Population control bill needed to tackle growing poverty and disease, says BJP MP

Deputy of the Bharatiya Janata party Kirodi Lal Meena Friday stressed the need for a population control bill during the current winter session of parliament, saying the population explosion was the root cause of poverty, disease, malnutrition and of pollution.

“The demand for food products was increasing due to the population explosion,” he said. “On the other hand, their supply is shrinking. This gives rise to adulteration, which is harmful to the health of people. Cases of serious illnesses like cancer are on the increase.

Meena also said the population explosion has created gender gaps, with women not having “the same respect and the same rights.”

With this in mind, the MP said that a draft law on population control was necessary because its absence would prove difficult for the success of the campaign “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” or of autonomous India.

Meena’s demand for a population control law comes at a time when India’s total fertility rate has fallen from 2.2 to 2 in five years, according to the National Health Survey of the family published in November. The total fertility rate is the average number of children to which a woman gives birth during her lifetime.

India’s fertility rate for the first time fell below the total replacement fertility rate of 2.1.

the People’s Foundation of India, a non-governmental organization advocating for gender-sensitive population, health and development policies, said the findings of the National Family Health Survey shattered the “myth of the population explosion”, Indian express reported.

“They show that India must avoid coercive population control measures,” the NGO said.

But this is not the first time that a BJP leader has pressed for measures to be taken to control the population.

In July, the Uttar Pradesh Law Commission introduced the Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilization and Welfare) Bill, 2021. The draft document included a provision banning jobs and government promotions to those who produce more than two children after population control. the law is passed.