment and poverty, limitation of food supply, health facilities, etc., added the Public Interest Litigation (PIL).
The PIL also called on the central government to come up with effective rules, regulations and guidelines to protect the basic rights of millions of Indian citizens due to the problem of overpopulation.
He said overcrowding is one of the most important factors causing several serious problems negatively affecting the quality of life of millions of citizens.
The appeal also asked the government to declare the first Sunday of every month as “Health Day” to raise awareness of overcrowding and for the distribution of birth control pills, condoms, vaccines, etc. to the economically backward classes (EWS) and below poverty. Line families (GLP) and vaccines against poliomyelitis.
“In the alternative, order the Law Commission of India to prepare a comprehensive report on population control measures within three months and submit it to the defendants (government) for consideration,” the plea adds.
The petitioner stated that he had realized “fundamental fundamental rights such as the right to live with human dignity, the right to clean air, the right to drinking water, the right to health, the right to housing, the right to livelihood and the right to education guaranteed by the Constitution will remain elusive unless respondents give due consideration to the proposals made by the National Commission to Review the Operation of the Constitution (NCRWC) in order to mitigate the problem of overpopulation.
At present, the population of India is close to 1.39 billion, or about 17.8% of the world’s population, but India has only 2% of the agricultural land and only 4% of the drinking water in the world. In the United States, 10,000 children are born every day while in India 70,000 children are born every day, according to advocacy.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)